Friday Triad: inspired by @nail_art_by_tal

Hi everyone!


The last Friday of March has arrived so it's time for another Friday Triad manicure. This time Michelle was the lucky one to pick an inspirational manicure and she chose this floral pond manicure by Tal from @nail_art_by_tal.

If you're wondering what a pond manicure is, let me explain. It's where an image/design (dots, a stamped image, anything really) is sandwiched between layers of sheer polish. Repeat that recipe a couple of times and if you do it right it looks a bit like your design is floating over and under each other like leaves in a pond of (colored) water. A jelly sandwich is sort of the same when you do it with glitter. I actually like the look a lot, but I've never found a good sheer polish to use so I've never done one myself... until now:

Apart from the (obvious) pond manicure, the thing that struck me most in the inspiration was the textured nail, so I dug around my collection of textured polishes to find a nice one. Hidden in a corner was one that I'd never used before, Zoya Lorna, a gorgeous berry/burgundy polish with the PixieDust finish that I love. It's opaque in two coats and that's what I used on my thumb, ring finger and pinky.

For the sheer I had a polish in mind that I only got a short while ago: essence Sweet As Candy, a pale pink with a great formula. I started by painting two thin coats as a base on my index and middle finger. When that was dry, I stamped a flower from Moyra Green Leaves using Colour Alike Falling Leaf, a deep red that came as close as possible to Lorna. Some more waiting happened, then a coat of Sweet As Candy, and another coat as I wanted the stamp to be faded a bit more, and yet another coat for more fading, and finally another stamped flower.

I finished with a coat of Seche Vite on my index and middle finger, followed by a coat of OPI Matte Top Coat and left the textured nails untouched.


The polishes I used:

Zoya Lorna, essence Sweet As Candy, Colour Alike Falling Leaf

I SO like this! I'm still wearing it as I type this and I just don't want to take it off. I love to feel the contrast between the matte nails and the textured ones and I couldn't be happier with the pond effect. I'm definitely going to have to try that with some other sheer polishes I have. What do you think?

I really have no idea what Michelle and Juanita did with this. I can't really imagine this manicure in bright colors but who knows what magic they have created. If you're as curious as I am, just click their names and you'll be taken to their site to check out their nails for yourself.