Hawaiian Inspiration

Hi everyone!  I haven't posted this past week because I went to MAUI!  :)  It was such a fun trip and we spent our time laying on the beach, snorkeling, zip lining, watching magnificent sunsets, and eating great food.  While doing all of these activities I found so many sources of inspiration for my manicures.  We went snorkeling off the coast of Lanai and saw several species of beautiful tropical fish.  One that I particularly loved, was the parrotfish.  It's beautifully colored and gave me a lot of inspiration for a manicure.  I wanted to do a parrotfish inspired mani, but I'm not sure if I like the results of this yet.  I feel like this one sorta looks like a little kid's finger-painting...

I didn't use a base coat for this one since I knew there would be several layers of polish, and 6+ layers is not chic this season. :)  I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Rise and Shine.  I picked it up right before I left because it reminded me of tropical water.  I originally went to look at the Island Adventure collection (the new one that looks oddly similar to OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection), and found Rise and Shine in the display, but I don't think it's part of that collection.  Anyway, it's a gorgeous, rich teal color with a subtle shimmer.  The formula is great and opaque in 2 coats.  It dries very quickly and matte.  These photos don't do it justice, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it to photograph without this weird yellow tinge.  I ended up taking the photo in indirect light to get a better representation, but the color is much more vibrant and bright that it looks in this photo.

Next, I added 1 coat of L'Oreal Blue Marine, a duochromatic that is teal, but flashes pink and purple.  It reminds me of peacock feathers.  This is another one that I purchased right before my trip and I wanted it because it reminded me of tropical water (I had the tropics on my mind apparently.)  It's very sheer and if worn alone would probably require several coats for opacity.

Next, I used a piece of folded paper towel to apply Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost in a random pattern.

Then, I applied a layer of Hard Candy Beetle, then a layer of Sally Hansen Byte.  Here's the final result:

The jury's still out on this one.  Where do you find inspiration for your manicures?

I also found Island Girl polishes while I was in Maui, and purchased a few of them.  Stay tuned these next few days to see swatches.  Thanks for reading! :)