THIS POST IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PUEEN COSMETICS.

Whenever I'm doing multiple mani's in the same theme - in this case, Valentine's Day! - I tend to find myself wanting to do something that suits the theme, but is maybe a bit non-traditional. For today's mani, that translated into eschewing all of the traditional pink and red vibes and instead going with a black and white look. In the end, I think this could also be a good vibe for your Galentine's Day or anti-Valentine's Day vibes, if you know what I mean. 

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Because I wanted this mani to have a lot of impact, for my base I decided to go with a really punchy and bold gel polish from Born Pretty. As you can see in the macro shot below, this polish packs a ton of twinkly punch. While it does have a sheer base and does remain a bit see through at 2 coats, it's dense enough that it does a good job camouflaging the visible nail line and the sheerness actually looks really pretty in my opinion. Obviously you could just use this for an accent nail - but I love to make all of my nails accent nails!

To start this mani, I applied two coats of Born Pretty Silky White Gel Polish in the shade CG105* to all of my nails, curing between coats. 

For the stamping, I actually decided to pair two different stamping images that aren't technically each other's inverse but also really do feel that way. For my middle finger, I used this negative space image from the Pueen Fairytale Lover 02 Stamping Plate*, which I think really adds a nice contrast to the overall look. For the rest of my nails, I used the very similar heart image from the Pueen Nail Party 03 Stamping Plate*. For my ring finger and thumb, I applied the full image to the nails, for my pointer finger I used one corner of the image, and for my pinkie I used one single heart. I think this variation really adds a good bit of visual interest.

Once I was happy with the design, I finished with a gel top coat for shine and voila!