Konadicure - The Anti-Valentine's Day Mani

Well, I might as well break the news to you the blunt way.

I despise Valentine's Day. If you want to read the story in it's entirety, you can do so here. Needless to say, I've always had a sour taste in my mouth for this particular holiday. To me, it's over commercialized, has lost its meaning, and somehow turned into the holiday where guys are supposed to give diamonds or a very expensive gift to his significant other. I think it's bull crap.

Every day of the year can be Valentine's Day. February 14th should not be reserved for expensive gifts to "prove" to your other half that you love them. Especially in the case of us single people, it's a too-sugary-sweet-makes-me-want-to-barf seeing all the cutesy, lovey-dovey, sappy fake presentations of "love" and "adoration".

Give me a break. The flowers are dead when they're given to you, the 1 lb of chocolate inexplicably and strangely makes you gain 10 lbs which goes straight to your tush or hips, and the jewelry is most likely CZ's. Ok, last one happens far too often... Want to know how to tell if you've gotten a fake?? CZ's throw off blue reflections, whereas diamonds throw off rainbows. It pays having a sister who's certified in diamonds and stones... Sweet! But if you're one of those lucky gals which received real diamonds- good for you!

Ok, I could rant on for weeks about this holiday... But I'm sure you want to see nails. So here they are:

Can you believe these are my real nails?! I don't think I've ever had them uniform length, and feeling so strong! The Seche Vite top coat really has helped not only dry my nails in a snap, provided flawless coverage without streaking... And also helped prevent me from getting nicks and splits!

I was aiming for a graffiti look, and I hope I succeeded. I threw on a base coat first (always!), then did two coats of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry nail polish in 02 Whirlwind White. After applied, I swiped on a coat of SV to dry and seal the color.

The background was stamped with BM11, the "hearts on strings" full nail stamp. Well, since BM plates are small, it doesn't quite cover my entire nail- but it's ok. The more you layer, the more creative your effect will look! This stamp was applied using SH's Insta-Dry in 220 Flashy Fuchsia. That's right gals, it's super-pigmented and opaque... Surprisingly not a Konad Special Polish!!

Next up I did use my Gold-Black KSP to stamp two images from the BM03 plate. I stamped the heart with wings once on my nails, about mid-way. Some I angled, some I didn't... But I didn't want it perfect. My thumbs, I stamped it twice on an angle. I figured it was appropriate to show a heart "flying" away! The second stamp was the heart "flower", which I only covered halfway with polish and stamped on my pointer through pinky fingers where the half moon on my nails would be. Again- I didn't want it to be perfect, so some were angled a little off from others, some were twisted a bit... I wanted variety!

Once that was done, I finished off with a coat of SV to seal the design and my nails... And they're super-shiny! I love that when I look at my nails, it looks like a black to pink fade!This mani will need to be a staple because I'm just totally in love with it... Perhaps come spring time, I'll try it in other colors!

What do you think?? Would you wear a design like this??

x0x0x0 ~*Snarky P