Every since I was a little kid summer meant spending time at the lake. For various reasons, from personal circumstances to the whole pandemic thing, I haven't been able to go out to the lake at all this year and I'm definitely craving some fresh air and being on a boat and all of those good things. So, of course, I decided that I wanted to spend a week doing wilderness themed nail art - if I can't be out there myself, at least my nails can pretend. I started with a mani that I've had in my head for a while and I'm preeeeeeetty sure that it was inspired by another artist, but for the life of me I can't remember who it was - if you know, let me know so I can credit!

Anyway, keep reading for more!

So like... I'm a Canadian girl. We know this. And as a Canadian girl, if I don't bust out the red and black plaid for a camping trip then who even am I? (I mean, I'm still a Canadian girl, obviously - just out of uniform or something...) So, of course, the thumb, first and pinkie fingers had to be a classic plaid design. Choosing a red for this part of the design was... surprisingly easy. In their second Hello Kitty Collection from a couple of years ago, OPI really nailed my personal perfect red shade with A Kiss On The Chic. It's a really classic, crisp primary red shade in a gorgeous formula that gives me full opacity in two really easy, smooth coats. 

For the plaid, I grabbed the Uberchic Pretty In Plaid 2 stamping plate and chose the simplest grid pattern I could and applied it using my favorite black stamping polish. Really, really easy, actually. 

For my middle two nails, I knew I wanted an almost white base with a little bit of texture, so I grabbed for Cirque Colors' Hatch. This is described as a white polish with black irregular specks, which is firmly accurate, and on the nails it ends up looking like the palest grey. It's a gorgeous polish and I applied two coats for opacity before moving on to the stamping.

I knew I wanted to use this round camping vignette image from the Uberchic Woodland Chic 2 stamping plate and I went around with myself as to what I was going to pair with it before I decided that I really, really loved the two bear paw prints and applied them to my middle nail. For the vignette image, I filled in the tent red and a few little accents white using a small nail art brush to add a little bit of interest there. I actually applied the reverse stamped image to my nail while my second coat of the base color was still a little bit tacky.

Once I was happy with my stamping, I applied a layer of water based top coat to all of my nails to seal in the designs and then finished with a matte top coat to take down the shine. And voila!

There's something about this mani that I have to admit I'm kind of in love with - maybe it's the plaid. I dunno, there's just something cozy and I am so, so very much in the mood for cozy right now. (Anyone else reaching the point in the summer where sweater weather and comfy boots are just fully on the menu?)

Be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK today for more #CBBxManiMonday nails!

Thanks for reading!