For the base, I used 2 coats of Chromatic Polish New Moon, a black creme that I made myself, and added a layer of top coat. I painted on the half moon shapes with Apple Barrel Snow White acrylic paint. When that was dry, I gently scratched off around the edges to refine the shape a bit. I also applied some liquid latex to cover the black parts.

I used a pretty good handful of polishes for these, so I’ll go through each nail one at a time. There was a lot of going back in and layering colors to get it to look how I wanted.

For Callisto on my index finger, I used Zoya Charli as the base color. Then I sponged on Oriflame Daring Brown, OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts, Zoya Desiree, and Zoya Suvi. For the white spots, I watered down some of the acrylic paint and flicked it on using a medium sized brush.

For Europa on my middle finger, I started with a base of Zoya Lake. I sponged on China Glaze Pelican Gray, OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts, and China Glaze Desert Sun. I mixed a bit of French Quarter and Desert Sun to get the color in between that I needed. Then I added the lines using Desert Sun and my favorite fine detail brush.

For Io on my ring finger, I started with a base of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss. Then I sponged on China Glaze OMG A UFO, China Glaze Desert Sun, China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin, and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. This one took the most repeated layering of colors to make it look right. Then I went back and added some more concentrated spots of OMG A UFO.

Finally, for Ganymede on my pinky, I started with a base of Nailtini Concrete Mixer. I used my detail brush with Zoya Dovima to outline the sharper edges, then sponged on OPI Number One Nemesis, China Glaze Pelican Gray, and Dovima. I used Concrete Mixer to clean up the sharper lines.

I made this little collage of my inspiration photos, labelled with their names and which nail they’re on. In my humble opinion, I think I nailed it!

That’s all for today! Thanks for looking!

I used one coat of Zoya Dream, a deep sapphire blue with tiny holographic flakes, as undies for my gradient.

I did 4 coats of the gradient using Dream and Zoya Storm, a black with the same tiny holo flakies. On the fourth coat, I gave the sponge a little squeeze to pull some of the color back out and dabbed that on. It made the color look a little richer rather than silvered out.

Working on nail at a time, I applied a thin layer of regular top coat and placed these silver holo loose glitters. I wasn’t trying to work in any specific pattern or anything, so it was far less frustrating and time-consuming than glitter placement usually is.

That’s all for today! Thanks for looking!

For my non-accent nails, I used three coats of China Glaze Sun of a Peach on its own. It’s a pretty typical neon in that it is a little streaky and uneven, so it definitely needs those three coats.

For the decals, I started out by stamping Zoya Ryan onto my mat. The image came from Born Pretty Store plate BP-L 003.

I filled in the sections using Sun of a Peach, Too Yacht to Handle, and That’s Shore Bright, all from China Glaze, and then added a layer of regular top coat.

Finally, once the decals were dry but still pliable, I peeled them off the mat and applied them to a still-slightly-tacky white creme. A bit of clean-up and a layer of top coat and TA-DA!

That’s all for today! Thanks for looking!

I started with a base of 3 coats of Zoya Ana, a light, dusty blush pink satin. She has a pretty good formula, but there was a bit of unevenness that made that 3rd coat necessary.

Next, I painted on the stems and leaves with Zoya Ray, a dark pearly emerald green. When I paint my nails, I go from my pinky to my thumb, which is why the layout of the flowers is a little more scattered on my pinky than the other fingers.

Using a dotting tool, I applied Zoya Reagan (muted fuchsia creme) and Eden (light, bright pink creme) to make the flowers. Then I went back and added a dot of Zoya Piaf, a light metallic yellow, to the centers.

Finally, I topped it off with a layer of Zoya Matte Velvet top coat, which I think makes it look extra vintage-y.

That’s all for today! Thanks for looking!

I started with a base of 3 coats of China Glaze White Cap, a sheer white with heavy gold shimmer. This is unlikely to get fully opaque on its own, but it got mostly there and has such a soft, pretty effect.

For the blue flowers, I started them all with a base of China Glaze At Vase Value, a light robin’s egg blue creme. It has an absolute crap formula (runs to the sides of the nails, refuses to self-level at all), but it works really well for nail art. I then layered on Zoya Talia (medium blue-teal) and China Glaze Man Hunt (dark blue creme), using a drier brush to make it a little more painterly.

I added in the orange stems and flowers using Zoya Sharon, a bright orange creme. The flowers needed a little something, so I put a little China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin (light lemony yellow creme) in the middles. Finally, I added in the tiny bits of red with Orly Grave Mistake, a deep red creme, which I haven’t used in so long that I had forgotten how pretty it is!

Speaking of forgetting how pretty things are, I busted out Zoya’s Matte Velvet top coat, and OMG! It’s very, very matte, and it just made it look like frosted glass or something like that! I ended up wearing this for three days or so because I was just that enamored with it.

