#52weeknailchallenge - week 34: Animal

Hi everyone,


this week's manicure is nothing like what I had in mind. I was thinking something along the lines of butterflies, reverse stamped with bright, maybe even neon colors. But life happened and yesterday we had to go to another formal occasion where bright and neon or even too much decoration wouldn't be appreciated. So I looked through my neutrals, found a pretty one and wore it the entire day as a full manicure. This morning, when I sat down to do my manicure for the animal prompt, I wasn't feeling bright or neon at all. In fact, I felt a bit sad, so I decided to just pick colors that would maybe make me feel a little better and use my already painted nails as a base. This is the end result:

I started with the day old base of one coat of Cirque Colors Fata Morgana on all nails. I know this is described as a pale lavender with shimmer and sparkle, but on me it looks more like a rosy nude. It's filled with beautiful coppery shimmer and has a dash of holo sparkle to add some subtle pizzazz. If the light hits it just right, it has a pale purple flash but most of the time it's the most office-friendly, yet absolutely not boring polish you can imagine.

I painted two thin coats of Cirque Colors Earthen on top of Fata Morgana on my thumb, index and pinky. I think Earthen is opaque by itself in two coats but I'm not sure if the color in the picture is changed by the polish underneath. Either way, Earthen is a gorgeous taupe with the same coppery shimmer and holo sparkle as Fata Morgana.

As Cirque Colors has released another polish with the same shimmer and sparkle and the same beautiful dusty, almost autumn feel to it, I couldn't resist using Wildflowers with Fata Morgana and Earthen to create a gradient. From cuticle to tip you see Fata Morgana, Wildflowers and Earthen and I needed three rounds of sponging to reach this opacity.

The final touch were two pretty birds from Emily de Molly EDM19 stamped on top of the gradient, using Cirque Colors Memento Mori, followed by a coat of Seche Vite on all nails.


All colors in a row:

Cirque Colors Fata Morgana, Cirque Colors Wildflowers, Cirque Colors Earthen, Cirque Colors Memento Mori

Looking at my nails I can only say how much I love the three colors I used for the gradient. They definitely have a autumn-y vibe so I guess I'm ready for fall now. The animal part isn't that obvious but I'll go with it anyway... I wouldn't want to change a thing about this manicure :)