Nailed: A Nail Polish Blog: Twinsie Tuesday: Grunge Mani

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Twinsie Tuesday: Grunge Mani

I'll admit that I totally had to Google this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme because I wasn't sure what a grunge mani was. But that's part of what TT is all about is introducing us to things we otherwise might never try or even know about, right?

If, like me, you are unfamiliar with grunge manis, how they work is that you start with a base color and then thoroughly wipe down your polish brush before streaking another color over top of it. You can layer as many colors as you like and the intent is to create a distressed or grungy look--almost like a shatter-type effect without the shatter polish. Hopefully I did an okay job of explaining that...? I feel like my description sucks but I can't think of another way to explain how you do this technique. It's easier to show than tell.

So anyways, for my grunge mani, I used Illamasqua Scorch as my white base then streaked on Spoiled by Wet N Wild Did I Dye It Too Blonde?, China Glaze Sun Of A Peach, China Glaze Pool Party and Rimmel Black Satin (which came out kinda weirdly brown-looking with this mani). I wasn't quite sure what colors to use, since this is my first time doing a grunge mani, but I knew I wanted to use some neons to really emphasize the color contrast. The color palette I used turned out to be a little 90s roller rink-esque but I am totally okay with that, hahaha.

I'm really bummed that I broke a nail Monday afternoon, forcing me to chop down my nails to nubbins, because I think this would be an especially cool-looking design on long nails. But this is the first break I've had in ages so I can't complain too much

This mani was a ton of fun to do and it's actually a super easy technique! This is one of only a few Twinsie Tuesday nail art themes that didn't involve a bunch of botched attempts and swearing on my part. I'd like to try doing another grunge mani sometime soon and I'm looking forward to seeing if my Twinsies enjoyed this challenge as much as I did!