NOTD: Lily's Special Request!

One of the kids at my job (I do child care) had her birthday yesterday. Earlier this week, she asked me if I could do something special on my nails for her birthday. I asked her what she would want and she told me that she wanted a flower with a rhinestone. So since her name is Lily, what better flower to paint her than a lily!

Polishes used:
Zoya Blu (baby blue crème)
OPI My Vampire Is Buff (off-white beige-y crème) - lily
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost (white crème) - lily
Sinful Colors Big Daddy (red-orange crème) - inside of the lily
Color Club Disco's Not Dead (light bright pastel peachy yellow crème) - inside of the lily
China Glaze Sun Worshiper (neon yellow-y orange crème) - inside of the lily
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow (yellow crème - original formula) - inside of the lily
Sinful Colors Garden Party (medium green crème) - stem and leaves
Sephora by OPI Is It Payday Yet? (light green crème) - stem and leaves
Color Club 'Til The Record Stops (light bright pastel green crème) - stem and leaves

First, I changed my nail shape! I broke a corner off one of my nails while playing Egyptian Ratscrew with the kids, so I had to file all my other ones to match. I wanted to keep the length of my nails (instead of filing them all down to square nubs), so hello ovals! Honestly, I like the way my nails look better square, but I guess these are fine for a while.

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Blu. Then I took a little paint brush from a set that I got at an art store (this set is basically the same thing) and painted the shape of the lily with MVIB. Then I took GP on the same brush and painted the shapes of the stem and leaves. Then I took OMGhost on a smaller brush and painted that on top of the lily shape I had already painted, leaving the center alone so that MVIB would show through and add some depth.

(Excuse the marker stain on my thumb - I was organizing and re-capping all the markers at work)

After painting GP for the stems and leaves, I took IIPPY? on a very thin brush (I actually trimmed a regular sized nail art brush with an old pair of cuticle nippers to make it really thin for small details), mixed it with GP, and added some highlights. Then I took IIPY? on its own and added more. Using 'TTRS, I added little strokes on top. Basically I just kept going back and forth between the greens, cleaning the brush off in between colors, mixing them together, and adding them lightly in places until I reached my desired effect for the stem and leaves.

I did the same thing with the inside of the lily. I started by adding three little dots (really hard to see the "dots," I know) of BD. Then I mixed BD with some MY, SW, and DND and dotted it on top of the dots I had already placed. Then I switched to the really thin nail art brush, mixed the colors together in a way that made the color lighter and brighter, and kinda dabbed this new color on top of the dots. I wanted to go for a soft, pollen-y look, so I didn't want there to be stark, crisp dots; That's why I switched to the brush. I just kept repeating that technique until I finished with a color and finish that was similar to what I had in mind.

To finish everything off, I added a little dab of a cheap top coat on top of where the biggest dot of orange was. I picked up a yellow-y orange rhinestone with a damp orange stick and placed it on top. The rhinestone I used came in a little wheel with different colors and shapes, but I don't remember where I got them. Born Pretty Store or Amazon probably have something similar. After that, I waited about 10-15 minutes before adding my top coat to avoid smearing the flower.

I really like how this turned out! Lily loved it too; She was so happy when she saw them!

Thanks for reading!