Nail Art Using the Heavy Petal Collection from Jessica

You know, life is strange sometimes. There have been times where I was almost obsessed with a polish collection, eagerly waiting for it to be released only to find that once they were in my hands, I wasn't all that inspired by them. Then there's the opposite, which is what happened to me with the Heavy Petal collection from Jessica Cosmetics.

Honestly, when I looked at the collection images I wasn't all that impressed. Woo, pink. Woo, lavender. I'm usually not all that into the "safe" colors. But then something interesting happened...

I was sent this collection to review, to experiment with and to write about, and once I had the polishes in my hand, I realized that hey... these polishes are pretty darned exciting! I decided to skip the usual review type of thing and do what I like best- I was going to play with these!

I decided to experiment with two similar nail designs, only switching up the colors. I started out with Witchy Wisteria on my left hand and Geranium Gypsy on my right. Now, I'd like for you to ignore the bit of drag towards my cuticles because I'm kinda not the best at polishing my nails. But the crazy thing is that both of these polishes are one-coaters (if you're more skilled than I am)! That's always a good thing, right? But there's more...

Look closely at this photo of Witchy Wistera, and you'll see that it's a deep, rich red-based purple with copper sparkle in it! Go ahead, enlarge the photo to the right because it is so worth it!!

I absolutely LOVE this polish. There's a warmth to it that just draws me in. I'm sold... this polish is flat-out amazing. It applies beautifully... I honestly have nothing bad to say about this one!

Then there's Geranium Gypsy. I'm not quite as fond of this one on its own, simply because it's a foil and it tends to accentuate every little flaw in your nails. Believe me, with all the health issues I have, my nails have some pretty annoying flaws!

Still, if you're into metallic foil polishes, this one is a stunner. The lilac color is beautiful, and it applies well. I didn't notice tons of brush marks either, which is always a plus.

For the record? Brush marks make Laynie a very cranky blogger.

Once I had my base colors on, I decided to experiment with stamping with this collection. Again, these polishes performed beautifully!

On my left hand, I chose to stamp with Geranium Gypsy and Hotter Than Hibiscus, the pink counterpart to Geranium Gypsy's lilac. I then added dots of Born to Pansy, a sheer milky lilac with intense blue shimmer. I used the image plates from my new Salon Express stamping kit.

Once all that was done, I felt the need to add some colorful dots in the flower centers. I went back to the China Glaze Electropop collection and mixed some custom colors for the centers.

As you can see, the foils stamp amazingly well. I love how metallic they look...  They were a joy to stamp with. Born to Pansy is fascinating on the deep polish, because in some lights it's almost invisible. Then, as I move my hands, the light catches on the blue shimmer and it's as if I suddenly have ghost dots appearing on my nails! Super fun.

I'm not quite as happy with my right hand, but it's still cute. I went for the opposite effect on this one- dark polish stamped onto a light base. I used Witchy Wisteria and Dased Dahlia to stamp flowers, and then did dots with the Dased Dahlia to fill in the empty space. I added the mixed-Electropop floral centers on this hand too, to tie the two hands together.

Honestly, I much prefer the darker base, but I tend to be a bit of a drama queen that way. Still, I'm happy with how this manicure turned out. Now, if only I could get my poor cuticles in better shape... *grin*

Now, all I need to do is to figure out what design I'm going to do on my nails next! Ahhh, first world problems, how I love you! :D

Til next time!

Polishes were provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.