color block | Craftynail

Here’s my GREEN mani for Chalkboard Nails 31 Day Challenge! I painted my nails with two coats of Metallic Heels (gold) by Julie G and then hand-painted some green segments on the top and bottom of my nails.

The green theme for today was a great excuse to try my brand new mint polish from Five Below. It’s a nice light green color called Honeydew by Fresh Paint. I’ve been wanting a green like this forever. Many of my greens are darker or have a tinge of blue and look sorta aqua…. so I think this green is a perfect addition to my stash! Unfortunately, it’s not that great for nail art. I applied it with a detail brush and it seemed to have a chalky formula. It ended up looking goopy and brush-strokey. Live and learn! Next time I’ll use it as a base color instead of an accent color. I made sure to really slather on the seche vite to help smooth it out. 🙂 But still, it’s pretty and I like the effect of the gold strip shining in between the green. The two colors contrast and coordinate, all at the same time.

See some of the other green manis here:

I watch a decent amount of prime-time cable (okay, I watch A LOT of cable) and lately I’ve noticed a definite fashion trend: almost every leading lady in the last few weeks has worn dark blue and black together! Personally, I’ve always steered clear of blue and black since the old rule is that ‘navy and black clash’. But the more I see these two colors together, the more I likey! This trend inspired me to do a color-block nail design using the following:

♥ one coat of Orly Ridge Filler as a base

♥ two coats of Cynthia Rowley unnamed neon blue polish

♥ a striper brush and Wet n Wild ‘Ebony Hates Chris’ for the black accents

♥ MASH Nails Matte Topcoat – I needed two coats to make it matte since the black Wet n Wild was super-shiny!

Why doesn’t Cynthia name her polishes? I’ll never understand that! Well, I’m gonna go ahead and name this neon Shark Week since it’s a vivid dark blue that reminds me of the bottom of the ocean. The shade really lightens up for the camera so I tried some different lighting conditions to get the blue to stay as true as possible. It’s still way darker in real life… but c’est la vie!

I have heard that Cynthia Rowley nail color is hard to find. Luckily, I received a three pack set from my lovely sister for Christmas! In case you’re trying to get your hands on some in the US… I think she found it at Marshall’s Department Store.