Watercolor Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend.  I went out with my friends to watch The Great Gatsby this afternoon.  I enjoyed it, but I haven't read the book yet.  Not sure how I managed to escape high school without reading it, but there you have it lol

Anyway, just a quick post this evening to show off a new-to-me technique I tried out.  I've seen some watercolor nails floating around the internet lately so I thought I'd give them a shot.  The technique is pretty simple.  You start with a base color and then dot on a contrasting polish.  While that dot is still wet, you take a small brush dipped in acetone and swipe it over the still-wet dot.  The acetone causes the polish to run and pool, similar to the effect that watercolor paints have.

I'm really loving this manicure!  I can't wait to try this technique with different colors, but it'll be hard to beat this blue combo.  It looks like waves and swirls of water...so pretty!
 

 I was actually a little surprised at how easy this turned out to be.  Even if your dots of contrasting polish dry a bit too much, the acetone will re-wet it and make it flow.  And, if you get a result you don't care for, you can cover it up with another dot and keep going.  Gotta love that kind of flexibility in a manicure!

I actually liked my right hand nails better than my left (which is my usual "photo" hand) so I wanted to throw a shot of those up.  Forgive my cuticles, I tend to not take as much care with my right hand since I don't photograph it as much.  Bad practice, I know, but I'm not the only one.  Right?  Right?  Ok, Ok, I get lazy!

What do you all think?  Has anyone given this technique a try?  How'd they turn out?

Thanks so much for reading!

Polish list:
Base color: 3 coats of Wet 'n' Wild Megalast in 2% Milk
Watercolor polishes: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Breezy Blue, Blue Me Away!, and Pacific Blue; Milani in Midnight Satin

Milani Texture: Purple Streak

Howdy, everyone!  Trying to get back in the swing of posting more regularly again.  Time is my enemy!  I'm hoping that, come the beginning of April when I'm down to just one job, I'll have some extra free time to share posts with you all. 

In any case, tonight I have a fun polish to show you.  Those of you in the blogosphere have, no doubt, heard of the new Texture line from Milani.  These polishes are similar to the Liquid Sand line by O.P.I. but don't have the glitter so there's no sparkle.  That doesn't mean they aren't pretty darn cool anyway.  I've been eying them at Walgreen's for a week or so and finally decided I had to try one.  For $3.99, even if I hated it, I wouldn't break the bank.

I wasn't sure I'd like these when I first heard about them.  The finish reminds me of nothing so much as avocado skin.  Since trying this one, called Purple Streak, I've pretty much decided I need all of them, preferably as soon as possible!  I'm not sure what it is that's so interesting about this finish, but I love it!   

The color is fabulous, a deep purple with red undertones and the formula was easy to work with and dried quickly to a matte finish.  I used 2 coats in all of these photos and felt that was plenty for good coverage. 
 

Every once in awhile my camera surprises me and the above macro shot is one of those times.  You can really get a sense of the texture in this photo.  Nifty, no?  :)
 

What do you think?  Have you tried Milani's Texture polishes yet?  

Thanks so much for reading!