Not One Stroke Flower Nail Art

Purchased by Me

Hello Loves.  So I got the bright idea that I would do a one-stroke flower manicure.  I have tried this technique a few times before and failed, but I was feeling brave so...yeah, I failed again.  I'm convinced after watching a million youtube tutorials that my brush is to blame.  After getting frustrated and almost throwing the brush across the room, I decided to say the heck with it and go back to what I know: layered flowers.  I absolutely love how this one turned out.

For this mani, I started with a base of Couture Gel Nail Polish Little Black Dress.  This is my go-to black gel.  I love the depth of the polish and that it is completely opaque in three thin coats.  I have swatched this one before, but since it was before my new lighting setup, I snapped another picture. :)

I then used a thin nail art brush and acrylic paint to freehand the flowers.  I started with the red petals and then went back and added the pink to the inner portions and dabbed a little yellow on for the center of the flowers.  The leaves are a dark green acrylic paint with a lighter green layered on top to highlight parts.  Simple, yet so pretty.  :)

This mani is NOT topped off with a gel top coat.  I used Oh So Wet regular polish top coat instead.  It is a big of a an experiment.  The last time I did a manicure with acrylic paint sealed with a gel top coat ended up being a disaster.  Once the gel started to wear thin on the tips, water was able to penetrate the layers and the acrylic paint turned to mush.  The mani only lasted a few days before the top layer lifted and chipped off.  Since I have found that RNP wears like iron over a complete SOG mani, I'm hoping this one will last without the gel top coat over it all.  I've been wearing this one for 5 days now and so far it still looks perfect!  I did apply a gel top coat over the black base before the art work.

Here are a few closer shots.  :)

~Michelle