I've been having so much fun playing with inspiration from Whats Up Nails Water Decals that I couldn't resist trying out this one for today's mani. This one is definitely a much more on the nose recreation and the things that are different between my mani and the inspiration design are much smaller than others I've done recently. Still, it's actually a gradient configuration that I've never done before and I just think it's really beautiful, so let's get into it!

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For the gradient, I knew that I was going to be reaching for my Color Club crémes because... well, honestly, most of the summer gradients I do features these polishes because I have a huge collection and they blend and build beautifully. I decided to do a four color gradient with a bright, cool pink, a lighter orange, a pastel neon yellow, and a sort of minty turquoise to get a similar look to the inspiration design. I think it was a solid shade selection, though I do think that this ends up featuring the orange and yellow a little more intensely than the inspiration, which leaned more pink.

To do my gradient, I started by applying a very, very pale blue shade to all of my nails as my base. I didn't bother getting to opacity, it really is more intended as something to stick to and pump up the color rather than actual coverage. Next, I applied my polishes diagonally on a makeup sponge, aiming for a balance in the amount of each color, and then pounced on the nail. I was actually really surprised with this mani because I was able to get the desired opacity and blend with only two layers of sponging, but I think it turned out really beautiful.

For the lace design, I grabbed for a white stamping polish and my Whats Up Nails B004 Stamping Plate, which has actually been in my collection for ages but isn't one that I had ever gotten around to using before. I ultimately decided to go for a full cover image because I liked the scale of the design and the amount of coverage it brought. As usual, I alternated the direction of my stamping placement to give more visual interest to the overall mani. 

Once I was happy with my stamping, I sealed in the design with a nail art top coat and then followed with a generous layer of glossy top coat for shine and volume. And voila!

I really am just having so much fun with these recreations. As I said, I don't really use full cover water decals because I personally prefer to do techniques like stamping, but Whats Up Nails has a really solid selection of different water decal designs that are worth taking a look at if you want to try them out.

Be sure to head over and follow me at @pblnails on Instagram for video tutorials for all of my nail art designs!

Thanks for reading!