Ikat nails

This months theme for Cyw’s “Mottomonat” is “Fabrics”, and I took this as opportunity to finally try Ikat nails:

I started with two coats of “urban jungle” as base, and then used “maximilian strasse her” and again “urban jungle” to paint the basic pattern.

In my first tries, I wasn’t too happy with the black outlines. No matter how small the brush or how opaque the black polish, the lines always looked kind of washed-out and faded, and quite messy as well. But then I remembered seeing people using permanent markers for nail art, and thought this might be worth a try.

It worked out really well, I think, though I might use one with an even smaller tip next time. I was a bit scared of smearing, especially on the light base color, but I used a coat of Seche Vite for protection and it worked its usual magic. 🙂

To complete the look, I finished with one coat of “Matte About You”.

So this pretty much turned out the way I had in mind, but I am still not sure about the look in general. I wasn’t a huge fan during the big Ikat hype, and seeing it on my own nails didn’t really change that. But at least I can check off another item on my “nail art looks to try” list. 😀

Base coat: p2 hands & nails calcium gel
Base color: essie Haute in the Heat 319 urban jungle (two coats)
Ikat pattern: essie 252 maximilian strasse her, essie Haute in the Heat 319 urban jungle, black permanent marker
Top coat: Seche Vite
Matte top coat: essie Matte About You