At first I was going to do a mosaic, so I painted a background in a medium grey polish and made a wash by mixing together a lighter grey and nail polish thinner. I sponged that over the top and it also helped to give texture too, like concrete. Then after I’d painted the horse in watercolour, I totally changed my mind. I thought temples, coins, gladiators. So I filed all the nails to echo the temple roof line. Only the coin and gold shield are painted with polish. I was pleased how the coin came out, I made the dots with a dotting tool, working from dark to light, with each lighter dot being placed off centre to the one before it. To create that 3-D look. There is only two shades of gold, but the glossy topcoat helps the effect. All the grey nails are sealed with Matte topcoat.
So watercolour paint is a better choice if you need to fix mistakes, but for once I got to wear these nails for a day or so and somehow water gets under the topcoat and there goes your design. Oh well that is the nature of nail art and one of the reasons I love it so….onto the next design…
Break rules, not nails 
These are stunning! I especially love the coin and the horse.
Thank you!