Cath Kidston Tea Set Nail Art: A Mani for Tea Lovers

Hi guys! Today I've created a design that will (hopefully) be enjoyed by those of you with a serious floral and/or tea addiction. Now, while I am more likely to accept a huge mug of coffee than a dainty little cup of tea, I've always had a soft spot for the British tradition of obsessive compulsive tea drinking. After all, a cup of tea solves everything, right? I decided to make my tea set extremely girly, and added lots of roses and pink details. Though I hadn't checked prior to starting the design, I now realise that it's rather reminiscent of this Cath Kidston set. You probably won't believe me when I say that it was a really easy manicure, but seriously, it was! I was totally surprised when I managed to knock it together in an hour or so. So if you fancy having a go yourself, just keep on reading...

The equipment:

Sinful Colors 'Easy Going'
Sinful Colors 'Snow Me White'
Sinful Colors 'Island Coral'
Sinful Colors 'Pistache'
Barry M 'Shocking Pink'
No. 7 'Totally Teal'
Models Own 'Utopia'
e.l.f. Cosmetics 'Nude'
Essie 'Good To Go'
Fine nail art paint brush

I used 'Easy Going' as a base, which is a gorgeous, ultra-pale pink. It's a good alternative to plain old white, which I knew I couldn't use as it would be the base colour for my tea set. Sinful Colors polishes normally take three coats, and the drying time isn't great, but for £1.99 a pop they are definitely worth it! When my bases were dry, I used a fine nail art paint brush to apply the shapes for my tea set items. For the teapot, I painted a 'squashed' circle and a spout. The biscuit tin is a simple rectangle, the teacup a 'squashed' semicircle, the sugar bowl another circle, and the milk jug a slightly rounded rectangle with a pointy tip. Once dry, I went over each shape again to ensure opacity.

To achieve the floral design, I added tiny blobs of 'Island Coral' all over the white shapes. Then I added some leaves using 'Pistache'. For more details, I used 'Shocking Pink' and 'Totally Teal'. At this point, the whole manicure didn't really resemble a tea set, so I had to keep working on the shapes. 
I used 'Utopia' for fine outlines, lids and shadows. I also filled the tea cup with 'Nude', to make it look like tea. For handles and bases, I used a combination of 'Shocking Pink' and 'Island Coral'. The biscuit tin and sugar bowl needed lids, so I applied little dots to the tops. 
I think the tea pot is the best part of this manicure, mainly because it's got a more interesting shape. When everything was complete, I toyed with the idea of mattifying, but decided I quite liked the sheen of a shiny top coat. So I used my favourite, Essie 'Good To Go', to seal everything in. What do you think? Let me know!

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