Happy Monday! It was another one of those weekends where I feel like I was mostly just doing catch up after a couple of insanely busy weeks, which didn't leave a ton of time for nail art... or creativity, for that matter. That being said, I feel like one of the best ways to get a quick mani that has some real impact and looks like it took a long time is to pair a really stunning indie polish base color with some sort of effortless stamping - works (almost) every time! So, of course, that's what I did and the end result feels really effortless and unfussy, perfect for the summer.

Keep reading to see how I got this look!

Like I said, I kept it pretty easy and quick for this look, but what really gives it impact for me (especially in person) is the base polish. Polished For Days' Echo is a pale purple base that's just packed with shifting micro flakies and holographic flakes. If you look at the macro, you can really see just how much depth polish has and how much of a punch it packs. I used two coats of this as my base and it gave really good opacity and depth.

For the stamping, I reached for my Maniology Bam White Stamping Polish, my NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper* (with these lines, I really wanted to be able to get good visualization for placement), and the Nicole Diary 076 Marble Stamping Plate. I love this grungy horizontal lines image because it feels like it's sort of classic but also undone at the same time.

To finish, I used one thin coat of Unt Ready For Takeoff to seal in my stamping and then, once that was dry, added a thin coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Clearly Quick to finish the mani and add some good shine. Et voila!

All Products Used

Unt Ready For Takeoff Peel Off Base Coat

Polished For Days - Echo

Maniology Stamping Polish - Bam White

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Clearly Quick

Nicole Diary 076 Stamping Plate

NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper*

The reason that I named this mani "Effortless Nautical Grunge Nails" is because that's really the feeling that this evokes for me. It does feel really effortless in the softness and the way that it's not too fussy and the colours I used feel, to me, like really washed out nautical tones, if that makes sense. Anyway, I'm super happy with how this mani turned out.

Being that this is a flakie polish more than a glitter, I'm pushing the #CBBxManiMonday Glitter theme a little bit this week... but it happens! Be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof, See The World In PINK, and Tea & Nail Polish to check out what they did with the theme this week!

Thanks for reading!