Friday 10 October 2014

Matted oxblood flakies nail art

Hey y'all!

Wow... looking at the date today, and I'm instantly transported back in time four years, when I made my first trans-Atlantic trip with two girlfriends on our first big-girl vacation to Ireland.  We spent 10 days touring and eating and drinking and it was hands-down my favorite vacation of all time.  To commemorate the trip, we all got matching shamrock tattoos dated 10-10-10.  There's no point to that story, really - I just felt like sharing it.  LOL.  Today I have a nail art look created for the Inspire Me Nails group challenge prompt: Unusual, Untried, Unloved.  I've created a matted oxblood nail with flakies.

Matted nail art look of flakies over oxblood polish.

One might wonder what makes this look so Unusual, Untried, or Unloved.  In this instance, I feel as though I've met two of the criteria.  My flakies are untried, and my base color is kind of a bastard workhorse in my collection.

L-R: NYC Matte Me Crazy, Finger Paints Symmetrical Symphony and Vivid Reflection, unbranded and unnamed oxblood mini
Bastard workhorse?  Yup.  I found this little mini in the bottom of a Tesco discount bin with no label and no packaging.  It was 50p, and at the time I didn't have another oxblood polish in my collection, so I brought it home.  Turns out it's actually really pretty and applies really well, but it might as well be a red-headed stepchild in my drawer of pinks and reds. 

Matted nail art look of flakies over oxblood polish.

This simple and (I think) rather elegant look begins with two coats of bastard oxblood on all nails.  I then applied flakies from the two untried Finger Paints - one dabbed coat of Symmetrical Symphony on my middle and ring fingers, and one dabbed coat of Vivid Reflection on all other nails.

Matted nail art look of flakies over oxblood polish.

To finish, I sealed everybody in under a coat of Matte Me Crazy, which really makes those flakies come to life for me.  I think it's no secret that glitters tend to look fabulous under matte, but flakies really seem to stand up and demand that you take notice when they're matted.  It's an interesting effect.

Matted nail art look of flakies over oxblood polish.

If you're curious to see what everyone else has hanging around in the bottom of their stashes in the Unusual, Unloved, and Untried category, check out the inlinkz below:




I would love to hear what you think of this look.  Let me know down in the comments.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and I'll see ya tomorrow!