Zig Zag & Polka Dot Mani
This is the mani that I’ve been wearing this week. I love that it feels bright and spring-y. I picked out these three colors as I thought they’d look nice together, sat down at my nail station and ended up coming up with this. The three colors used are: Gelaze Purple Panic, a gorgeous bright pink with a slight purple shimmer; ibd Hollywood Royalty, a blue-ish purple (or purple-ish blue, I can’t tell) with a shimmer finish; and Gelish Oh What A Knight, a metallic bronze shimmer. Here’s what I did for each nail.
- Index finger: Two coats of Purple Panic, dotted with Oh What a Knight.
- Middle finger: I did a purple glitter gradient into the tacky layer of my foundation gel. You can watch this video to see how a glitter gradient is done. Unfortunately I have no idea what this glitter is called since I got it for free and it has no label.
- Ring finger (& thumb): I applied one coat of Oh What a Knight (great coverage), and then a thin coat of my Gelish top coat, cured and wiped off the tacky layer. I applied two chevron decals that I got from Etsy onto my nails, pressing them down really well from edge to edge and painted on the pink and purple colors and cured. After curing, I pulled off the decals at a sharp angle and top coated.
- Pinky finger: Three coats of Hollywood Royalty, dotted with Oh What a Knight.
The first photo is more color accurate. The second is a bit too bright and Hollywood Royalty looks more blue than it is.
I’ve been looking for the perfect blurple and this might just be the answers to my prayers. Thanks!!
Wow! Andrea, you are do good at what you do! I do not comprehend what trick you use to make your nails perfect every time! Also, I can’t imagine how you can do rock climbing with those nails… You are amazing.
How many layers did you use and cure over the decals? I have some chevron nail decals but the last time I used them with gel polish they didn’t turn out great. I had just assumed they wouldn’t work with gel so I’m excited that you had success with it!
I didn’t leave the decals on, I used them as a stencil and peeled them off after polishing, which is why you can see the base color underneath.
Love it! This mani has lots of great colors. Love the designs too. Great choice indeed!
Can you please make a video of how you do the chevron decals. Batteling with the paint coming back up with the decal.
I will put this on my list of videos to make since I have received several questions about using tape with gel polish :)
This looks like such fun! I need that IBD color!
I know you didn’t leave the decals on, but do you have any tips on making them stay on? I bought some colors after this post and tried them this morning. I put them in the tacky layer of my color, made sure to press down completely, then put two coats of top coat on. Just a couple hours later and most are peeling ever so slightly on each edge.
Wipe the tacky layer off before applying the decals and leave a little room at the edges for your top coat to seal around them. You can also try adding a layer of structure gel over top, I hear that also helps keep tape and decals in place.