The past few weeks have been hectic and I have a lot of blogging to catch up with! This week’s #Nail That Technique prompt is ‘Pond Manicure’.
The idea behind a Pond manicure is quite simple. You’ve to use sheer or tinted polishes to create a pond/lake like appearance with a design sandwiched between two successive layers.The depth is achieved by layering the polish.The very first design drawn/stamped will become more blurred as successive layers of the sheer polish are added. The polish should be sheer enough to allow your design to peep through from the bottom layers. You can create any design between the layers – stamp a pattern or draw dots or flowers with a toothpick, the choices are endless.
Today I’ll be sharing two designs that I’ve done for this prompt. One of them is a throwback to January this year which is when I tried my hand at a pond manicure for the first time.
I used all Rica polishes for both manicures and bought mine from Color4nails. You may get them directly from her Etsy store too.
First Up : Pond manicure with stamped flowers:
Here’s what you’ll need:
Step 1 : Start off with one coat of a basecoat of your choice . This is to protect your nails and provide a foundation for your manicure to bond with.
Step 2 : Paint one layer of Rica Squishy Grape
Step 3 : Stamp a single flower using Rica Pink Elephant and a stamping plate of your choice. I’ve used a no brand one that I bought from Ali Express.
Step 4 : Repeat steps 2 and 3. Make sure that your design does not overlap those in the layers below too much. 6 layers is good enough to get a pond like finish.
Step 5 : Apply topcoat to seal your design and prolong it’s life! I’ve used KBShimmer’s Clearly On Top.
Here’s the result:
And, here’s a closeup :
Now for my next pond manicure, here’s what I used:
I wanted to go for an ocean inspired look and used a stamping plate from MoYou London’s Princess collection to stamp a cute Octopus!
I used the new squishy marshmallow stamper from Faburnails and it’s excellent. Doesn’t even require priming.
The steps to achieve the look below are the same as before. This one was clicked in the shade:
and here’s a closer look at all the squiggly octupi (? or octopuses ?) :
Here’s what it looks like in the sun, I’m really loving this combination!
That’s it for this post!
Wow mithi! Both designs are so awesome but I liked first one better…. The combos are nice….
Thanks so much Divya! I didn’t expect this to be such an easy manicure ha ha!
I am in love with this design. Its beautiful
Thanks so much Manisha!
its amazing love the flower n the octopus pond mani. really stunning work 🙂
Thank you so much Reena!
Love them both. Amazing work!!
Thank you so much Mandy!
Awesome i loved them both but octopus is my fav one.
Thanks Anu! I also like the octopus one better, 😀
Both Manis are Awesome…Love them…Liked the color combo of first mani… <3
Thank you NailFame :* !
Lovely designs! I really need to try a pond mani soon
Thanks Bethany! You’ll love it! It’s very interesting to do 🙂
Lovely colors and design. Loved the purple alot
Thank you so much!
Wow .. Love both the manis!!the octopus one is so cute 🙂
Thanks Madhu! :*
Both are pretty but I just love the octopus nails, the colors and everything is just really pretty
Thanks so much Shilpa! I really didn’t have anything concrete in mind when I started out, but loved the end result nonetheless 🙂