It's that time of year again! Every year at this time, I do pretty much the same thing. I hammer through a Harry Potter movie marathon - a soul comfort that is needed a little bit more intensely this year for me than years past - and I do some HP themed nail art. This year, I picked up the Maniology M152 Wizards Welcome Stamping Plate specifically for this occasion and I put it to use within hours of it arriving in the mail for this surprisingly easy Hogwarts House Crest Skittle. I only just finished Goblet Of Fire on my marathon, so there may be more Harry Potter themed nails to come!

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When I was choosing the colors for the bases for this mani, I wanted to find a good balance between being true to the sort of canonical shades but also working within the constraints of my collection. My idea was to pair each base with a lighter version of itself for some more subtle texture and imagery in the background of the design, so I had to choose tones that paired well with stamping polishes that I owned.

For Hufflepuff I went with a rich, bright marigold yellow and paired it with a brighter sunshine yellow. For Griffindor, I went with a pretty deep wine shade and paired it with a cherry red. For Ravenclaw - my house, hence the placement on my tutorial nail - I went with this really gorgeous primary blue shade and paired it with a more sky blue sort of shade. And Slitherin is probably where I took the most liberties, going with two more olive toned greens than the sort of forest green shades that I think are typically associated with Slitherin colors.

For the stamping, I first went in with my lighter stamping polishes and applied the same image to all of my nails. I think this image is perfect for the Back To Hogwarts theme because it features the classic striped scarves, wands, sorting hats, Deathly Hallows symbols and, of course, Hogwarts Letters. Next, I applied the crest images to each nails in black. I considered stamping in the color pairing for each house, but I really wanted to avoid adding shimmery polish and I also felt like the black would give consistent contrast across the nails.

Once I was happy with my stamping, I crisped up my edges with a clean up brush dipped in acetone and then sealed in the design with a water based top coat. Next, because I felt like this design absolutely had to be matte, I went in with a layer of matte top coat and voila!

Not gonna lie, I'm kind of in love with how this mani turned out - it was actually a little bit touch and go in the process, but it turned out pretty much exactly the way I pictured it in my head. I actually have a couple more ideas for my nails using this plate, so keep an eye out because as I continue my rewatch I suspect there will definitely be some inspiration.

Also, don't forget to check out Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK for more nails for this week's #CBBxManiMonday!

Thanks for reading!