That’s all for today! Thanks for looking!

I used 1 coat of Chromatic Polish Full Moon, a white creme that I made, under the gradient. For the gradient itself, I used Full Moon and Color Club Bright Night, a bright, saturated royal blue. This was my first time ever doing a radial gradient! I just wish the white had stayed a little more prominent.

For the yellow stripes, I used 3 layers of Priti NYC Lampshade Poppy, a sunny yellow creme. It’s a little on the sheerer side, but it has a good formula. Then I added the black stripes, using Chromatic Polish New Moon, with a tiny detail brush. I tried to make the lines a little on the rougher side so that it emulated the fish scales a little better.

I topped it all off with a layer of quick dry top coat and then a layer of Pure Ice Frost Finish Matte top coat. It’s more of a satiny matte than a flat matte, but I still liked the way it turned out.

That’s all for now! Thanks for looking!

First off, I am so, SO mad that my top coat bubbled on these. It looked so cool and then that happened. *makes a grrrrr face* Anyway, I started with a base of two coats of a black creme.

For these, I used 4 pairs of colors:

• Pair 1: China Glaze Below Deck (taupe-purple creme) and China Glaze Seduce Me (deep berry creme)
• Pair 2: Milani Colorful Coral (bright coral creme) and Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches (shimmery moss green)
• Pair 3: Zoya Lillian (light, bright aqua blue creme) and Cult Nails Vicious (deep warm-toned purple creme)
• Pair 4: OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest (golden microshimmer in a deep purple base) and OPI Take the Stage (shimmery copper)

Making the decals to cut into strips is a complicated-sounding process, so bear with me a bit. I started by painting a line of one color on my mat. Next to it, on either side, I added lines of that first color, mixed with a small bit of the second. Then I moved outward again, using a mix that had more of the second color added. Then I ended with the secondary color on the outside. (I hope that makes sense…?)

Once the decals were dry enough, I cut them into stripes and adhered them to the nail using a very thin layer of top coat. I made it a point to offset the stripes from each other so that a bit of all of the colors was visible. I think, if I try these again, I’ll make the stripes in the decals a bit thinner (and I’ll definitely skip the top coat at the end…).

That’s all for today! Thanks for looking!

I started out with a base of Zoya Carey, a medium light gray with slightly purple undertones. It applied unevenly and didn’t self-level well, but it evened out in two coats. It also had this kinda goopy feel, but I didn’t try adding thinner, so that might have helped.

For the dots, I used a bunch of polishes from the L.A. Colors Polish Fever set of Color Craze minis. I’ve mentioned before that this set doesn’t have the names of the polishes anywhere on the packaging or the bottles, which frustrates me to no end. Also frustrating is the fact that I never got an answer from anyone at L.A. Colors, despite multiple emails and social media messages…

Anyway, the colors I used are a neon magenta creme, a black creme, bright grass/lime green creme, royal blue jelly, pinky coral creme, and a white creme. With a small dotting tool, I applied the magenta creme in a wavy, free-form line. I then added the dotted lines in each color, working out from both sides. It was rather time consuming to do, so I cheated on my right hand and just painted on solid lines in the same method (the dots looked way better).

That’s all for now! Thanks for looking!

Over a base of a white creme, I applied a vertical gradient of China Glaze Feel the Breeze (light bubblegum pink creme), China Glaze Lotus Begin (light purple creme), and Zoya Color (light orange creme). This gradient took 3 coats to be opaque.

Once the previous gradient was completely dry, I went back over it with a horizontal gradient made up of Zoya Pinta (deep cool-toned purple creme), Julep Shanna (violet jelly), and Zoya Glossy Seal (clear top coat). I concentrated this gradient toward the cuticle to match my inspiration. I used three-ish coats for this and dabbed a little extra Pinta in at the cuticle to deepen it even further.

And finally, I topped it off with a layer of Pure Ice Frost Finish matte top coat to soften the look of it.

That’s all for now! Thanks for looking!

Hey, y’all! My original idea for this prompt didn’t work out, but I’m holding that idea in reserve for a future post. Let’s get onto the polish to see what I did instead!

To start out, I applied 3 coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Normally, it would only take 2 coats to get this polish opaque and even, but as I said before in one of my other challenge posts, my bottle is really old.

I used six Zoya creme for the watercolor background: Mira (purple), Ling (blue), Josie (green), Pippa (yellow), Sharon (orange), and America (red). I mixed each color with some thinner until it had a consistency slightly thicker than water. Then I dabbed it on with a brush, going back over spots and overlapping colors to get the look how I wanted.

I stamped this using Pueen Pure White stamping polish and the rainbow image from Bundle Monster plate BM-201. I had a few issues with getting clean transfers, but those were entirely my own and not due to the polish or the plate.

Finally, I sealed everything in with a layer of matte top coat from Pure Ice.

That’s all for now! Thanks for looking!