I was a bit stumped for a design to try this week, and then I remembered that I'd bought a new plate with butterfly wing outlines on it that was so far untried. I decided to recreate some Monarch Butterfly nail art using some orange holo polishes.

Polishes and tools
Nailtiques Formula 2+
Color Club Cosmic Fate
Hits Speciallità Flamenco
Cirque Valencia
Bundle Monster BM-S188
MoYou London Black Knight and White Knight
Winstonia Nail art brush
Clear Jelly Stamper The Big Bling
Revlon Smokey Eye brush for clean up
Seche Vite
This design reminds me of the monarch butterflies in Under The Dome! Do you remember all the butterflies in Chester's Mill?

I started with Nailtiques as a base and two coats of Cosmic Fate. It's pretty opaque but not orange enough for this design. I used Valencia over the top for the colour, with a drop of Flamenco at the cuticle for a subtle (and mess-free) gradient. It's not holo, but a bright red jelly full of flakies.
It's very subtle, but I think it reflects the colours of a monarch butterfly really well. The holo isn't as strong as I thought either, but it will blaze up under a strong light source.

After top coat to set the base, I stamped the main part of the design in Black Knight. I tried to vary the exact position on my nails so they didn't look exactly the same.
This plate doesn't have any mirror images of the designs, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Don't forget the dots!
After the black, I used my white stamping polish and a small nail art brush to add the dots. This definitely made it look like real Monarch Butterfly nail art, so I wouldn't recommend skipping it.
If you're less confident freehanding dots with a brush, you could use a dotting tool and also make far fewer per nail. I have freehanded a butterfly design before, when I was very early in my nail polish journey (be kind!)

Whether you use a dotting tool or a brush, make sure to clean the polish off in between each nail to keep your dots small.
Not all my dots are perfectly round, but that's ok. Just try and keep them fairly small.

Monarch Butterfly nail art
I haven't even posted all my photos! I obviously got a bit snap-happy with this design. But it is very pretty. I will post the rest on Instagram and Twitter instead. Please give me a follow there!

Question of the day… What is your favourite butterfly? They come in so many colours and patterns, from bright sulphur yellow, to blues and purples. I love seeing them flit about on sunny days. Let me know in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!
August 9, 2017
You did a phenomenal job with this! The combination of polishes for the base is perfection!
August 9, 2017
Thank you! I wish there was a glass fleck polish that was this colour – the texture they have would be amazing for a butterfly mani
August 9, 2017
Keely, you are soooooo talented! An amazing mani. This year I have been seeing monarchs and swallowtails in my garden, thank goodness
August 18, 2017
Thanks so much Allison! I wish I had more butterflies around here
August 9, 2017
WOW, i really like your butterflies for this mani and your photos are really great!
August 18, 2017
Thank you so much Leanie! I’ve spent a lot of time working on my photo set up and hand poses 🙂
August 10, 2017
My favorite butterfly is the Swallow Tail (I think it’s called) blue with long wings. 🙂 I love this mani, the holo was the perfect touch.
August 18, 2017
They are so pretty! I don’t see them here though 🙁