NAIL ART: Dreamy Cotton Candy Butterfly Nails

by - May 05, 2021


You know those times when getting to the final product is just... a struggle? That was how this mani went for me - although once I got to what I ended up settling on, it went smooth like butter. It was the 5 other mani's that I tried before this one that failed spectacularly and almost meant this mani never came to be. Luckily, though, since I really, really love this mani, I ended up figuring out somethat that worked and didn't give up and just curl up with TikTok for a couple of hours of depression scrolling. Just me?

Keep reading for more!


Does this count as a gradient? I don't know. For this mani, I started with one layer of light pink polish to all of my nails as a base for some sponging. I really wanted a soft, subtle kind of look to this base, so I went with pink, purple and blue pastel polishes and just.. sort of blobbed them onto the sponge. You really don't have to be precious with this, just as long as one color isn't going to overtake the others. (I may not be explaining this very well, so if you want to see how I do this technique in practice, head over to @pblnails on Instagram and check out my video tutorial.)

Once I had built up my sponging to the desired level, I decided that I wanted to add a little bit of glow and I had this new topper in my collection that I wanted to try out that I thought could be just perfect. Dam Nail Polish's Magic Schmagic** is an iridescent topper with a blue to purple shift, that I think also gets green and pink and extreme angles in a way that is GORGEOUS. I think it has the most punch over a darker base, but I really love the delicate, shifty glow that it has over this more pastel base.


I will fully admit that I've been dying to do a mani using the sort of lattice looking butterfly image from the Whats Up Nails B045 Sprung On Spring Stamping Plate and I just knew that it would pair really beautifully with this really soft, almost etheral base. I don't say this enough here on the blog (although it might be obvious based on the number of mani's I do using Whats Up Nails plates and polishes) but in the past several months Whats Up Nails has become my absolutely favorite brand for stamping products. They have great images on their plates, but that's really only part of the battle. The plates are also etched really perfectly to have just immaculate, crisp pick up, and their stamping polishes consistently perform beautifully for me. Can't recomment enough.

Once I was happy with my stamping, which I just applied the same direction to all of my nails, I went in with a layer of water based top coat to seal in the design and then followed with a generous layer of quick dry glossy top coat for shine and volume. And voila!


All Products Used
Color Club - Totally Worth It
Color Club - Diggin' The Dancing Queen
Color Club - Meet Me At The Rink
Dam Nail Polish - Magic Schmagic**
Whats Up Nails Blanc My Mind
Maniology Smudge Free Top Coat
Quo Flash Dry Top Coat
Whats Up Nails B045 Sprung On Spring Stamping Plate
Whats Up Nails Magnified Clear Stamper

** Product was gifted by NailStuff.ca - new customers can use affiliate code TRYSH for 10% off!


I just love a really delicate mani and I feel like this is the time of year for it. I also really like this technique, especially with the polishes that blend really smoothly together for a more subtle overall look. Not to toot my own horn, but this one was hard fought so I'm pretty openly happy with how it turned out.

Again, be sure to follow me over at @pblnails if you want to see video tutorials of my nail art.

Thanks for reading!


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