1. August Mani

Today's the swiss national holiday, which we simply call 1. August, no fancy name whatsoever. My country turns 722 years old today (probably not exactly today, the exact date is unknown, the federal charter just states "early August" 1291)! I started to wear our national flag on my nails for 1. August years before I even knew there where nail blogs, and now, as I'm a nail blogger myself, I certainly won't stop :-)

For this year I chose a England Briar Rose for my red base. It's not a true red, a little on the pink side, with dense scattered holo particles. I wasn't really sure about this color choice, as it's too pink for the swiss flag, but I just fell in love with the holo effect... Sadly, I can't provide you with sunlight pictures, as I simply didn't have the time to take some. But you can see the holo effect a little in the direct lamp light picture (or check out my Instagram account, I posted a sunlight picture of this mani yesterday).
Formula was, like all a England polishes, excellent, I used two coats for opacity.

For the swiss flag on my ring finger, I started with two coats of Essie Blanc, a simple white creme. Once it was dry, I taped off the cross (over the complete lengh of my nail, so I could remove the tape easily afterwards) and added a thick coat of a England Briar Rose. After removing the tape and adding some more Briar Rose at the top and base of the cross, I let it dry and finished with one coat of Essence Better Than Gel Nails Top Sealer. I know, the cross is all wonky and irregular, but hey, it's a cross! (Now you know why I never show and free hand nail art, just imagine how a free hand cross would look, if I can't even tape a decent cross...)

Direct lamp light

a England polishes are available at various places, you'll find a complete list of retailers here.



And for all my swiss readers:


E schöne 1. Ougste!      Joyeux 1. Août!