I think sometimes when a stamping plate is themed, you can get kind of stuck in using it only for that theme - in this case, the plate I used is under the sea themed and it would be easy to stick to only aquatic types of looks with this plate - but I think there are actually a lot of images that can be something entirely different if you just pair them with the right base. For today's mani, I paired a really muted gradient with this sort of swaying seaweed type of image and I love, love, love how it turned out. 

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There are a handful of polishes from the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri line that have been getting a TON of use in my springtime mani's this year sand I've really, really been drawn to the soft, muted vibe of them. It's actually pretty cool to look through and see the different mani's I've done recently using these same polishes and how different they've all turned out - if you want to take a look, all of my nail art is over at @pblnails on Instagram, including video tutorials.

For this gradient, I wanted to go from pink to green, so I first applied a coat of the shade that was going to be closest to my cuticle to all of my nails. I do this because it inevitably makes clean up easier and more crisp. Once that was dry, I went in with my gradient of Racing Rose, Wisteria, Show Steel-er and Thyme Is Money. For this mani, I did three coats of sponging to get my desired blend and opacity. 

For the stamping, I was initially sort of at a loss. I knew that I wanted to add white stamping to this base, but I was going through my stamping plates trying to figure out what to do when I happened to look at Whats Up Nails B038 Lost At Sea, which I hadn't even taken the plastic sheet off of yet, and this image just completely jumped out at me in a way tit hadn't before and I knew I wanted to use it. I applied the image to all of my nails and alternated the direction I placed the image so that there was some variation in the design.

Once I was happy with my stamping, I sealed in the design with a water based top coat and then finished with a quick dry glossy top coat for shine and voila!

I'm so, so obsessed with how this mani turned out and I'm so glad I thought to use this image in a different way than I had originally framed it in my head. I think this loose, flowing sort of look works really well with this really muted gradient and just gives a sort of modern spa vibe overall. Love it. 

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Don't forget, if you want to see how I do my nail art, follow me over at @pblnails on Instagram to keep up on my video tutorials!