Purple Jade Nails

My doctor is moving to Utah next week; she's always loved seeing what kind of nail art I come up with, so I wanted to do something special for my last visit with her.  Originally I'd thought about roses on a gray background, but then I saw the beautiful green jade nails done by Sarah at Chalkboard Nails and that was that.  While I could have done green, though, I wanted to try something different and purple seemed like just the thing.

This nail art is a little more complicated than what I've shown on here in the past, but it's still fairly easy.  You'll need three polishes: a jelly, a darker but complementary color, and a white; a makeup sponge torn into small pieces; tweezers; and a very thin nail art brush, paintbrush, or toothpick.

L'Oreal Colour Riche Lilac Coolers, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Wet N' Wild Megalast On A Trip, torn-up makeup wedge, tweezers (paintbrush not shown).

Step 1: Clean nails and apply base coat.  When base is dry, apply one coat of Lilac Coolers.

 

Step 2: After first coat is dry, dab On A Trip randomly onto nails using tweezers and a bit of makeup sponge.  Sponge lightly and only cover a portion of the nail.

Step 3: Using the same technique (but a new piece of sponge), dab Snow Me White onto different areas of the nail, but make sure some parts are left uncovered.  Because the white was thicker and more opaque, I found it was helpful to blot the sponge gently on a napkin to take off excess before applying it to my nails.  You don't want thick blobs, just sort of faded splotches of white.  Let dry.

Step 4: After the sponged-on colors dry, apply another coat of Lilac Coolers.  The milkiness of this polish gives depth, but it won't completely cover your sponging.  Let dry.

Step 5: Repeat steps 2 and 3, but sponge Snow Me White on first, then On A Trip.  This will help soften the white a bit, plus it adds a little more depth. Let dry.

Step 6: Add a final coat of Lilac Coolers and let dry.

Step 7: Using your fine brush or toothpick, draw on a few very thin "veins" with Snow Me White.  Obviously I didn't take my own advice here; you can see how chunky my lines are even though I used a 000 74 Round brush.  Don't overdo it - this is just an accent.  One or two lines should be enough.  Once your lines are dry, add topcoat, clean up, and you're done!  Pretty, no?

This wasn't as successful as I hoped it would be (and not nearly as nice as the original), but it's definitely unusual.  I'll have to try it again with the green sometime.