A Failed Attempt

I tried Zoya Freja for the first time and adored it. My goal was to do a subtle design on top of it that wouldn't distract from it too badly. Unfortunately, I went too subtle and you can barely even see the design.




Zoya Freja, China Glaze Joy, Plate M60

I love that design, it definitely ranks as one of my favorites. However, China Glaze Emotion or Poetic would have been a better choice than Joy for the design. Oh well, I'll know for next time!

The Matte Trend

I'm not really feeling the matte trend. I tried one matte konadicure and wasn't really in love with it. Here it is:





Essie Angora Cardi, China Glaze Awaken, Plate M64

Yeah... not really my thing. What can I say. I dig shine.

Polishes to use for images

Here is my first ever manicure with a full nail design. This continues the thought from yesterday about nail length - as you can see, my nails were much shorter then, but the design still worked fine. (Click for larger image)







That was done with China Glaze Awaken and China Glaze Agent Lavender, using konad plate M70. It doesn't look completely terrible, but if I'd known then what I know now, I would have reversed the colors and used Awaken for the image. Agent Lavender simply isn't opaque enough to work for this look.

Some polishes just work better than others for images. The edges are more crisp and the design more professional looking.

Sometimes, though, what you want is a more subtle, less opaque design, as I did with this look (click for larger image):








That's Misa A Sin Worth Committing with China Glaze Secret Periwinkle, using plate M63. While generally I wouldn't use Secret Periwinkle for a design, in this case I think it worked. I didn't want to distract from the beauty of the Misa polish, but I had the konad urge, and when that urge hits there's really no denying it.

I had toyed with the idea of using a different polish for the design - as usual, one of the ones from the China Glaze Romantique collection. I even went so far as to swatch it before doing a full manicure:







L-R:
Zoya Dierdre, China Glaze Joy, Konad M70
Misa A Sin Worth Committing, China Glaze Awaken, Konad M63
Misa ASWC, China Glaze Secret Periwinkle, Konad M63

As you can see, the image comes out much better with China Glaze Awaken than with Secret Periwinkle. However, with Secret Periwinkle you pay more attention to how pretty the base color is, and that's what I had wanted that day.

Sasse has put together a lovely list of polishes that work well with image plates. For the most part, though, I just enjoy playing around with what I already have. I'll try it on a finger or two before removing my previous mani, and if I like it I'll try it. Worst comes to worst I'll wind up not liking it and I'll have an excuse to change my mani again. ;0)