Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you're all staying safe and healthy - and not going too crazy with all of the being cooped up at home. Personally, I've definitely been spending a lot more time at my home workspace playing with nail polish and today's mani is one that I'm excited enough about that I'm giving myself a bit of a pass on pushing the boundaries of our #CBBxManiMonday Pastel theme for April. Milky while packed with iridescent flakies can kind of pass for pastel, right?

Keep reading for more!

This mani actually evolved over a couple of days - I wore the base for a few days before adding the flakies. For my base, I first applied 2 thin coats of Emily De Molly Stardust, which is a milky white base packed with iridescent flakes. It's quite sheer (the better to see the flakies) and I liked the look, but I wanted to add a little bit of camouflage to my nail line, so I then added a pretty hefty coat of Glam Polish Anuenue, which is a gorgeous flakie and shimmer top coat that is sheer but is so densely packed that it really does help to disguise visible nail line.

I knew that I wanted to add some nail art on top of this base - it was sort of screaming for it - but I really couldn't figure out what to do until I was scrolling through Pinterest and found inspiration from several mani's that feature sort of abstract foil placement. I don't actually have any transfer foil, but I do have NailStuff.ca Foil Flakes* (so gorgeous, impactful and easy to use) and I had a feeling I could get a similar look and maybe a little bit more texture using those.

To apply, I dry brushed some foil glue onto each nail, keeping in mind that I wanted each nail to look a little bit different. Once that was dry, I used my NailStuff.ca Pointed Silicone Tool* to pick up some of the flakes and apply them where the glue was, then using my finger to tap them down and get a really smooth lay against the nail. I added a little bit more glue and flakes here and there until I got the look that I wanted.

I finished with a generous coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Clearly Quick and voila!

All Products Used

Emily De Molly - Stardust

Glam Polish - Anuenue

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Clearly Quick

Chen Xi Star Glue

NailStuff.ca Pink Foil Flakes*

NailStuff.ca Pointed Silicone Tool*

Seriously, even for a beginner, I think that the NailStuff.ca Foil Flakes* (and, of course, their iridescent flakes like Turtle Reef) are super easy to use and really customizable. Even though I tend to use foil glue to apply them, you can easily apply them to still-tacky base polish and they stick beautifully. If you're interested in picking them up, each jar retails for $5.99 and a little bit goes a long way. Be sure to use affiliate code TRYSH at NailStuff.ca which will get you 10% off your order on the site. They've just put in place $5 flat rate shipping here in Canada, which is AWESOME, so be sure to check them out!

As always, be sure to also head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World in PINK to check out what the ladies are doing with this week's #CBBxManiMonday Pastel theme!

Thanks for reading!