Turquoise Manicure

Ok, guys.  Rarely do I get so excited about a manicure that I HAVE to post it on a Friday night when I know no one will probably see it, but I just couldn't wait!  A few weeks ago, I saw a tutorial on how to get the O.P.I. Spotted look without actually using Spotted.  As this polish is not currently available in the US (France only, s'il vous plait!), I was intrigued and wanted to see if it worked.  However, the tutorial called for spray hand sanitizer which I've had some trouble finding for some reason.  Basically, I kind of forgot about it.  Then, just a couple of days ago on Pinterest, I found this.  I had to squint to figure out what the secret ingredient was for this tutorial, but, after I did, I knew I had to give a try! Turquoise is one of my favorite stones, and as I do spend a good part of my week making jewelry, I thought it would be fun to have some stones on my nails lol

Take a look:

Are they not fantastic?!?  I was really worried because for most of the time I was working on this manicure, it looked a lot like mud.  Once I got the top coat on, however, it was like POW!

....more after the jump....

I started here with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Aquamarine (compliments of my dear friend Shannon).  Then I set things up similar to a water marble; a small bowl of water, the polishes I wanted to marble with, paper towels and a cuticle stick.  I used Vaseline around my cuticles and fingers to make clean up a bit easier.  It also really helps soften your cuticules so I highly recommend it as opposed to taping things off.  Now for the secret ingredient!  Rubbing alcohol!  I poured some into a small spray bottle. Very handy!

Basically, you work this manicure pretty much like a water marble. I dripped a drop or two of my first polish, a nameless turquoise blue Cynthia Rowley, into the bowl of water.  After the drop spread out over the surface of the water, I spritzed it with the rubbing alcohol.  The alcohol causes the polish to bead up and look sort of shredded.  Then I dipped my nail into the water, used the cuticle stick to clean up the excess polish and pulled my finger out.  I used a paper towel to clean up the excess polish on my fingers. 

After the Cynthia Rowley dried, I repeated the process with Sinful Colors Muse, a dusky purple-y brown creme, Essie's Absolutely Shore (a barely-there light blue creme) and Wet 'n' Wild's Black Creme. (Yes, you read that right, I basically did a water marble times 4. Yes, I know I'm crazy)  Et voila! Turquoise nails!
 

I used a thin coat of Seche Vite between each layer of polish, just to keep things even and drying quickly.  I also reapplied the Vaseline as necessary. After everything dried, I used a gold nail art pen (Sephora by O.P.I.) to add some flecks of metallic sparkle.

I can't get over how much this actually looks like stone!  I'm particularly proud of my pinkie nail.  It reminds me of a fossil.

This manicure was labor and time intensive, but so completely worth it.  I kept catching myself staring at my nails all day, which is a sure sign that they look great!  What do you guys think?  Am I just crazy to spend so much time on one manicure?  Have any of you tried this technique?

Thanks so much for reading!