Positively Polished - 30 Manis Marathon #6

30 MANIS MARATHON
MANI #6 - VIOLET

I seriously need to play catch up here! In fact, as soon as I'm done with this post, it's off to do my next mani for the marathon! I've actually been trying to do this mani for a few days now, but heavens! All the interruptions! Haha, but here it is, my Violet Mani...I've never tried a fishtail braid mani, and it actually wasn't bad at all, just took forever and a day!

I knew what colors I wanted to use for this manicure and when I put them side by side, I just knew I had to finally try out a fishtail. Here are the polishes used for this entire look - 

 From Left to Right:

• Ruffian - Delirium
• Bondi New York - Uptown Girl
• NCLA - As If!
• Bondi New York - I'm Vers

       

NCLA photographed a little whiter and paler in the photo above of the bottle, but the color is much closer to what it looks like on the nails. 

I began with a base coat of I'm Vers, followed by two coats of As If!. Then I used striping tape to create a diagonal line from the side of my nail where a french tip would normally start and pulled it a little past half way across the edge of the tip of my nail and applied one coat of Uptown Girl (on pointer, middle, pinky and thumb). Then once that I dried I reversed the diagonal on the other side with Delirium to create the folded across french tip!

Now the fishtail...it really wasn't hard at all, just took, BLOODY FOREVER! Hahaha! I used striping tape for the top of each line but none on the bottom and I began with Uptown Girl, then Delirium, then As If! and continued rotating through the three. If you've never tried a fishtail, I do apologize that I didn't take step by step pictures, but here's a little numbered diagram that may be useful:

So after I painted the whole nail with 2 coats of As If! and let it dry, I start with Uptown Girl (1), and after placing a line of striping tape diagonally across my nail to mark the top of the first part of the fishtail I just swiped the polish directly across and made it just barely wider than I knew each cross would be. After I let it dry I followed the same technique with line 2, then 3, 4, so on! Having to wait for each to dry was the part that was a pain and I needed two coats of As If! every time I used it because it was so pale and not as opaque as Delirium or Uptown Girl. I finished everything with two coats of I'm Vers as a topcoat and tada! My Violet mani with a fishtail accent!

Next up is Black and White! Already planning it out ::wink::

Happy Makeuping and Polishing!