Peppermint Swirls

I apologize for the too-bright pictures...my room lighting is just too low tonight. I think you get the idea though - fun red & white peppermint-y swirls! I had a ton of fun doing these, but I was up until 3am because, well, things have to dry, and clean-up, while much easier this time still takes...time. But I ramble.

I started things off with a base of China Glaze base coat topped with two coats of CG "White Out".

You'll notice that my fingers are a little shiny. I was going to use cuticle oil to block the excess polish this time, but in light of our fruit fly problem (which has since been controlled, thank goodness), I decided to use petroleum jelly instead (no scent). For the record, it worked great.

Then I had the brilliant idea to use glitter polish for swirling. I'll save you the whole sordid story, but just FYI - CG Ruby Pumps and Tinsel do *not* work for water marbling. I started over with Pure Ice "Platinum" and Sinful Colors "Ruby Ruby". Much nicer.

I should have taken photos of the swirls - I used an orange stick and started in the center, just swirling the colors together. The first one came out a bit too wide:

The rest of my right hand went pretty well though - these fingers were done using red as the first color dropped (first photo above). Are you ready? I told you this was a messy job (ie, really fun!)...

Then I switched it up for my left hand, and dropped the white color first (2nd photo above). I also did the middle three fingers at the same time - worked great!

I look like a sick zebra. LOL After I got done dipping, I put on two coats of Zoya topcoat, and used Qtica half-time drops to dry everything quickly. After it was dry, I used a paper towel to just wipe away the excess polish along with the pet. jelly. The cuticles still needed a little clean-up in the shower this morning, but not much at all.

And voila! Peppermint swirls, all cleaned up.

I've got some Christmas decals for next week, appropriately enough. Until then, happy polishing!