NOTD: Seashell Shards

Okay, so... this isn't the best picture ever. Every nightmare I can think of for horrific nail pictures are in here. Stark lighting. Bubbles. Crazy lumpy topcoat. Shrinkage.

But this is because I made a mistake, and the mistake occurred because I have no patience. Here's the story:

I received a packet of pink-to-lavender crushed seashells from Viva La Nails in the mail and was trying to figure out how to utilize them in every day nail art when I thought, "hey, I can just use them like abstract rhinestones. Also, wouldn't it be cool if I could use them like, oh, I don't know, broken up mosaic pieces?"

This is the result. The problem is that if you have four coats of a pale pink streaky nightmare polish and nail art, you don't actually want to put quick-dry topcoat on it. Ever. Or that nightmare you see above occurs.

I've actually tried this on the opposite hand (I didn't take a picture because I am also horrible with non quick-dry polish and dinged my nails), and I can verify the above paragraph is truth.

On the whole, though, the image from far off isn't so bad:

(See, this is the opposite, dingy hand. Other than the dings, the manicure was a success here!)

I like how it looks like broken glass pieces. This is basically four coats of Nubar seashell, and then I pressed on the seashells at random with my opposite hand. Because the shells are rough in texture they just sort of stick to your skin; I just press it onto the nail from there. Use a light touch and do not use quick-dry topcoat. The end result is very cool.

See? The picture below is my favorite: 

(ignore the bubbles. I really should've tried the look on black.)

It's odd, like a 3-d gradient/mosaic/flower petals. :) I like it.

(the polish is mine, but the shells were sent to me for review.)