Nail Art: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #23 - Cocktail Nails - Gin and Tonic

Hello, hello! Yet another week, yet another Theme Buffet!

So, summer is upon us and it's that time of year where it's nice to lounge around and enjoy drinks with friends, enjoying the weather, each other... and a tasty beverage or two or three or....

The theme for this week was "cocktail nails," and I chose to put together a look inspired by my  favorite drink. I have no clue how well it come across.... but my cocktail of choice? The humble Gin and Tonic! <3




I was really stumped as to what to do for today's manicure. Originally, I was thinking of doing some sort of homage to a fruity drink, like the daiquiri or something. But as I sat at happy hour with my friends after work on Thursday, gin and tonic in hand, I figured I just HAD to try this one.

So how do you make a gin and tonic-inspired manicure when the drink is actually clear and colorless? That was the challenge. I was trying to invoke the fizzy image of the tonic water, so at first, I planned on sponging a white gradient on just the tips over my bare nail, like I did last week with the blue for the ocean look.  Next I would cover it in a fine glitter to show the fizziness. I did one or two nails like that... and decided I didn't like how splochy they'd turn out

Then I remembered the white and silver nails from my fishtail braid manicure back in April. It would make a nice, effervescent sort of look for my nails! I painted this on my pinky, middle and pointer and decided to do a bright lime green for my ring and thumb.

Why lime green? If you don't know, a gin and tonic is traditionally garnished with a lime! That's why my accent nail has a lime/citrus print stamped on it! Well, plus there's the fact that Tanqueray, my gin of choice, comes in a bright green bottle.

After stamping the lime shapes across my nail, it still felt like the manicure was missing something to give it a light and bubbly feeling. At first I was going to use a fine glitter... until I remembered the lime green Nfu Oh flakie that I hadn't tried out yet! I put a coat across all of my fingers, including the white and silver nails. I really like the way it brightened things up without making it to gaudy.

Polishes / Items used in this manicure:

• White (pinky, middle and pointer base; stamping): Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
• Silver (pinky, middle and pointer gradient tips): Butter London - Diamond Geezer
• Bright Green: (ring and thumb base): Julep - Tatum
• Lime Green flakie (llayered over all fingers): Nfu-Oh 57
• Stamping plate: Shany XXL Set B

Is it sufficiently cocktail-ey? Do you get the Gin and Tonic vibe that I was going for? I guess it has more a summer citrus look than a cocktail look..... but I still like how it turned out! So, what's your drink of choice? Let me know!

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