Juliet Inspired Florals

Do any of you use the app Timehop? If you don't, it's this app that you connect to your social media, then every day you get an alert of things you posted that day in past years. It's a really funny way to be reminded of how far you've come (or how old you are!) Today, I got an update that it has been SEVEN YEARS since I performed in a local theater company's production of Romeo & Juliet. I really loved theater in high school, and playing Juliet during my senior year was a great way to end my "career." 

In reminiscing back to my glory days, I realized that I, appropriately, just received Juliet by Polish Addict Nail Color in my recent order. So, I decided to use the polish and the the play as inspiration for today's mani!

This mani started with a base of Polish Addict Nail Color - Juliet on my middle and ring finger, and China Glaze - Spring in My Step on my index and thumb nail, two coats of each. Juliet is a pretty, white crelly with small gold, rose gold, and holo glitters throughout. Formula and glitter spread was ideal! The China Glaze was another story, though...application was splotchy and difficult. Without a generous coat of HK Girl Topcoat to smooth it out, it would have been a total loss. The color is certainly very pretty, though! This light, feminine color pallet set the stage (get it!) for the rest of my Juliet-themed mani.

I applied two coats of OPI - My Favorite Ornament to my pinky, and used a small dotting tool and the same polish for the polka dots on my index finger. My Favorite Ornament is probably my favorite gold glitter polish, and even though it's Christmas themed, I find myself picking it out of my stash to use pretty frequently.

For the roses, I used a dotting tool dipped in OPI - Shorts Story to make little blobs, then a tiny Bundlemonster brush dipped in Spring in My Step for the petal details. The green leaf accents were done with a slightly larger brush using China Glaze - The Grass is Lime Greener. On a side note, I REALLY need to swatch that polish--I've used it for details in a few manis recently, and I'm always blown away by how vibrant it is!

Sometimes I think I rely on floral designs too much, but then I look down at the pretty blooms on my fingertips and can't be too upset about it. It's always a fairly quick detail to add to a mani, and most people seem to like them. I really do need to push myself outside of my comfort zone with some more unique designs soon, though!

So where is Shakespeare's tragic heroine in this mani? To me, Juliet was always an innocent. If you read too much into her character, it's easy to get irritated with her whiny attitude, disobedience, and obsession with a boy she hardly even knows. But if you bring yourself back to your very first crush, it's easier to understand how things got so dramatically out of hand for her and Romeo. Just imagine where you would be if you had risked it all for the cutest boy on the playground! The light colors and polka dots embody Juliet's youth and innocence, the roses her romanticism, and the glitter her spark. Am I getting too theater nerdy for you? Here, look at another pretty picture: