NAIL ART: Muted Swooping French Skittle Nails

by - April 16, 2021


I have to admit, I'm weirdly in love with today's mani - which is saying something considering it is definitely not-so-usual or at the very least a little bit new for me. I've pretty aggressively avoided sheer bases as well as handpainting in the past and have had a more maximalist sort of approach to kitchen sinking my nails to the moon, but this mani definitely dives headlong into sheer based, hand painted minimalism and I'm pretty in love with it. 

Keep reading for more!


When it came to the bases that I used for this mani, it was actually sort of an accident. In fact, this whole mani was sort of an accident that just happened in real time without any plan to speak of. I actually painted one coat of Picture Polish Sage on my middle finger, just sort of playing around, and it looked so pretty with that sheer coat that the idea for this mani started to emerge based on that. I decided that I wanted to make this sort of a skittle, so I grabbed for London and Grace and found myself wishing that I had a pale purple from Picture Polish to pair with these three polishes. Ultimately, though, I decided that if I chose a very taupey purple, I could also pair grace with that since it's so neutral, so I went with it. 


For the swoops, I wanted to stay very much in line with the bases shades so that there was really that cohesion, but with créme finishes that would still really hold up. I went with a very pale pink, a smoky blue, a sage green, and this sort of taupe shade with just a hint of a lean to purple. To paint them, I reached for my trusty NailStuff.ca 11mm Nail Art Liner Brush** - probably my all time favorite brush for any hand painted mani, because it has a good amount of length for stability but isn't so long that it gets unruly. I added a small dot of polish at the base of my nail where I wanted to start and another on the opposite side of the nail where I would connect the line - this made it a LOT easier to get a smooth swoop. I filled in the narrow side part of the swoop with my nail art brush and then came in with the bottle brush to fill in the tip and just used my fingers to brush away any excess polish that ended up on my nails that way.

Once I was happy with my design, I sealed it in with a water based top coat and then finished with two coats of glossy top coat, just to make sure everything was level and smooth. And voila!


All Products Used
Picture Polish - Grace
Picture Polish - London
Picture Polish - Sage
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Racing Rose
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Thyme Is Money
Essie TLC - Indi-Go For It*
Sinful Colors - Spring Fling
Maniology Smudge Free Top Coat
Quo Flash Dry Top Coat
NailStuff.ca 11mm Nail Art Liner Brush**

** Product gifted from NailStuff.ca - new customers can use affiliate code TRYSH for 10% off your first order!


I always get a little bit funny with the idea of a "palette cleanser" but I feel like this kind of mani is the perfect version of that for me. It's distinctly unique and pretty nail art, but it's soft and simple and sort of feels delicate in the way that a palette cleanser should be. Anyway, I'm kind of in love with this one and I feel like it is sort of tweaking ideas in my head for different modified French manis. 

If you're in Canada and you're interested in any of these shades from Picture Polish, I get mine from Harlow & Co, which is a great Canadian indie polish stockist - check them out if you're unfamiliar! I'm also a member of their Facebook group, which is a great place to keep an eye on restocks and new releases!

Thanks so much for reading!


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