Tonic Dragon Scale + stamper smoosh

In my efforts to get through my big pile of untried polishes, it's nice to sometimes stop with my swatching and actually play around with learning new techniques.

indoor, bright CF lighting

Tonic Polish was a recent maker of the month for Hella Holo Customs, and the luscious forest green Dragon Scale was my immediate must-have.  It's a smooth linear holo in the typical somewhat thick Tonic style, with some subtle iridescent flakes tossed into the mix.  It's nearly a one-coater, and if you layer on your first coat with a heavier hand than mine, one is all you'll need.

outdoor, afternoon daylight for both

For the 2 middle nails on both hands, I got the idea from a compilation video posted to one of my FB polish groups.  The video credited Sveta Sanders, but no hint of the mani I saw was to be found even after scrolling through the past year and a half of her IG posts.  The closest similar technique was one found in this video, where she layers drops of polish then smooshes them between 2 sheets of plastic.  On my middle and ring fingers, I've painted one layer of Sinful Colors Mint Tropics for the base, then made smoosh-marble decals by painting a broad layer of Mint Tropics, adding a couple of drops of Dragon Scale, then finishing with a drop of white polish before pressing with the stamper.

I was aiming for the more radiating lightning-bolt sort of design on my ring finger in the top 2 pics, but I really liked how both hands came out in the end.

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars for Tonic Dragon Scale.  It wears nicely, and never looks near-black even in low lighting.  The little flakes embedded across the smoosh are just a nice bonus.

Where to buy:  since the HHC sales for Tonic are closed, look in destashes and blog sales, and most importantly join the HHC ISO group to post your want for this one.

~Michelle