Hello, all! It's day 2 of Digital Dozen New & Improved week and I've decided to recreate the first mani that I ever felt truly proud of completing - these water lilies. Don't get me wrong, I quite liked many of the manicures that I had done up until this particular manicure, but I had never tackled anything quite as complex or challenging and I was so proud of it actually turning out the way I had hoped.
I have always loved impressionism and I've painted a few manicures in this style since I first painted these water lilies (just search for impressionism in the side bar if you'd like to see others!). But it's been a long time since I've done something like this so I was eager to give this one another go.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XVMnob4MNEE/VpSxFY3Q0ZI/AAAAAAAAWl8/KCFOz_aErTI/s640/water-lily-nail-art%2B5.jpg)
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oxg1IkxDhDI/VpS0VWwMzcI/AAAAAAAAWmw/2T9P2JKCL-A/s640/%2521WATERLI.TIF%2B%25282%2529.jpg)
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And while eager, I was a little bit worried about attempting these again as I recall spending around 4 hours (no joke) the first time I painted them. However, this time through, I was much faster (hopefully you can't tell!) and it only took me about an hour (ha!).
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZUHPEKhswt4/VpSxElo_qpI/AAAAAAAAWls/IqXo1kIhZi4/s640/water-lily-nail-art%2B1.jpg)
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QgUgPGgaSFQ/VpSxE6HmFAI/AAAAAAAAWlw/PMAgVX7HrzE/s640/water-lily-nail-art%2B2.jpg)
I started with a base of Zoya's Caitlin, which I think is the only polish that was also used in my original manicure, and then used about 15 different craft acrylic paints to paint the water lilies and the water.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3p_3ssiADnE/VpSxFfM3DYI/AAAAAAAAWl4/-O_Uc0Ayy9Q/s640/water-lily-nail-art%2B4.jpg)
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UF_hbdKuLLI/VpSxF-LFoNI/AAAAAAAAWmU/-LBPzAzD4Uo/s640/water-lily-nail-art%2B7.jpg)
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qBRD6K0uEaw/VpSxFvhYubI/AAAAAAAAWmE/m1MCW2Tx5XA/s640/water-lily-nail-art%2B6.jpg)
As with yesterday, I'm not sure if I prefer these ones over my original ones. These are much more vibrant and much more purple than the first ones I painted and I'm still trying to figure out if I like that or not! Also, hopefully they're not too impressionistic and that you can actually tell right off the bat that these are water lilies ;) I would love to hear what you all think! Which one do you prefer?
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zn8CIdXdNjE/VpSxE7SyibI/AAAAAAAAWl0/O-iQVdv6URg/s640/water-lily-nail-art%2B3.jpg)
Be sure to check out the other ladies work for today below!
Happy Polishing :)