Spring ASBMF Challenge #9: Fresh Cut Lawns

Sunday afternoon, I took off Hatched and I knew I had to get working on Fresh Cut Lawns for the ASBMF Challenge.  If I didn't at least start it, I knew that I would just end up putting it off for the entire week.  Having no real idea what I wanted to do, I decided to pick out a green polish to paint my nails with and then hope and pray for inspiration.  It finally came when I decided to make my Fresh Cut Lawns manicure more abstract themed and try my hand at a newer technique that I've been drooling over for a while now, the Spun Sugar manicure.

I don't know if that's the accepted name for this technique but I've seen it used as the name a few times and it seems like the catchiest name out of all the one's I've heard.  I can't remember exactly where I first saw this, but it may have been from an entry by The Nail Buff on Chalkboard Nails' dotting contest back in February.  Also, she links to this video on YouTube, which I remember watching back when I first saw this technique online.  There's also a pretty good tutorial video here where it is referred to as "Sugar Spun" nails, rather than Spun Sugar.  I started by testing it out on just my thumb, using an orange stick and three different greens.  And it was a good thing I tested it on just one nail first because I totally overdid it on my thumb!  I applied way too many strings of polish.  You couldn't even see the base color anymore and it was just a lumpy mess.  Adding top coat made it even worse!  That really helped me though to get an idea of how to limit the number of lines to use and the rest of my nails came out great, as well as my thumb which I had cleaned off and repainted.  And even when I got a small blob on my ring finger when I bonked the orange stick off my nail, I didn't mind how that mistake ended up looking.

My base color was OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow Suede.  And let me just say, I love the OPI Suede Collection polishes!  They're matte polishes, but like the name implies, with more of a suede look to them rather than a pure flat, matte finish.  They are really great left matte/suede, but when you add top coat...WOW!

I managed to top coat my nails before thinking about taking a picture of the original matte finish.  I actually wasn't planning on taking a picture of this color by itself at all, but once I added the top coat, I couldn't resist snapping at least one shot.  I used to think it was odd to add top coat to a matte polish.  If you're specifically buying a matte nail polish, why un-matte it?  (Is that an actual word?)  But then I realized it just gives you another option for how to wear that polish.  And adding top coat affects the look of a matte polish in a completely different way than it does when applied to a regular polish, especially with the OPI Suedes.  They are absolutely my favorite matte polishes ever.  They have such depth and they have more of a gritty look to them.  But gritty in a completely awesome way.  Adding top coat just makes that gritty appearance sparkle in a "jump up and smack you in the face with all its sparkly glory" kind of way.  Actually, I didn't start the Spun Sugar part of this manicure until the next day after work.  So I had worn Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow Suede with just top coat all day on Monday and got a lot of compliments on it.  For the design, the colors I used for my "grass" were (in the order I applied them) China Glaze Tree Hugger, OPI Don't Mess With OPI and OPI Did It On 'Em.

This technique definitely takes some patience, but it's so worth it.  Clean up really wasn't all that bad either.  I considered taping off my nails, but I was worried that the tape might tug on the strings of polish and mess up the edges when I tried to take the tape off.  So I just used a small brush and acetone to clean up the sides of my fingers after I applied each color.  There really wasn't that much polish around my nails to remove, but next time I might try putting some Vaseline or chap stick on my skin first just to see if that makes any difference.

After letting the polish strings dry and set up a bit, I added two coats of Seche Vite top coat.  I can just barely feel a little texture on my nails from the polish strings.  So even with two coats of Seche Vite, it's not perfectly smooth, but it's close enough that I don't feel like I need a third coat.  I know this is my lawn manicure, but every time I look down at my nails it makes me think of the Green Bay Packers!  And dare I say, Zubaz!!!

Talk about a flashback!  Oh and here's a close-up of my index finger from my cell phone, so you can see all the stringy-ness!

Be sure to check out some of the other ladies who participated in this challenge!

Hannah from Polished Prisms
Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Karine from Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Sharon from What Color is My Coat?
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Amanda from Counting Down to Bliss
Kayono from Neues vom Kellerkind
April from Munia's Nails
Sharra from The Blahg
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails
CR from Color Me Silly
T from Mami Blogs
Alyson from Beads. Nails. Food.