BFF Friday: Mani Swap

On Fridays, if we both have time, myself and Laura from Naileymabob decide on a theme and both create a nail look based on whatever we've picked. This time, we decided to do things slightly differently; we decided to pick a mani by each other and try to re-create it!

I spent some time going through Laura's Instagram, and came across loads of manicures I wanted to recreate. However, I had to consider that I'm back at work for a 7-day stint from today so I had to rule out some of the brighter and bolder designs, and go for something in paler, more subtle shades.

   
The manicure I picked to recreate was this one, done 12 weeks ago according to Instagram. Me and Laura live at different ends of the country so hardly get to see one another, but I did actually see this mani in real life when we met up and I remember really loving it - it looked so stylish and clever!

I know that Laura used a gold glitter from Freckles Polish for the chevrons, but I didn't have anything similar really - the only full-coverage gold glitter I own is a chunky, textured one called Charm Bracelet by Seventeen. I do love this polish but wasn't sure how it'd work underneath a smooth polish.... 

For the peach, I initially wasn't sure if she had used Peach Melba by Models Own or the slightly oranger Papaya by Barry M....I settled with Peach Melba because I love it! After doing the mani and looking back on her Instagram again I realise that I think the polish actually was one of the Models Own 'Polish For Tans' shades - ahhhh didn't even consider that at the time!

The first time doing the chevrons went SO WRONG! I started off with a base of the glitter, and when it was dry (I added gelous to smooth it but it was still pretty rough!) I applied chevron stickers. This is where it started to go bad! Due to the textured glitter, the chevron stickers wouldn't stay stuck down and kept lifting off. Also, the peach (which I was using over the top) wasn't thick enough in one coat to create neat chevrons. All in all it looked rubbish so I ended up taking off the two middle nails and starting again!

This time, I started with a base of peach and added the gold chevrons over the top. I didn't want to do it this way as Laura had obviously used the gold first and I wanted to stay true to her mani, but at this point I didn't have much choice! I also added more Chevrons than Laura did as my nails are a bit longer. 

Above you can see the mani of mine that Laura recreated - my gradient leopard print! I love her version and how it looks on her nails. We didn't tell each other until just now which mani we had picked to recreate, and it turns out we both recreated the ones we had worn on the same day back in summer. We are so psychic! Here's the original pic from 12 weeks ago of us wearing the manis together.

And here's my finished 'recreation' mani! I even copied the hand pose ;-)