Monarch Half French Nails

This one makes me smile. Fun butterfly abstract design using a combination of easy techniques. Easier than it looks. I love when a design looks complicated and has everyone asking me how I did it all day. Strangers have been telling me they like my nail sticker LOL

Click "See more" below on the left to see what I used and how I got this design.

I use China Glaze White On White whenever I want a classic French tip. It is a forgiving formula that has great coverage. In a pinch for time or when I'm feeling a little lazy I have found that once you get the hang of stamping on your tips it takes only minutes to do them. I usually mess up and have to redo at least 3 or 4 but I love the clean lines when I do place it right. Practice makes perfect. My first attempts at stamping were horrible.

 I used Born Pretty plate BP-X35. You may notice my nails are bit stained from using red polish yesterday. It happens. If this happens a little buffing solves it, but as I mentioned earlier, I am having a bit of a lazy day.

 For this design I only did my thumb, pinkys and index fingers in French tip and then painted two coats of White on White on my accent nails. 

 At this point you want to make sure your nails are dry before you move on to the sponge step. Here is a link to one of my sponge designs that might be helpful if you are not already familiar with how to do the sponging.

Neon Sponge Ombre Nails

This color combo made me think of a sunset or candy corn. All of these polishes are cream so they blend together well. When you know you are going to stamp over the ombre you can be a little sloppier at this step. This design is a great one for beginners because you can practice with the makeup sponge but it doesn't really need to be perfectly even. Also great if your having a lazy day. I paint each color in a straight line on a cosmetic sponge and dab it on over the white until the colors melt together. Its very satisfying when it turns out well. I do highly recommend letting the polish dry if you plan on going back in with the sponge for a second layer.

Once you are happy with your sponge work its time to go in with the stamper.

I used Born Pretty's BP-X52 butterfly plate. I have to say that this bmc Staight Up Black polish is a bit streaky but covers very well. I let the design dry, but when I went in with top coat the black ran a little. I used Seche Vite which I love partially because the paint brush is very soft and usually doesn't drag streaky stamping polish. This black is very opaque and looks great as long as you work quickly and gently but its not the same as Konad Black stamping polish.

Now that we are done with the accent nails we need to put it all together with a butterfly on the thumb. I used a simple stamp and black polish to put the butterfly on and then went back in with a dotting tool and some of the cream polish to add a little flare and pull the colors together from the other nails. I didn't get a picture of just the black butterfly but trust me I thought I had made a mistake until I added a few streaks and dots of color. It turned out to be one of my favorites. I've been catching myself  looking at my thumb all day.

Way less complicated than it looks and incredibly fun to look at.

Hope you try this one. I think it would be pretty in some pink/purple combo or maybe teal/baby blue. I may have to revisit this idea in the future. 

I just realized, as I was typing the last sentence, I did another orange butterfly post back in February 2013. Its pretty similar to this post but with glitter instead of ombre. I added the link below.

Orange Butterfly Nails