Pond Mani Technique | Whats Up Nails Challenge

Hey everyone! This month I am participating in the Whats Up Nails Nail Art Challenge. I’ve really enjoyed this challenge in the past because it prompts you to use different techniques, rather than following specific design prompts.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Whats Up Nails (@whatsupnails)

The first prompt was Pond Mani, which is a technique where you sandwich a design between layers of a jelly or sheer polish. This gives a blurred effect to the design, adding dimension. Because I only had either pink or green jellies, I decided to opt for a spring leaves theme. We’ve had snow on the ground for two months straight now, and it snows pretty much every day, so I could use a little Spring on my nails!

For this manicure, I started by applying a peel off base coat (UNT Ready for Takeoff).
For all the leaf designs I used the MoYou London Fall in Love 07 Stamping Plate and the Whats Up Nails Jumbo Clear Stamper.
First I started out by stamping a branch design on one side of my bare nails with a white stamping polish, Whats Up Nails Blanc My Mind.
After being sure that was dry I applied a thin layer of a sheer jade green polish, Cirque Colors Jade Jelly.
Once the nail was dry, I again stamped another branch onto each nail on the other side.
I once again applied another thin layer of the green jelly.
I then repeated the last two steps again, with the branch positioned now near the middle.
Lastly, I reverse stamped a branch design with a gold stamping polish (Hit the Bottle Calypso Gold) and filled it in with white with a dotting tool. Once it was completely dry I transferred it to the middle of my nails.
To protect the design I used the Apipila Cosmeticos Smudge Free Nail Art Top Coat.
To add a little sparkle, I added some gold holographic shreds in random places.
I then added a glossy top coat, Vibrant Vinyls Fast & Hard Quick Dry Glossy Top Coat.

I love the dimension in this pond mani! The jelly I used actually ended up being slightly more opaque than anticipated, so you can’t see all of my layers, but I think it still turned out very nice!