Aztec Leggings Inspired Mani

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I hope you all are doing well. I've been keeping busy with the help of my toddler (whew, how do they move so fast?!) but took some time out for myself last night and created a look that I've been wanting to try for some time now. I was inspired by my Aztec print leggings and came up with a trendy look that you'll be able to create as well!

I got these leggings from Ashley Stewart on cyber Monday and just love them! The color palette is so bright and fun and was right up my alley for what I love in nail art. I went through my stash and tried to pair the perfect shades of polish to my leggings and got busy! Here's what I ended up with:

Ok, seriously...this has got to be my favorite mani of all time! The colors and the print came out better than I could have ever expected. But, if you know me, you know that there is no way I freehanded this gorgeously intricate design onto my nails. 

This manicure started off a little backwards for me. I usually paint my nails then do art but this time around I did the opposite. I started by creating the stamping decal that you see in the pictorial above. Here are the steps to creating stamping decals:

1. Allow design to dry on rubber stamper (This image is from Pueen10 & is stamped with Finger Paints Black Expressionism).

2. Using a toothpick and your choice of colored polish, start filling in the empty spaces.

3. Continue filling in the spaces with your choice of colors. 

4. Once you have completely filled in the image, apply your favorite topcoat over it. Make sure you go a little off the edges so that you can pick it up off the stamper. 

5. After the topcoat is completely dry (I waited 20 minutes just to be sure), carefully pick up your image with tweezers and place it over your nail. I had Cult Tempest as my base to make the colors really pop! I used my clean up brush dipped in acetone to get rid of the excess decal on my finger and topped it with HKGirl topcoat to seal it all in.

My manicure began with one coat of Cult Nails Tempest and 3 coats of Essie Tart Deco. Tart Deco is a fabulous coral creme. The formula is nice and creamy which made application easy. After I topped that with HKGirl I used my studs from BornPrettyStore to add more dimension to this look. The other polishes used in this manicure are Bettina Sunrise, Sally Hansen Grass Slipper, & Nina Pro Cobalt.

The stamping decal technique is really the only way I could have ever achieved a look like this. I am so thankful to have found this trick and plan to get better at it this year. What do you all think of this look? Have you tried stamping decals? As always, I hope you all enjoyed this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica