It really isn't lost on me that for this week's Spring themed #CBBxManiMonday, I could easily have done some snowflake nails because as I type this, we're having a blizzard. I mean, of course we are, it's Winnipeg and the early, dry spring that we had was much too good to be true. However, I'm choosing to stick with the optimistic and expected version of springtime with today's mani using shades that just scream spring to me and maybe a slightly unexpected design. 

Keep reading for more!

Getting pastel stamping to show up can be a little bit tricky, so I did some experiments with different base colours for this mani. I didn't want to go with a straight up dark base for this mani because I wanted to keep everything soft, but you have to be a little bit careful with light as well because if your base is too light the stamping with disappear. Anyway, luckily since I was so excited to use this new-to-me polish, Different Dimension Sky Full Of Stars had just the right amount of depth to carry the stamping while still being distinctly soft and spring.

For this mani, I applied two coats as my base. 

I love gradient rainbow stamping because with just three shades I really feel like you can get a nice spectrum when you scrape. I will say, if you want to try this technique, I would definitely recommend using actual stamping polish because it behaves better with the multiple scrapes required for the blend and also use stamping plates that have a slightly deeper etch - Whats Up Nails plates are great for this. For this mani, I alternated the direction of the image but not the gradient by applying the colours in opposite order to the place and then keeping the green shade at the base of the nail when I applied my stamping. 

Once I was happy with the stamping, I sealed in the design with a layer of smudge free top coat and then finished with a generous layer of quick dry glossy top coat and voila!

I'm really, really happy with how this turned out, and also, so very much in love with this base polish, which I think will get a lot of use in my collection. I recently got my hands on my first Different Dimension polishes and they're just so beautiful and I'm really impressed with how they perform - keep an eye out for the other two polishes from this trio to pop up here on the blog soon.

Be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK for more #CBBxManiMonday Spring themed nail art today!

Thanks for reading!