Scalloped / Cloud Mani Featuring Barielle Shades.

Shown with a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite.

I got to feeling a little frisky and decided to try the Scalloped or Cloud Mani look. It's my first time doing this so I gave it a test run first on a swatch stick. The test run came out much better than my actual nails but I am still happy with the end result. I even it wore this to get an oil change and one of the service guys commented on them; He asked if I had gone to a Reggae Party. Um, no, I didn't. LOL

Barielle, Sunshine. 3 coats. No top coat.

I started with a yellow base; Barielle's Sunshine. It's a pretty yellow cream with subtle shimmer. This is a typical 'Yellow' kind of formula; thick, streaky, and not self-leveling. It also took a really long time for each coat to dry. Probably not the best yellow but if you love this particular shade then go for it.

My 1st row of dots.

Using Barielle's Life of the Party, a bright magenta pink cream, I added some dots horizontally across each nail. I used a sewing pin with a large head as my dotting tool. I made sure each dot connected with the last. Life of the Party is a very dense cream polish so it was perfect for this design. As you can see it looks a little different over the yellow base; it makes it appear to be a coral pink. You can see a nail stick swatch if you scroll down a little.

My 2nd row of dots.

I then added a 2nd row of dots using Barielle's Surf's Up. Surf's Up is a saturated cerulean blue cream. This is also a very dense and opaque polish. As you can see this may cause some staining; I had a hard time cleaning it off my skin. When putting this over the yellow base it made it look more green like a teal. I also did a nail stick swatch of this (scroll down); I noticed it looked a lot like Cult Nails' Party Time from the new Road Trip Anyone? Collection (I ordered it on pre-sale). They are incredibly close but not quite dupes. Cult Nails is just a smidge darker but I honestly don't think anyone would need both. Both have good formulas so its a toss up as to which brand you prefer; personally, I would choose the Barielle because I love the company and their nail treatments.

Barielle, Life of the Party. 2 coats. No top coat.

Barielle, Surf's Up & Cult Nails, Party Time. 2 coats each. No top coat.

I then filled the upper part of the nail in with Surf's Up as well as wrapped the free edge. I used two coats to fully cover up the yellow underneath. Because of all the layers it took an extremely long time to dry. I then sealed it all with a coat of Gelous & Seche Vite. The Gelous caused some of the blue to smear a little and I can see where it dragged some of it off the nail. I often have this problem when applying top coat for some reason; I give it tons of time to dry but I end up seeing some color transferred onto my top coat brush. If you have any tips for me that would be great!

These 3 Barielle Shades are from the Some Like It Hot Collection (Summer 2012). The set also includes two other colors; an orangey coral called Gotta Have Fate & Lilly of the Valley, a shimmery emerald green. You can buy these individually as well; however, Sunshine, Life of The Party, and the 5 pack are not available on www.barielle.com right now but you may be able to find them at other online retailers. I also see that Ulta carries a small selection of Barielle Shades so you might find these in store.