I had a really bad day last week, and decided to paint my nails as a distraction.  I couldn’t decide on a color.  I originally thought of doing something bright, like Essie Mojito Madness, but somehow ended up with these.  I absolutely LOVE how they turned out!

I was inspired by these, but still wanted something a little more fun, so I added the different patterns.  My favorites were still the flower nails, which from a distance, looked like lace.  I’m going to do a whole mani out of them soon.

I started with two coats of Essie Allure, which I’ll admit I bought because Kate Middleton wore it to her wedding, but it ended up being my favorite sheer polish.  I love using it for this kind of nail art.  You can see another mani using Allure here.  Then I painted on the designs using Essie Blanc.  I added one more coat of Allure and then topped it with Essie Good to Go.

Thanks to Mr. Candiipants, I am totally in love with sheer bases for nail art.  It tones the whole look down a bit, and makes it look as if the design is floating.  LOVE.