Nail Art Wednedsay: Falling Leaves Nails

September is right around the corner (how'd that happen?!). Holiday collections are being revealed as early as late August. There's a definite chill in the air at night. But I'm still in denial. I'm not quite ready for summer to end yet! I haven't even had the chance to sport more of my newly acquired neons! But there's not much sense fighting the changing seasons. I was just out the other day running errands when I realized that some of the trees are already changing colors. Simply put, it's as inevitable as taxes. But please don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like autumn (because I do). Rather, I'm averse to the fact that I'm running out of time to sport my brights. Yes, I'm one of those people who tend to wear certain colors only during certain seasons. I suppose you can say that this is my version of matchy-matchy. Now, fall isn't official till September 22, but like those holiday collections trickling in, let's jump the gun with these falling leaves nails:

I'm thinking that sporting these puts me somewhere between denial and acceptance.

What I Used:
Gold base color: China Glaze Swanky Silk
Backdrop stamping polish: Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Plus in Real Royal
Copper leaves stamping polish: Spa Ritual Running With Wolves
Burgundy leaves stamping polish: Jessica Bette
Stamping plates: Bundle Monster BM-312 (streaks full nail pattern) and Red Angel RA-121 (leaf)

How I Did It:

Step 1: After applying your favorite base coat, apply an opaque layer of your base color. For our purposes we'll be using a color shifting gold. If in a hurry, apply a layer of fast dry top coat to speed up the drying process.

Step 2: Once the base color is dry, we can proceed to the stamping. Take the dark brown polish to add some dimension to the base by stamping on the streaks full nail pattern. I choose it specifically because it reminded me of tree bark striations.

Step 3: Next, using the copper polish, stamp on a leaf on each nail. For added interest, try inverting the image after every nail and varying the placement so it won't look too contrived. I also added an extra copper leaf on my thumb so there won't be too much dead space.

Step 4: Once the previous layer is dry (give it about a minute or so), take the burgundy polish and use that to stamp on a leaf diagonal to where your copper leaves are. Feel free to also add an extra burgundy leaf on the thumb nail for symmetry. Finish with a generous layer of top coat and you're all set for fall!

Truth be told, this was a play it by ear sort of design. I already had Swanky Silk on when I decided to jazz it up some. I wasn't all too sure what would look good with it, except I knew I wanted to add some sort of texture to it. I even played around with the idea of doing a half moon manicure, but owing to my epic failures in the past, I decided to play it safe and get some use out of my stamping plates instead. Best. decision. ever. This turned out even better than what I hoped for. I might have had to do trial and error with some of the colors (Essie Penny Talk stamps really well but was too close to the base color for it to show up properly) I used but it all turned out well in the end.

 I lost some of the symmetry on the thumb but I think it actually looks better when leaf placement is more haphazardly done.

 Fall doesn't seem so bad if you can sport fun designs like this!

 I didn't have an appropriate fabric flower so I went with the next best thing: fabric petals.

 The texture you create from the 2nd step is more apparent in low lighting.

The gleam of the metallic gold base tends to obscure it otherwise.

Yep, sweater weather is definitely upon us.

Happy Wednesday! Just look at the week flying by! I know I missed Monday's post but I've been feeling somewhat under the weather after a really hectic weekend at Fan Expo. (Thankfully, I don't think it's the con crud. Purell was my best friend.) The booth was really busy and I couldn't even go for a lunch break on Saturday (the busiest day)! I did get to meet some awesome people (such fun to see you, Mary aka @mellinail!) and had some fangirl moments that made the entire experience all worth the exhaustion. Would you want to see some photos from the event? I have a bunch up over on my Instagram (@polishedindulgence), if you're curious. Enough about me, let's talk about you: how's your week working out? How do you usually jazz up an existing manicure? Do you ever go about nail art without a plan? Do you also tend to wear certain colors only during certain seasons throughout the year?