Nail Art Challenge: Cornucopia of Fruit!

Week 5 of the Polish Swap Society Nail Art Challenge is Cornucopia of Fruit! Create a fruit themed mani. Watermelons, fimo fruit, whatever you chose! I didn't use a tutorial; just kind of had an idea pop in my head and I ran with it.

We have a Tangelo Tree in our backyard and twice a year we get a bumper crop of these delicious sweet tarts. Tangelos are a hybrid of the orange and grapefruit, so they are a sweeter version of an orange. They are a good sized fruit leaning towards the size of a large orange. They are also easier to peel than an orange (much like a tangerine). So, as you can see they combine the best qualities of all the citrus fruits. The easiest way to identify a Tangelo is by the little nub on the top at the stem. 

My base color is Barielle, Teaser. Fantastic formula! Applied like a dream and I didn't have any clean up. I used 2 coats for opacity and dry time was average. I love this green; it's absolutely beautiful and it's a very close dupe of OPI, Jade Is The New Black. The formula is better than the OPI too.

For my Tangelos I used Zoya, Arizona. She was a little on the sheer side but it was ok since I knew I would be putting a texture on top. I used the same technique I used for my Party Animals but I started higher up on the nail. I also used a large dotting tool to add the little nub at the stem. (I picked up a 5 pack of dotting tools on eBay). I've worn Zoya, Arizona on my toes before and it's a beautiful orange; because it's a little on the sheer side it gives it a squishy jelly like appearance. I also have Jancyn which is slightly darker and the formula is a touch more sheer.

Julie G, Tangerine Dream (fitting name, right?) is the texture I used for my Tangelos. I love the dimension and shimmer this adds. It's no secret that I love these textures, you can see my post on this one here.

Leaves, branches, and dots were done with acrylic paint. Since I got my new dotting tools I thought I would put them to good use. I did some cute light green dots on my index and pinky using 3 different sizes of dotting tools. I added some tiny white dots to my Tangelos using the smallest dotting tool. Branches were free handed using a small detail brush. My leaves are questionable. LOL