My last of this month's nail art challenge prompts was "frogs." There was a gorgeous manicure posted for PPU a few months ago that had me purchasing both the beautiful lime green stamping polish and the plate with the cute frog design, and I considered just remaking the same one, but then found another untried polish that needed love.
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| indoor, bright CF lighting |
At last year's Tonic prototype sale, I'd received a pretty multichrome that I swapped for this bright lime green UP proto. It's unlabeled with number or working title, and just has the gold unicorn face sticker that she used to label the ones with that Clarins 230 type shimmer.
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| outdoor, sunlight |
This proto is a sheer jelly polish with plenty of sparkle. Noticing how sheer it was inspired me to use it like an old-skool jelly for a pond mani. The idea behind these is that you sandwich a dot or shape in white polish between layers of the jelly, where they highlight the translucency as the color builds up over the opaque white. Ideally, the jelly base is color saturated enough to make the bottom most layers of white look deeper than the upper ones, but sheer enough to not obscure those shapes in the depths.
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| indoor, bright CF lighting |
This is three alternating layers of Green UP Proto jelly, then white frogs from the adorable Lina Summer 03 plate. There were 3 frog designs to choose from, all small enough to fit on even short nails, making them perfect for overlapping in various configurations.
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| outdoor, bright sunlight |
I don't think I would have loved this color half as much if I wore it solo - the yellow lean to this bright springy green is a shade I usually pass on - but with the sandwiched bits of white I thought this was super fun and quite versatile. It'd make a great topper over any shade of blue, green, or aqua.
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| outdoor, bright sunlight |
The shimmer in this polish would be a showstopper with or without the nail art, though. In bright direct light, there's a red fire that sharply contrasts with the lime green base, then blends into and intensifies it when seen in angled light (above).
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| indoor, bright CF lighting |
Rating: a luscious 4 out of 5 stars, this is a super fun warm weather color that's pretty unique in my collection. It does wear like a jelly, meaning the tips started to look thin within 2 days, but the formula was smooth, easy to work with, and dried quickly enough that the multiple layers weren't a pain. Especially for a prototype (which are always sold as-is and never guaranteed to be up to sale quality), this is a great little polish.
Where to buy: haunt blog sales and destashes for people letting go of protos. Some prototypes were in small batches, and people in the Tonic group have identified a few that popped up in multiples. This one may be a one-of-a-kind, though, no way to tell.
~Michelle
Great shimmer and lovely manicure :-D
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