Conversation Hearts Mani

So obvs I didn't catch up by Saturday, but I'll try to throughout the week. Anyways, I have a super cute mani to share with you all on this lovely Manicure Monday! With Valentine's Day in a couple of days, my nails obviously have to be themed appropriately so, so I took some inspiration from the popular conversation hearts candy! For this mani I used Wet N Wild's Fast Dry in #229C Ebony Hates Chris, Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in #420 Yellow Kitty, Wet N Wild's Wild Shine in #402 Tickled Pink, Essie #746 in Borrowed and Blue, China Glaze in #868 Peachy Keen, and Sinful Colors in Olympia. I started off with one coat of Ebony Hates Chris (my absolute favorite black- dries quick and only one coat is usually needed). I wasn't too concerned with the tips of my nails being completely covered and actually should've covered them even less (as now it starts to show with chipping). I then did a quick dry top coat (Seche Vite) over the black, so that it would be sealed in and wouldn't be smudgy when I did my pastel hearts. After that was pretty dry, I began painting on my hearts. I began with two lines (like ^) and then rounded the edges. Depending on what polishes you use and their opacity, it could take anywhere from two to five coats of the pastel to make it solid. (I later realized that I should've painted the hearts white first, giving the pastels a much better base than black!) After those were pretty dry, I again sealed it in with a top coat, making sure that the pastels didn't bleed and smudge onto the black. What makes this mani: Essie's Matte About You top coat. I used this over just the hearts, creating the distinct chalkiness of the conversation hearts! I love that it's not a typical pink and red Valentine's mani, and I've gotten so many compliments on this mani from complete strangers!