Nails: Black and Gold Distressed Dry Brush Manicure

Posts have been a little nail-heavy lately, huh? Sorry about that, more variety coming soon, I promise!
Here's a look at this week's #ManicureMonday from my Instagram - a cool black and gold look that is stupidly easy to recreate.

All you need for this nail art are two or more contrasting polishes, base and top coat! Here are 7 simple steps to get this look:

1. Prepare nails with your favourite base coat.
2. Paint your nails with your chosen polish - here I used Maybelline Color Show in Blackout.
3. Apply a fast dry top coat.
4. Take your contrasting polish and wipe off as much polish as possible from the brush. It should barely hold any polish and it will look as though it's drying out - don't freak out! I used Revlon - Gold Coin.
5. Drag the brush across your whole nail or wherever you'd like the design. You may want to try it out on a piece of paper to see how it will look and to get used to how it goes on. (It will pull as you're painting, hence my preference for a fast drying top coat and a little practice beforehand)
6. If you're using more than one contrasting color, repeat the same process. You can go over your design a couple of times so don't worry if you mess up - I added the black polish twice!
7. When you're happy with how it looks, seal it with your favourite top coat.
8. Dunzo!

If you'd like a video tutorial, Sarah at Chalkboard Nails has the original and best one right here in way more exciting colors.

Of course, whenever I do interesting nail art I can hear my friend Shaylene in my head telling me to reach for the matte top coat - here are the results!

And of course a macro shot - I love how it looks up close, almost like a flakie polish!

I hope you approve, Shaylene! In case you're wondering, I used a cheapy matte top coat from Born Pretty Store and Glisten and Glow's super shiny HK Girl Top Coat. Here's a contrast shot:

So there you go, super simple and versatile. As a bonus it dries very quickly so if you want something fun but have a limited amount of time then give this a go. Let me know what y'all think!