My collection of dodads and whatsits for nail art is quite random, I must admit, but I actually don't often stray outside of my usual so those things tend to get a bit ignored. Recently, I've been trying to find ways to use those items a little more often. For this mani, that meant pulling out a couple of metallic foils and using them to add some texture and interest to the base. 

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When it came to the color story for this mani, I wanted to keep it realy, really straightforward with a neutral base, those metallic accents, and then the strong black stamping. I went with this sort of ashy beige crelly polish that features really fine metallic shimmers that create this really beautiful speckled effect. I really loved how the metallic shimmers in the polish were going to pair with the bolder metallic foil. 

I started by applying two coats of Stella Chroma's Here I Go, Here I Go (which was a PPU shade) and let that dry down. 

To apply the foil, I started by applying a layer of sticky base coat and letting that get tacky before going in with a silicone tool to apply the flakes. I did both gold and copper on each nail in sort of little clusters. There is a certain level of randomness to how they end up getting placed, so I tried not to be too precious about it, and in the end I think that because I was adding the stamping that was pretty okay. Once the flakes were applied, I patted them down gently with my fingertip just to get them as smooth as possible.

For the stamping, I used this full cover leaves image from the Whats Up Nails B071 Stamping Plate using a black stamping polish. On my middle two nails, I applied the full image, alternating the direction of placement, and for my outer nails I chose one leaf from the image to apply at the centre of each nail.

Once I was happy with the design, I sealed everything in with a nail art top coat and finished with a generous layer of glossy top coat. And voila!

I feel like metallic flakes are such a good way to add texture and interest to a mani, so I definitely have every intention of pulling them out of the drawer a bit more often than I used to. The ones I used for this mani are actually craft flakes rather than ones intended specifically for nail art, but they still get the job done. 

Be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK for more fall themed #CBBxManiMonday nail art! Head over to my Instagram @pblnails for a video tutorial for this mani and follow me there to keep up on all of my nail art!

Thanks for reading!