Bria's Butterflies

Some of you may have noticed that I have been MIA recently.  I overloaded myself with commitments and was feeling a bit unbalanced, but I am back on track.

Today is another Monkey See Monkey Do mani for Crumpets Nail Tarts.  This design has been floating all over the blogosphere, but I am going to give credit to the first time I pinned it.  Gwen from Sweet Sugar used a stamp to create her nails, but I figured I could recreate it freehand.  Check her gorgeous wings HERE.  

This glitzy butterfly started with an amazing polish....want to see it?  Course ya do!

This is three coats of CrowsToes Shoot the Butterlfy and one coat of Sech Vite!  Isn't that just the most perfect name for this black jellie filled with orange and white glitter?  If I was to do this over again, I would start with a black base, instead of nakid nails.  It doesn't make a difference IRL, but the edges would be much neater in the photos (my perfectionism rears its head).  

This beauty applied easily with minimal futzing with the glitters.  I purchased this gorgeousness from Llarowe HERE.  This one of THOSE polishes....perfection in composition, quality and creativity.  I can't say enough about my depth of feelings for Shoot the Butterfly!  It is currently sold out, but you can be notified of restocks by signing up for Llarowe's mailing list.  Just scroll to the bottom of any page on Llarowe's site to find the "sign up for our mailing list" entry.  They don't spam and send out notifications a day before restocks so you know when to stalk the site (tee hee).

Okay, on to the art.

I used a medium striper to add the "veining" with Aly's Dream Polish Copper.  If you want to see this holo beauty swatched, check my post HERE.

Next I used my thinnest striper and dotting tool to add the black detailing.

Although I love this, I still am not totally satisfied with it.  Let my wishes provide you some direction if you want to try it.  

• Wish 1:  Black base coat.  I would still use 3 coats of Shoot the Butterfly, because I love the depth it provides, but you could get away with 2 coats if you use a black base coat.
• Wish 2:  Although I love Aly's Copper, I wish I would have used a different color for the veining.  Not that it doesn't compliment Shoot the Butterfly....it does....it REALLY does!  But with this design, it covered up too much of the beauty of this polish.  Instead I would use a solid copper or gold with my thinnest striper.  Maybe Revlon Copper Penny or Essie Good as Gold.
• Wish 3:  Wider nails!  I really wanted to do these beauties on Bria's nails, but they are sooooo skinny (just like her tee hee) 

So there you have it, glitzy butterfly wings.  Bria LOVES them!  Thanks for looking and check out the other MSMD manis.
Tina