Essie Marshmallow Re-Do // 4th Inspired Star Manicure

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends. In the spirit of the day, and because it's been a while since I posted (oops, sorry about that!) I thought I'd do a little manicure loosely inspired by the holiday, more specifically, your star spangled banner. 

I recently purchased a mixed pack of nail studs; don't ask me how I haven't had these before. As a self-proclaimed nail obsessive, I find it quite frankly very strange I hadn't bought any of these before! I can only think it's because they're not commonly sold in stores, and, unlike the multiple polishes that are paraded before my eyes everyday on Instagram, there's no constant reminder to me to get on and track some down. 

Anyway....a few weeks ago, I was on a procrastination roll, and coming to the end of every possible avenue of time wasting that I know (no mean feat), when I suddenly remembered I really "needed" these. Ha! Yeah...right...you can see how the time gets away from me can't you?! 

So, I browsed eBay (multiple options all at bargain prices - HERE), promptly became a whopping $2.49 worse off, waited a couple of weeks, and here they are.

The polish I used is Essie Marshmallow. Now, you may remember me writing about how I disliked it some time ago. Well, I since saw it pop up on Instagram a few times and still loved the jelly finish and soft but opaque white of it. I just wanted to like it so much, I had to give it a second chance. I played around with it for a bit, and finally found that if applied in extremely thin coats, with a very soft touch and plenty of wait time between coats, it can be made to work. The first layer was still streaky, the second less so, but by the third coat, lo and behold it looked okay. I did a fourth just to be sure of no visible nail line. I'm a perfectionist. It's doubtful you'd need to. 

So, I take it back - whilst it's still a three to four coater and takes work, the colour is pretty, and the jelly finish is something I adore in a polish. It's not love, but I don't hate it. 

Ah-hem. Ok, back to the manicure...

Add the studs, throw in some China Glaze 'I'm Not Lion' (best soft gold micro glitter, IMHO), top it all with Seche Vite (the only top coat up for this kind of job) annnnnnnd VOILA! 

I think this manicure would also look lovely for Christmas, don't you?!

Happy Fourth of July to my American readers, stay safe and enjoy the celebrations! To everyone else, happy Friday! 

xxx

PS: I'm opening my new online store officially this weekend, but I wanted to let you guys know about it first. Pop over and have a peek at BHEARTB.com  You can use the code 'BLOGFRIENDS20' to get 20% off if you order this weekend :)