I will admit that over the past couple of years I've done quite a few different versions of today's mani, but it really is just a staple for me that never fails and it's especially good, I think, for this time of year. Fall is kind of a funny time for those of us here on the Canadian prairies because it really isn't at all uncommon for us to basically be in full on winter by Halloween, so November can feel... not really fall, if that makes sense. And, of course, I'm not ready to bust out the Christmas designs yet, so this is a great option that feels seasonally appropriate.

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Going into this mani, I knew that I wanted to use this shimmery stamping polish from Pueen in 605 Love Affair for my drybrushing. This is a really interesting shade because it's sort of purple, sort of gunmetal, maybe a teensy bit brown, but generally just a really solid metallic neutral shade. To build from that (and my plan to layer my stamping in black and white) I decided to go for a sort of slightly taupey base in one of my favorite techniques for this mani.

I love a sheer jelly sandwich base for abstract nail art because it maintains the bit of see through vibe to it while still giving some camouflage to the visible nail line for a smooth canvas. For this mani, I grabbed for a warm, pale grey jelly polish and a warm toned flakie topper with fairly small flakes in it in order to keep some delicacy to the look. I started by applying the sheer polish to all of my nails, then one coat of the flakie topper, and then sandwiching that with another coat of the sheer. I love this technique and I definitely think it's a solid one to have in the arsenal for any nail artist using traditional polishes. 

Now for the design. This design is one that I actually really had to plan before starting because I think this is one of those times where minding the composition of the overall look is super important. I knew that I wanted to alternate both the botanical images and their direction, so I decided that I wanted some symmetry on my 4 main fingers (my thumb, as usual, matches my pinkie, in case you're wondering.) I started by applying the drybrushing to only one side of the nail, keeping the strokes going inwards towards the center of the nail. Next, for the stamping, I applied the images directly over the drybrushed area first in white and then again in black, shifting the placement just slightly so that the white didn't disappear. Finally, I used a really small dotting too to add some small dots on the opposite side of the nail from the stamping at either corner just to keep those areas from looking sparse.

Once I was happy with the design, I sealed it in with a nail art top coat and then followed with a generous layer of quick dry glossy top coat to bring everything together. And voila!

Admittedly, this one was a little bit touch and go while I was putting it together, but I'm thrilled with how it came together in the end. I really do love pairing a sheer base with some pretty drybrushing and botanical stamping to create a nail art design - never fails!

If you're interested in checking out any of the Pueen products featured in this post, they're all available from Amazon and I definitely recommend. Also, be sure to head over to @pblnails on Instagram to check out a video tutorial for this design and follow me there to keep up on all of my nail art!

Thanks for reading!