Enter-a-nail-art-contest nails

Hi ladies (and gentlemen, perhaps?)! Today I've got some nail art that is an almost exact replica of one of Amber from Armstrong Nails' works as a part of her 3k followers on Instagram contest. The idea was to replicate one of her manis using the same technique, but from what I understand there was a bit of freedom in terms of switching up the colours.

So, obviously I tried to overcomplicate the mani and went for a black sheer look that I first saw used by @badgirlnails (IG) as my base coat instead of a regular nude like Amber went for. Because I don't own such a magical sheer black jelly polish, I made my own by adding about 8 drops of black polish to a mini bottle of clear topcoat (you'll get the jist of it below in the polishes used section).

I'm probably more likely to win the lottery than this contest, but a girl can dream.

Here's Amber's original design:

Credit: Armstrong Nails

 And here is mine!

Polishes used:

- Zoya Pixie Dust 'Dahlia' (black with silver glitter and a bit textured)

- Quo by Orly 'Hop skip and a jump' (like a pink/purple orchid, which also happens to be Pantone's colour of the year)

- Cult Nails 'Nevermore' (this has replaced my usual go-to black polish, Nails' Inc. 'Black taxi', and I must say I love it! Super opaque in one thin coat - it's like the nectar of the gods.)

- Quo by Orly Instant Artist in black (just used for the small detail on the middle finger)

- Fingr's clear mini top-coat bottle with 8 drops of Nevermore. I used one coat of this on my nails, if I'd used 2 it would have been a deeper sheer black which I love the look of, but I thought it wouldn't have given off enough contrast since I did, after all, have to put actual black on top of this. I do love the possibilities of this sheer polish (especially mattified), so I'm certain you will see more of me playing aroung with this soon!