Book Club Nails: Barbarian Days

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 Our most recent book club pick was Barbarian Days, by William Finnegan, a memoir about surfing and life.  Though the subject didn't appeal to me at first (neither nonfiction in general nor autobiographies in specific are my cuppa), the book is genuinely fantastic, and I wanted to pull out the stops for our meet-up.  And it occurred to me I had a plate for that...

outdoor, bright daylight for both

I've started here with 2 coats of Fancy Gloss Lace, a soft pink that she sells as a "sheer" and we can certainly debate whether this is jelly vs crelly.  In any case, you'd need perhaps 4 coats for opacity, which is not actually what it's for IMO.  This polish is absolutely the best ever "my nails but better" shade at just a couple coats.  The sheerness keeps it neutral to the point I think it'd provide an utterly perfect clean nail art base on any skin tone.


KADS Nature 011 is a square plate with 4 images of waves crashing in 3 layers, which means you can have a different wave on every nail with one repeat on your thumb.  The plate is etched just right, and I had no problems lifting any image.  This is one of the most forgiving and easy to use layered stamping plates I've ever tried: the large wave outline at the top is applied first, and then is simply filled in with the two detailed images.  I did the base wave in a medium blue, then the center row of detail accents in dark blue, and the bottom row in white.  I was so in love with how these turned out that I wore them for a week on vacation, too.  

my thumb was my fave wave!

Rating:  5 out of 5 stars all around.  Fancy Gloss Lace is absolutely as fantastic as several polish fb groups implied it would be, and will become a staple for any time I'd like to do a negative-space look.  It's smooth and easy to work with and does exactly what I wanted it to.  I've had plenty of luck with KADS plates in the past, and this one is no different, highly recommended for anyone who's been hesitant to try out layered stamping. 

Where to buy:  the base polish directly from Fancy Gloss.  KADS plates are very inexpensive, usually about $2, and I typically buy them from ebay.

Happy reading, 

~Michelle 

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