Larimar nails

Hi everyone,

quick post of a manicure that I had so much fun with while creating it that it deserves a way longer post but unfortunately I have to start studying for my exam next week.

My inspiration for the letter L in the ABC-Challenge is larimar, a rare semi-precious stone that varies in color from light blue to green blue to dark blue (click here for some pictures).

I used a combination of a gradient and the water spotted technique and this is what my nails look like:

indoors, no flash

I started out with a base of one coat of OPI Gelato On My Mind. It wasn't opaque at all but I already knew I was going to sponge on top so I didn't bother with more coats (in hindsight a second coat might have shortened the time I spent sponging though ;) After that I did a gradient using Gelato On My Mind (lightest), OPI Sailing & Nailing (medium) and Illamasqua Noble (darkest) and I made sure that to start them at different heights and use various angles so they wouldn't look too uniform.

When that had dried I filled a small cup with tap water and put in two drops of OPI Angel With A Leadfoot, a plain white that is a little less opaque than my usual white polish. I sprayed it a few times with perfume (a sample of Giorgio Armani - Aqua di Gio... nice scent btw), looked for the nicest place and dunked my finger in it, fiddled with an orange stick to get rid of the remaining polish and pulled my finger out of the water... to discover I should have put the latex over my entire second phalange ;) I repeated that for all my other nails and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

The polishes I used:

OPI Angel With A Leadfoot, OPI Gelato On My Mind, OPI Sailing & Nailing, Illamasqua Noble

I hope to find some time this week to do something with this design as base but if not I'll still enjoy them. What do you think? Did I succeed in creating something that resembles the inspiration?

This what the other ladies came up with for the letter L:

ABC-Challenge - L