Galaxy Nail Art

I've had galaxy nails on my to-do list for awhile now, but I was putting it off until my nails grew long enough to have enough space to get a decent "picture" in.  After being inspired by all the amazing swatches at Nouveau Cheap's epic galaxy nail battle, I decided two things:  #1 this would be another epically (spell check does not like that but dictionary.com tells me that's the proper spelling of the adverb tense) long manicure if I did it on all 10 nails, #2 my ring finger nails were long enough.  When you add 1 + 2 you get:

I ended up using several of the same colors she used without even realizing it, but I did intentionally use one my many China Glaze Riveting's inspired by what appeared to be her boyfriend's use of it and my love of it. The one thing I changed up was instead of making the stars by dotting a light polish, I used my dotting tool to pick up and put down the large hex glitter out of my Revlon Whimsical.  I love the idea of an old sponge roller too.  I found my makeup sponges are so absorbent that they are worthless for nail art and I'd been looking for an alternative that was cheap.  This was perfect since I had several I don't use anymore and it really works amazingly!

I used LA Looks Black Velvet as the base of the nail.  This is quickly becoming my favorite nail art black.  Perfect formula, it spreads perfectly, can be used in one coat for small art, and is only $1.  For the galaxy I used:


 (in this general order, one or two may have been switched around)

Wet N Wild Lavender Creme
Wet N Wild Red Red
China Glaze Riveting
Wet N Wild Blue Moon
Revlon Mysterious
Zia Unnamed off-white frost with silver sparkle
Revlon Whimsical


I then covered it with a light coat of Petites Stardust.  Careful, this one surprisingly has enough coverage that a regular coat will be too much glitter.  Note the difference in coverage between the right and left pictures.  Otherwise I'm really impressed with how these came out on my first try!  For the rest of my nails I used Wet N Wild Everybody Loves Redmond.  


I was not happy with the red, it was just too orange, but I didn't have anything better.  But the next day I hit up Rite Aid's Wet N Wild deal and got Burgundy Frost which worked perfectly!  I wish I had this exact shade in a creme though, I didn't want the distraction of frost or shimmer or glitter or anything.  I really feel like accent nails with nail art needs a complimentary but subdued color on the rest of the nails to allow them to stand out.

In the end, I love this art and can't wait to try it again with other colors. Also I loved that both my husband and my older daughter knew what it was right off the bat! What do you think about galaxy nails?  Have you tried it?