ABC Challenge: V is for Vintage

Vintage! Victorian! That’s what this week’s manicure is based on. The look I was going for was along the lines of vintage photographs, and I regret not having longer nails right now because I just couldn’t fit a frame onto my nails 😦

I’m also trying out my new photo set-up today, with a homemade lightbox and a real camera instead of my cell phone! Luckily for me, the sun decided to come out today after days, and how brightly; I didn’t even have to turn on any of my lamps 😀 I’m in the process of figuring out the optimal settings through trial and error, but I hope to get there at some point. Today’s post is a little picture-heavy, not just because of the new set-up but also because I’m very happy with how this manicure turned out.

On my thumb and pinky finger, I’m wearing two coats of Sally Hansen CSM in Haute Chocolate; it’s the only brown shade I own and I was rather taken aback at how pretty it looked (probably because it’s not very brown; I don’t like brown unless it’s edible, preferably chocolatey). On my index finger, I have on three coats of Zoya Pixie Dust in Godiva. On the ring & middle fingers, I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Barely There. Next, I scribbled on a sandwich bag with a black and a dark brown Sharpie marker, and sprayed some rubbing alcohol on top to thin the colours. Then, I used a paintbrush to apply little dabs of the two colours onto my ring and middle fingers. I let it dry, and repeated the process until I got an aged photo background effect. 

Finally, I stamped on my two accent fingers with Wet n Wild Black Crème and the BM-XL135 stamping plate. I topped off all but the index finger with a coat of Revlon matte top coat. Here’s another close-up and below that is an edited, more vintagey look:

Let me know what you think of this mani! Also, check out my other ABC Challenge posts under the nail art tab [Nails → Nail Art → ABC Challenge].

Click on the blue button below to check out what the other ladies have done for the letter V!