Gold waterfall manicure

Today I want to show you a manicure inspired by the amazing Nailasaurus and her waterfall nails technique.

Polishes used: Barry M Majesty, unnamed Cynthia Rowley gold, Orly Dazzle, Orly Flare, Barry M Gold Foil and Ciate Cookies and Cream.

In this type of nail art, you choose a bunch of complementing colours and make thin, disappearing stripes with a fine brush starting at the cuticle line and going around halfway through the nail. I used the nude Ciate for my base - and I have to say this might be my new favourite nude. The shade complements my skin perfectly, and just looks so light and airy. Once that was dry, I added the gold and silver lines.

Gold waterfall manicure, with glossy top coat - shade

I made the stripes with a pared down art brush, but it's a bit stiff and nowhere near as long as it should be to make the trails look really wispy and fluid. You can see places where it was too stiff and it sort of separated the polish into two lines.

Gold waterfall manicure with glossy top coat - direct light

Once the lines were dry, I secured everything with Seche Vite. I used the lovely Barry M Majesty as an accent nail and on my thumb, and it really looked fabulous - I wasn't really able to capture how sparkly and pretty this textured polish is.

Gold waterfall manicure with matte top coat.

I then added my Orly Matte Top coat on the non-textured nails, making the manicure look even more airy and smooth. I have to say I absolutely loved wearing it, and I didn't take it off for two days - a rarity for me these days! The amount of effort needed for it was fairly low, and the results just speak for themselves. I am looking forward to getting my Born Pretty shipment with some decent nail art detailing brushes, so I can give it another go.

Polishes I used:

• Barry M Majesty - a gorgeous champagne gold textured glitter. It was a breeze to apply and opaque in two medium coats, but it took quite a long time to dry completely. The texture is fairly rough, but pleasant, the removal is a bit of a pain.
• Cynthia Rowley gold - an unnamed, and unnumbered camel-gold polish that I got in a set at TK Max. On its own, it would take two coats and look fairly frosty, but it works pretty well for details like these. I hate that this line has no identifiers for the polishes.
• Orly Dazzle - silver shimmery foil, very easy to apply and very sparkly. On its own, it would take two coats to be opaque, and it's one of my favourite silver polishes.
• Orly Flare - a gold sister of Dazzle, but with less talent. On its own it takes three coats to be fully opaque, and has weird drying issues. But again, it worked perfect for this nail art.
• Barry M Gold Foil - a dark gold foil polish, amazing for stamping and nail art. Very opaque, and easy to apply.
• Ciate Cookies and Cream - a cool-leaning pale nude crème. Opaque in three coats, but each dried very quickly, and the end result was definitely worth it. The Ciate mini brush was surprisingly good for application.
• Orly Matte Top - a matte top coat I've had for a year now. It's gotten a bit goopy, but it was nothing a few drops of polish thinner wouldn't fix. It dries to a delicious matte finish, doesn't change the base colour and is easy to apply. Drying time, as for all matte polishes, is excellent. I've never tried a different matte top coat, so can't compare it.

Thanks for looking!