Beach Sponging

I did double duty again yesterday with Aussie Nails Monday and the Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge.  The Aussie Christmas Nail Challenge theme was Beach and the Aussie Nails Monday challenge was Sponging. I started with the brand new Party by the Pool by Pretty Serious Cosmetics from the Christmas Without Snow collection.  I love Pretty Serious polishes and just had to grab the whole collection.  It's a Christmas collection with a difference, it's designed for our hot Aussie Christmas.  It arrived last week so I've been dying to wear it but with all the challenges I haven't found a way to fit any of the new collection in, until now.
Party by the Pool is a gorgeous teal jelly with specks of blue and green shimmering in it's depths.  I thought it would make the perfect sea for my beach nails.
This is three thick coats with topcoat.  There was still visible nail line but I wasn't concerned about that, not with my sponging plans to cover it.  I could have used some matching underwear polish to hide the nail line but that would have spoiled the beautiful jelly effect.
That was my water, then I started sponging some wet sand with China Glaze FYI and China Glaze GR8.  I actually put blobs of Party by the Pool, FYI and GR8, in that order, on a piece of makeup sponge then dabbed all together in a single layer over my Party by the Pool base.

I really like the result.  It looked like the wet sand colour I wanted and in the sun the holo added the shimmer of sand at the waters edge.

That wasn't enough though for my beach  nails.  I needed more 'sand', some coarse golden sand and I had the perfect polish!
I was lucky enough to be one of the winners of a Golden Ticket from Pretty Serious Cosmetics.  10 lucky purchasers (within the first 100) of at least one polish from the new collection received a Golden Ticket in their package which meant they won a special Golden Ticket polish.  I actually forgot about the golden ticket when I ordered the collection, I was just too excited about snapping up the new polishes.  Of course I soon remembered which added to the anticipation.  Even as I was opening the box I didn't expect to win so I was beyond excited when I saw that golden ticket.  I think I'm going to frame it.  I actually phoned my husband first and screamed in his ear before I took a zillion camera phone photos to share my excitement online :)
Like the rest of the collection I can't wait to wear this one on it's own but for now it was my sand.  I sponged a layer of Golden Ticket across my tips.  Sponging gave me a much rougher, sandier, finish than brushing it on would.  Normally this would sit pretty smooth with a topcoat but I wanted grit.  So I left it without topcoat and added some little starfish and pearls.

I actually had more starfish and pearls before I made lunch.  Not sure where they went and I think I ate some gold glitter.  I ate a rainbow cupcake with white frosting and edible gold glitter (I made 2 dozen for the school party) and licked the glitter and frosting off my fingers.  Not sure where the edible glitter ended and my nails started :(  If you're wondering what I'm holding, they're shells.

Golden Ticket is a glitter bomb of gold and holo gold, and it's actually a really nice gold, not too yellow and brassy like some gold polishes.  It's pretty seriously amazing :)

Here's the rest of the girls doing the Aussie Nails Monday Challenge.
Elissa - Lissa’s Polish Addiction Bec - Nail Gun XS Marie - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse
Courtney - Tales From The Makeup Bag Sarah - Shatter Me Claire Chantelle - A Polished Prance
Teneil - Tee Bee’s Nails Nicole - The Epitome of Superficiality Bec - Lacquer Dreams
Naomi - NananaisNails Eboni - Enamoured With Enamel Katie - Pretty Polish Please
Adelle - Adelle1985(Instagram) Kelly - Kelly's Kolors Nicki, Rosemarie - Every Little Polish
Melissa - Mel My Issta Natalie - Walk In My Eyeshadow Jennifer - JennLojko(Instagram)
Kristy - The Polish Haven Emma - Nails In The Desert Erin - Erinzi(Instagram)
Brie - Strawbrie(Instagram) Astrid - Lovessweetas(Instagram) Jasmyn - Jas’ Blingtastic Nails
Kate - Mckfresh (Instagram) Jessica - starting January :)