Valentine's Day stripes

I had this grandiose idea that I was going to do a new mani every day this week in celebration of Valentine's Day. Then I realized:

A. I am too busy lazy.
B. That would wreck havoc on my already sad, dry cuticles.C. I own very few red and pink polishes to share.
D. I am no bueno at nail art and stamping.


E. I am so excited by my current manicure, and I never want to take it off. Like, ever. Seriously obsessed.

*The skies opened up and angels sing*

I was browsing Pinterest and I saw these gorgeous nails, which I tracked down to Kayla Savage. 

Look how absolutely beautiful they are!!! 

I wanted to recreate them to the best of my abilities. 

I started with three coats Essie Raise Awareness on my pinkie, index and thumb.  Raise Awareness is a baby pink that reminds me of cotton candy, but still very delicate - it's actually the lightest pink in my collection. The down side is that it does apply a little streaky, so three coats is necessary. Unfortunately, the many coats led to my manicure looking a little thick and not as refined as I would have liked. 

By comparison, I only needed one coat of a-england Princess Tears on my middle and ring fingers.  Princess Tears is a lovely lavender linear holo, with a pinkish flash visible in it. It's such a gorgeous holo, that I feel bad it was only used for the accent nails. I'm going to have to swatch this soon to show you the sheer amazingness. As with all my other a-england's this applied like butter. 

Love. Love. Love.

After some striping tape, and another three coats of Raise Awareness, I free handed some hearts in Zoya America. And, tada, a cutesy Valentine's Day mani.

Even my dominant hand mani turned out decent.  It's a miracle!