A Sunbeam Snake Attempt

Sssssssss hi! Sssnake nail art to share today so look away if you're not a reptile fan! No snakes were harmed in the making of these very shiny and slightly scruffy nails...

I have had this nail art look on my to do list for years! I originally saw them on So Hot Right Nail's Instagram and then watched the YouTube tutorial a few times. I loved the way the shiny foil shimmered through the snake pattern but didn't have all the appropriate tools for a long time, so I'm glad to have finally given it ago!

I started with a layer of clear gel polish,and while wet added little shards of silver foil I'd cut up using nail scissors, I went for approximately three pieces per nail. I then cured the gel and added a another clear layer which I cured. Next I added one layer of sheer black nail polish, the tutorial says to use gel but I don't have sheer black gel and using normal polish worked fine, I just needed to make sure it had plenty of time to dry. Once dry I stamped snake skin images from Uber Chic's Cold Blooded stamping plate over the top. Once fully dry I added a no wipe gel top coat. I used a peel off base under the whole look as I always do with gels.

My verdict on the overall result is mixed, but to be honest i think they came out pretty well given I was using techniques I'm not used to. I think the pattern on my ring fingernail was a little too wide but the others looked pretty snazzy! You can see already though that some of the foil shards did start to peel up a bit at the edges. Odd as they had layers over them but perhaps I just didn't fully seal in the edges well enough. I definitely enjoyed moving my hands around under bright lighting for the effect and would totally be up for trying these again.

Colours: Bluesky Gel Base Coat, Silver Foil (eBay), Coal - Fancy Gloss, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Gel Touch High Shine Gel Finish Top Coat