Before & After (& After): D is for Duochromed Stamping Sandwich

Hello!!!

Today's theme for this week in Llama Nails, we're on the letter 'D', and my 'D' is for Duochromed Stamping Sandwich. :) This manicure was an awesome happy accident that I'd love to claim I had planned out from the start, but I didn't...it evolved into something that I finally loved. :)

This started out with an awesome discovery as I was looking for shoes at Payless Shoe Source...a brand they sell there called Brash. There were a number of colors, but the one that I had to have was this one, Sergeant Khaki:

Brash Sergeant Khaki in the shade

Brash Sergeant Khaki in partial sun

Sergeant Khaki is an olive green with a silvery-green glass-flecked finish. I love the texture on this and the deep shade of green. I wanted to add a metallic stamp to complement the finish, so I stamped over it using China Glaze Passion and Cheeky plate CH16; to give it some definition, I put Lush Lacquer Camo Queen (Indie Alert!!) on the ring finger:

Lush Lacquer Camo Queen over Brash Sergeant Khaki

I liked this, and I wore it this way for a day, but it just felt a little too stark and chaotic to me, and I wanted to put something over it to mute the effect. And then Enchanted Polish Hey Jude (Indie Alert!!) came in the mail and I decided it would be perfect! So I threw a coat on over the manicure, and here's what I got:

Enchanted Polish over the stamping and glitter

Enchanted Polish over the stamping and glitter

Enchanted Polish over stamping and glitter

I've done glitter sandwiches before, but I've never thought before now to do it with stamping--a stamping sandwich! But rest assured, I'll be doing this again. I love the way the duochrome shines but the stamping still peeks out from under it, and the stamping is now calm enough to be enjoyable. And how amazing is that Enchanted Polish to be able to keep that gorgeous color shift even when it's sheer enough to have something else visible under it? Beautiful.

So there it is, my duochromed stamping sandwich! Thanks for taking a look, and please check out the other 'D' manicures by my fellow Llama bloggers! :)

xoxo,
M.