Rasta floral nail art for 4/20!

Hey loves, happy weekend! Today I have some nails to show you that I did for 4/20 but mostly just because I like any excuse to use the rasta color combo haha. I love it!

First of all, I just need to talk about my new watermark really quick. I've been looking to add a little something to my pictures to make them more recognizable as mine but I wanted it to be cute and fun and not just boring text (like the URL watermark I did for the last couple posts, I hated that). I went looking for a new font to use and you GUYS. I found one MADE OUT OF UNICORNS.
MADE. OUT OF. UNICORRRRRRNS!!!
Anyway, needless to say, I freaked out and installed the font (found here) and then freaked out some more when I made a brush from it and used it to watermark for the first time. I'm pretty pumped about it. What do y'all think?

Okay, on to the nails! These started out with a base of my very first gradient EVAR (except for a half-assed one I did before I was really blogging). I did the gradient under the careful guidance of my sister Summer, aka my nail polish sensei. I painted my nails white and then painted stripes on a makeup sponge using China Glaze Adventure Red-y, Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights (a lemming of mine ever since the first time I saw it, and my mom surprised me with it on Friday!), and China Glaze Starboard. Then I sponged on the gradient carefully and painstakingly.

The BIG mistake I made here was putting red at the cuticle end of my nails, since we all know what a nightmare it is to clean red polish off skin and it's impossible not to get it all OVER your skin when you're doing gradients. Other than that, though, I'm really happy with the way my first gradients turned out!

I spent so long on the gradient portion of this nail art escapade - partially because my sister and I kept taking breaks and talking - that I was ready for bed by the end of the whole fandango. I wore the gradients alone to bed and then the next day I used my tiny detailing brush and American Apparel Hassid to add a silhouette vine pattern.

I liked the gradients alone, but the floral pattern took it to another level for me. I LOVE the way these turned out, and I'm happy with what I consider my "real return" to the nail art world. I hope you guys like these as much as I do!