So today, the day I'm posting this, is my birthday. And it's one of those big, scary birthdays with a 0 at the end of the number, which is admittedly a little bit more stressful than I was anticipating. Anyway, I kept my birthday in mind when I sat down to do this mani and decided that I would lean into what I do this time every year, which is Harry Potter themed nails. Honestly, there is a fairly good chance that I will be curling up with some Harry Potter movies this weekend and trying to enjoy my big bad birthday. 

I want to acknowledge that I understand a lot of people don't have the affection for the Harry Potter series that they might have once because of the author, and I think that's perfectly valid and I support that. However, for me I have so much affection and warmth and love for this series that I will continue to enjoy it and find comfort and joy in it while actively disagreeing with the opinions and behavior of the author. 

Keep reading for more!

So essentially what I wanted to do with this mani was create a sort of muted grey sky that feels like it really leans into the sort of vibe of, particularly, the later parts of the Harry Potter story. I decided to try a bit of a different technique for this one, which is one that I've sort of done before but with some slight differences. For this smoosh, I busted out my nail art mat and I actually used 6 different polishes to create it - three sheer jelly polishes and three opaque crémes. 

To start, I applied one coat of a pale purple jelly polish to all of my nails and let that dry before applying a latex cuticle barrier, as I always do with messy smoosh mani's. For the smoosh, I started by applying thin stripes of the jelly polishes to my nail art mat. I did about three swipes of each, making sure that they ran into each other and created a solid base. Next, I went in with a few very small dots of the opaque cream polishes and placed them sort of random amongst the stripes. Using a small dotting tool, I dragged back and forth through the polishes from left to right to sort of create a marble, but being mindful that what I was actually trying to create was the look of a sort of streaky sky.

Next, I used a large stamper to gently press down into the polish and pick it up on the stamper head and then just left it to dry down for several minutes. This part is super important because you want to maintain that sort of horizontal texture to create the look of the sky. Once it has dried down enough that it isn't going to smear or break when you apply it to the nail but while it's still tacky enough to transfer smoothly, you can press it onto the nail. Once I had removed the excess and cleaned up my edges, I also added a layer of a really fine holo top coat because I wanted the final look to have some velvety texture.

For the stamping, I decided that I wanted to create a sort of Hogwarts silhouette mani with some text. For my first, middle and ring fingers, I applied the silhouette image and then filled in down to the tip with black stamping polish. I also added a wizard on a broom to my middle finger and an owl to my ring finger, keeping them in silhouette as well. I think this was definitely necessary to make clear that this is a Hogwarts design and not just a random castle silhouette. For my pinkie finger, I applied some text stamping that says "Waiting For My Hogwarts Letter" and for the thumb, not pictured, I applied a Deathly Hallows symbol.

Once I was happy with the design, I sealed in it with a nail art top coat and then finished with a matte top coat to smooth everything out and bring down the shine. And voila!

Honestly, I'm just absolutely thrilled with how this turned out and really happy to have this be my birthday mani this year. Even at the dreaded 40, I am still very much waiting for my Hogwarts letter and will happily indulging in some of my favorite magical comfort movies this weekend - hell, I might even brew up some butter beer, if I'm feeling a little crazy.

Thanks for reading!