Mani Monday Rainbow Trout Nail Art

*** This post contains items which were sent for review. ***

Hey y'all!

Today I've got a fun look to show you that resulted from doing a bit of playing around this weekend.  I had some untried polish and a new stamping plate and an idea started forming in my head that eventually fell onto my nails.

I've had the oh-so-controversial Push and Shove in my untrieds basket for a while now.  I actually did test it a bit right after I got it, but never took pictures and knew that I wanted to use it in nail art for the blog, so it just kind of sat there for a few months until this look started forming. 

L-R: China Glaze Fairy Dust, Liquid Leather, and White on White, OPI Push and Shove, Barry M Silver Foil

I really loved the thick lines of this fish scale image on MoYou Nails plate 128, and I thought it would look really neat in a black/silver combo.  I started with Liquid Leather on my thumb, index, and pinky nails, and Push and Shove on my middle and ring nails, sealing everything under a coat of SV before stamping.

I actually decided that since I wanted to fill in some of the scales individually, I should make reverse stamping decals, so I created two black scale patterns with Konad black, and 3 images with Silver Foil (note: Push and Shove does NOT stamp well!)

With a tiny detail brush, I filled in some of the individual scales on each decal with White on White, Liquid Leather, and Silver Foil, using no particular pattern and only doing 1-2 of each color on each decal.  I create my reverse stamping decals with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener, because I find it gives me the most flexible yet durable decals. 

To adhere the decals to each nail, I first painted one coat of Fairy Dust, carefully peeled the image of the stamp head with tweezers, and laid it over the nail, smoothing with my finger.  I then seal the decal down with a coat of HKG so that the stamping doesn't smear before removing the excess off the decal.  I find that sealing it down really well before I remove the excess helps make sure that I don't inadvertently smudge or tear the image.  Once everything was clean, I topped each nail with another coat of Fairy Dust. 

Do you love it?  Hate it?  Let me know in the comments.  Hope you're all off to a great start of the week, and I'll see you tomorrow!