Playing with essie - Sew Psyched

Hm, I have to admit that lately, I'm not really into nail art. I feel too tired to think of something nice and even if I do, I feel too tired to actually do it. I have been changing my nail polish like every single day and somewhat decreased my untried stash, but it's not feeling right to me. We have a lot of stress at work lately. Some people were layed off, more and more are getting sick and there's just no end in sight. I attest my lack of nail art to this situation and I really hope I'll start to feel like doing nail art again soon. After all, painting my nails is very relaxing to me, hehe. And I don't want work to take away that joy from me!!

Anyway, while I was still on vacation, I bought a couple of new nail polishes. Among them was essie Sew Psyched. Last year, when everybody seemed to want this polish, I couldn't understand what's so great about this shade and I still think that it is a little overrated, but I admit now, that it is a nice shade for fall. When I first started painting my nails with it, I didn't have any nail art in mind.

I just went through my stash and looked for a couple of untrieds that would go well with Sew Psyched. I stumbled across Orly Blue Suede and Kiko 395. Kiko 395 is from a past limited edition with duochrome polishes. It's their Peridot dupe and when I bought it, I finally gave in to the hype. But... it was on my untried stash ever since.

 After I had chosen my polishes, I just randomly started painting shapes and layers. For the blocks, I used the polish brushes themselves and for the rest, a striper brush. I was a bit influenced by Japanese nail art I have in my inspiration folder, but it's not like I recreated a particular design. I can see how some simple layering of different shades can create some interesting patterns though. Kiko 395 was surprisingly opaque when layered over Orly Blue Suede. The latter really is a nice suede polish, but of course, I finished with topcoat.

I had hoped that Kiko 395 had a stronger duochrome effect, but I guess the areas I used it on are just too small to really show the color shift. I'll have to wear it solo sometime to figure that out. The studs I used around the stars were bought by Born Pretty Store btw. I'm really glad that they increased the shape and color variety of the studs they offer. If they offered some kind of set with a variety of those, that would be perfect. You know, like those rhinestone wheels they offer.

What do you think of this design? What do you do in times of limited creativity?