I Can't Afford That: Stella McCartney Roseberry Lace Dress + Debut of my Mash Nail Art Brush Set

Aaaah!!!! So much to write about today, guys!  (By the by, this is Lisl, if you can't tell by the fact that I opened with "Aaaah!!!!")  Today I'm writing about my obsession with this amazing, amazeballs (that's right - two different kinds of amaze) Stella McCartney dress, and I am ALSO showing off my new nail art brush set.  Can we handle that many things at once? 

Keep reading to find out if we can handle that many things at once!

Ok, about this dress guys.  I just love it.  It is mustard, which is my all-time favorite dress color of right now.  Also it is both lacey and fringey at the same darn time.  Can it get any better than this?  It is also, by the way, $3,500, which is why I have chosen to manicurify it rather than, you know, actually buy it. 

So I have a lot of dresses pinned that have a similar lace-over-same-color-background thing going on, all of which I've really wanted to translate into a manicures.  But there was a really giant "how" involved, because when you paint mustard nail polish over a background that is also mustard, then you are left with mustard nails.  Which isn't really what I was going for.  If you know what I mean.  

But then, Arden's Matte About You, came around and offered the opportunity to play with different finishes and textures.  Still, not enough. Enter: Nail art brushes.

 I got this set off of Amazon for $11.  It's a little more expensive than some other 15 piece brush sets, but it comes with this awesome carrying case, which is just great for someone like me who is constantly losing things.

For this manicure, I relied mostly on two brushes: a fan brush, and an angled brush.

I used the angled brush to create the flower petals on all of the nails.  On my pointer I have flowers with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch, over a naked-nail background, which is supposed to emulate the dress sleeves.

On my thumb and pinky, I have a base of Butterscotch, top-coated in Essie Good to Go.  I painted the flowers using Essie Matte About You.  It's reeeaally hard to see the difference between the matte flowers and the glossy background in these pictures, but a little easier in real life.  I also don't have any pictures of my thumb, and also have no explanation for that.

On my ring finger, I have a base of Butterscotch top-coated with Matte About You, I went over that again with the angled brush and Butterscotch for the flowers.  

My middle finger was the fanciest!  Here are the coats in order:

1. Butterscotch

2. Good to Go

3. I streaked on a layer of Matte About You using the fan brush, this was supposed to be the "fringe" but you couldn't really make out the texture, and it just looked like my nail was matte.  SO.

4. I streaked on another layer of Butterscotch with the fan brush.  I don't know how well you can make out the streakiness in those pictures, but you can definitely see it in real life. 

5. Flowers with Matte About You. I'm not done yet!

6. I felt like the flowers were barely visible, so I took a detail brush and painted thin lines around the outside of the petals with Butterscotch. 

And that's it.  From far away you still can't really tell that I have fun textures on my nails, so I'm not sure I really have solved the "how to do lace in one color over the same color but on your nails not on a dress" dilemma.  I might have to make some major life sacrifices and use two slightly different colors next time.  Do any of y'all have amazing secret tricks for how to do this?

Also I would like some butterscotch now, please.