Recently I’ve joined a group on facebook that has a fabulous summer challenge where they have a list of manicures you do on a certain day if you choose to join in on the fun. And yesterday the theme was Sea Shells.

Due to my internet being down most of the day yesterday and this morning I wasn’t able to post this in time but here it is today!

People came up with the most amazing ideas, some used actual crushed seashells on their nails, others painted them on with acrylic paint. I love seeing this kind of creativity! My favorite set were the ones done by a good friend of mine, Laurie of Dressed up Digits who recreated the look of Abalone on her nails using a glitter gradient and stamping. You can see her nails here.

For this manicure I decided to stamp. I of course started with my Duri Rejuvacote to which I owe these long nails (for me this is long, I’ve never had them this length before) I first painted my nails using China Glaze’s Lavender Lingo (which isn’t a Lavender at all but a very soft baby pink) and topcoated them with Seche Vite. I always do this before I stamp because it will help you fix any stamping mistakes a lot easier as carefully wiping off your stamp with acetone will not ruin the basecolor right away but will give you a second chance to stamp. I picked pink because it reminds me of the pink inside some shells have and because it looks really classy with gold I think.

When that was dry I used my Fab Ur Nails Gold stamping polish and Dashica Beauty Shops Big SdP-L stamping plate which has these beautiful shells on there for the image over it.

Over that I put another layer of topcoat and here we are, a sea shells inspired manicure :)

Are you in any challenge groups for nails or make up?