Mushi-Shi nails and A COOL NEW METHOD (to me)

Hey, everyone!

This mani was inspired by one of my all-time favorite animes, Mushi-shi. It is so incredibly mellow and I love it to pieces. If you don't like anime because you think it's all violence, give this one a shot because it's one-of-a-kind. In addition to this pretty design, I also tried a new method for sponging and I LOVE IT! Keep reading to learn more! This post is long and picture heavy, so enjoy!

For the designs on my nails, I was inspired by the background during the intro song as well as the pretty little shapes of a couple individual mushi, which are little spirit world organisms that affect the living world. I was also inspired by this river of light which appears in a few episodes. Seriously, check this show out, it's so intriguing. 

To achieve the look of the out-of-focus leaves from the intro, I sponged on some green blobs over a base of light green. To do this, I used a nifty gadget that I picked up at Sally Beauty. It's called an ASP Manicure Saver Cotton Claw. I got mine for about $3, and you can get them online here too. It's really awesome, because you avoid the problem of potentially messing up your already done nails when you grab something like a makeup sponge or cotton ball. All you do is press a little button on the end, and a tiny claw comes out to grab the cotton ball or whatever you need to grab. It's that easy!

Alright, I told you guys that I have a new method for sponging and this is it! You know the mess you get on your cuticles and everything when you do a sponging gradient? Yeah, I know it and I hate it! With this method, cleanup is a breeze! All I did was "paint" a decently thick layer of Elmer's glue (or PVA glue) around my cuticles, waited for it to dry, and then peeled off after I did my sponging. The two pictures below show my fingers pre-peel and post-peel. And the third picture below shows the weird little peels that came off my cuticles, super easy. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?? Such minimal cleanup required afterwards, which I love. This means more sponging in my future!

And finally, pictures of the final product. This mani felt so fresh and nice to wear. It just gave me feel-good vibes, much like the show does. The Japanese characters on my ring finger are the hiragana (simple syllables) for mu shi shi.

Colors Used

China Glaze Westside Warrior

Sinful Colors Olympia

China Glaze White on White

Sinful Colors This Is It

And with that, my extra long post comes to a close. I highly HIGHLY recommend watching Mushi-Shi. It's really great and chill and absolutely stunning in terms of artwork. I hope you guys get a chance to check it out! And also that you get a chance to use this cool mess-free way of doing sponging. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by!