Happy Memorial Day!

I decided I wanted to do something for Memorial Day, but nothing that screamed "Cheesy patriotic should only be worn on the 4th of July!"  My original idea was the glitter half moon, with a blue background and red "stars" for a kind of memorial concept.  But I don't have a red that will dot well over the blues I have, so it had to go the other way.  I like it, but not as a patriotic look.  My husband said "ladybugs!"  Yeah, that's about what I thought.

Layers:
1 coat Gelous
2 coats China Glaze Polarized - I wanted to try to only coat a little more than necessary for the moon so as not to waste.  It's really hard to see, but unfortunately the red is a jelly and just barely shows it through.  I don't think I'll bother in the future though, the SV does a good job of evening out, but not quite enough with the glitter.
2 coats Seche Vite
1 VERY THICK coat Revlon Cherry Burst - Bottle says creme, but it really is a jelly
1 coat Seche Vite
Dotted with So Easy Stripe Rite no-name blue using a dotting tool instead of the striping brush.
2 coats Seche Vite

I need to get a new clean-up brush.  And I'm going to avoid brushes made for facial makeup this time.  Since they're not intended to be cleaned with solvents, there's just no guarantee they're crimped instead of glued.  The one I have now is glued and it's a major trouble maker.  Next time is a small paintbrush.  Then my clean-up will look nicer.

As for my half moon technique, I don't quite like the arc on the standard hole reinforcements that most people use, and I'm still too cheap for proper guides.  So I hit up Dollar Tree and bought a pack of circular garage sale stickers, clipped arcs off with my itsy bitsy fingernail scissors, and voilà! Enough guides for a lifetime!

They don't look like they're sticking there, but you just press them down right before putting the paint on and they work perfectly!

I think this mani will hang around for a few days.  I've spent a lot of hours this weekend doing nails.  I have to get back to other things.