Diamond-Lined

Hello! Here are my nails for today. 

This is my first attempt at glitter placement with glitter that's a more unusual shape - I've only ever done similar with glequins and you don't need to worry about what way up they go! I got these little pink holographic diamonds in a Studio London nail polish set that I was given as an xmas gift. I've not heard of this brand before, and the nail polish set is nice, with some pretty colours, but I was most excited about this pot of amazingness!

Again, I'm going for subtle-ish as I've got two days left to work before I get a nice chunk of time off, when I'll crack out the indies and bright colours again. From a distance you can't really see these little diamonds so hopefully work won't mind the little bit of sparkle!

I started with a base coat of Utopia by Models Own, my current go-to nude shade. I love how this is slightly more pinky-toned than browny-toned like other nudes I've got. This is two easy coats of Utopia. Still in love with this polish!

I then poured a small amount of diamond glitter onto a piece of paper on my desk (laptop lid!). I then picked each piece up individually with the tip of a dotting tool with a tiny bit of blue-tac on. Technical! I placed each diamond length-ways in a line just below the tip of each nail. I did one nail at a time, coating it with a small amount of slow-drying clear polish before I began each so that the diamonds would stick.

I found it quite difficult to get the diamonds evenly spaced and exactly upright - I had to be so careful because sometimes the diamond would stick down before I'd got it positioned right. So frustrating, and these are not even enough for my liking at all! Still, this was my first attempt, and I'll definitely be playing with these again... and next time I will be more careful and take more time with the glitter placement. 

I finished with one coat of my new Poshe fast drying topcoat. I wasn't going to open this yet as I still have a small amount of Insta-Dri yet, but couldn't resist trying it out because I really wanted this mani to look flawless and shiny, due to it being quite simple. Also, I'd got marks/fingerprints all over it whilst doing the glitter placement, so I wanted to see if my new topcoat would smooth all this out. And it did to perfection! So shiny!!!!