Friday Triad: inspired by Paulina's Passions

Hi everyone!

Can you believe it's the last day of November 2018 already? I still feel like someone secretly stole a week or two as this month has zipped by with lightning speed! But my calendar shows it is the last Friday of the month so it's time for the Triad manicure again. And boy, this one was TOUGH!

Michelle picked a pretty summer manicure by Paulina from Paulina's Passions... that was completely freehanded! Of course you all know I can't freehand a stick figure, let alone an entire manicure! So I already knew I would be stamping stuff on my nails. But I really didn't feel any summer vibes so I decided I was going for contrast, opposites, turn this thing into a wintery scene! And that's where the trouble started. I picked a gorgeous white that resembled fresh snow, I had the perfect pine green and... I pulled a blank... a huge blank... the biggest blank in history! I literally spent two weeks trying to figure out what to do and nothing came to me. I even started on a manicure and it resulted to nothing (well, a lot of frustrations ;)

On Thursday evening (yep, yesterday) I desperately went to once again look at the video that Paulina had recorded to see if maybe freehanding something would be possible after all. When I read the title, something clicked inside my brain at last. Her nails were inspired by a Hawaiian shirt! (don't ask me why I didn't see that before... I guess a frustrated brain doesn't work that well) And while I don't like the pattern for clothing, I do like the combination of big leaves and flowers so I put all previously selected polishes and plates aside and went on a hunt for materials I could use in a Hawaiian shirt manicure that would still fit my non-summer mood... and I think I succeeded, see:

I started by painting all my nails with one coat of OPI Lady in Black (that is slightly thickened so it's a one coater now).

When that had dried enough I stamped leaves from Lesly plate Greenery 2 on my middle and ring finger using Cirque Colors Carnegie (the leaf in the back), Barry M Watermelon (the hardly visible dark green in the center) and Colour Alike Golden Lime (the large one at the front). I finished these nails by adding a reverse stamped flower from Maniology (previously known as Bundle Monster) Polynesia BM-XL106 using Painted Polish Stamped in Starfruit and filled with Colour Alike Lemonade, which are both stamping polishes so you can't see the darker colors that are underneath.

On my other three nails I stamped more hardly visible dark green leaves from Lesly Greenery 2 using Barry M Watermelon.

A coat of Seche Vite to bring out all the colors and seal everything and I was ready to take pictures!


In the end I used these polishes, but at least 15 other ones were pulled, not to mention at least as many plates ;)

OPI Lady in Black, Cirque Colors Carnegie, Barry M Watermelon, Colour Alike Golden Lime,
Painted Polish Stamped in Starfruit, Colour Alike Lemonade

I'm still kind of annoyed I couldn't get the wintery vision in my head translated to my nails but I'm really happy with the manicure I'm wearing at the moment. It's not bright and colorful so it feels "right" to me, and I think it wouldn't look too bad on a Hawaiian shirt either. What do you think?

To check out what Michelle and Juanita did, just click their name and you'll be transported to warmer places where summer is reigning already. My expectations are bright, maybe even neon :)