Nail Art Wednesday: Dried Flowers in Nail Art

Lately, a trend seems to be emerging: placing just about everything on your nails. (Have you seen the parody Kelly did on Vampy Varnish? Such a riot! *grins*) After fimo slices, water decals, stickers, glitter, gems, gold leaf, feathers, microbeads, flocking powder and studs (did I forget anything?), here's another one I've been wanting to try: dried flowers. Now, we're not talking about taking some of that potpourri you have handy and sticking those on to your nails! You can get these small dried flowers at your favorite nail art retailer. I got a set from Sally Beauty last month when they had it on sale, buy one, get one free. I've been wanting to bust it out since. So after all the elaborate stamping I've done recently, I wanted to tone it back down and go back to the basics. At least, the basics that have made me fall in love with nail polish to begin with: blue and flakies. Using two pretties still (shockingly!) sitting in my untried bin, I wanted to stick to my usual minimalist aesthetic and came up with this:

And wore it for a good four straight days!

What I Used:
Indigo base: Barry M Indigo
Flakie top coat: Nfu Oh 51
Fine holographic glitter top coat: Sally Hansen Ceramic Lengths Silver Slightblade (similar, China Glaze Fairy Dust)
Dried flower from Cina Midsummer Dream Nail Art Decal kit (purchased from Sally Beauty)

How I Did It:
***As is the case, I forgot to take step by step photos of how I did it. Luckily, this one's easy enough to replicate even without them.

After applying your favorite base coat and letting it dry, I applied a single coat of the indigo nail polish. It doesn't have to be opaque or perfect since we're just using it as "underwear" for the flakie polish. Once that's somewhat dry, layer on two medium coats of the flakie top coat. Add an extra layer, if you must, to ensure full opacity. Pick an accent nail (or two) and add a layer of the holographic glitter top coat. This is entirely optional and mostly to make the accent finger more eye-catching. While the polish is still wet, take some tweezers and carefully place the dried flower on to the accent nail(s). I positioned mine lopsided so that it won't look too contrived. Make sure you have it on the right side up! Once you're satisfied with the positioning, apply a liberal amount of top coat to seal everything and viola! Enjoy your flower adorned nails!

 Here's Indigo by itself at one coat. Yep, one coat. 

(I managed to take a photo of step 1 and promptly forgot the next ones. D'oh.)

 Handle those flowers with care, they tear easily! Mine lost a petal during placement..

(Please excuse the dry hands..)

 Nfu Oh 51 is such a fantastic color shifter in person but it won't seem to translate in photos.

 That little bit of holographic glitter makes the accent nail "pop" nicely.

Simple, understated yet a standout!

Yay for being halfway through the week! I'm hoping for a sunny weekend as I've pretty much had it with all this wet and perpetual greyness. Heck, it's even thundering out as I type this. But let's not dwell on unpleasantness. How's your week going, so far? Have you placed anything other than nail polish on to your nails lately? Will you be jumping on the "velvet manicure" bandwagon? What's the weirdest thing you'd willingly consent to putting on your nails?