This weeks Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge was chosen by Kerrie. The challenge was to do a mani using your birthstone as the inspiration.  My birthstone is the amythyst.  The Greeks believed amethyst gems could prevent intoxication, and medieval European soldiers wore amethyst amulets as protection in battle. Amethysts are believed to heal people and keep them cool-headed.  This was a bit challenging for me because as it turns out, while I have MANY purple polishes in my collection, not many had the pinkish purplely glow about them that I felt an amethyst should have.  So I did some hunting on the web.  I was starting to think I'd never figure out a great amethyst mani when I came across this picture:

  

I've seen a lot of amethyst in my life, but never one like this.  I love the way that the soft pink play s against the white and the deep purple.  So I rounded up my polishes and set out to replicate it.  This is what I came up with:

I originally intended to do a flat base and then use chevron mani guides to cover the tips while I painted over them with the deep purple.  That plan was quickly scrapped when I found out I had no guides.  So instead I loosely sponged on the purple and then did a glitter gradient from the bottom upwards.  You can't really see it in the picture, but the purple color also had a sublte shimmer about it which made this mani incredibly sparkly and really interesting to look at!  Enjoy and thanks for following! 

Don't forget to check out what Debbie, Claire, Kerrie, and Emma came up with for their birthstone mani's!

Base is: OPI Steady as She Rose

Purple Sponging is: China Glaze Senorita Bonita

Glitter is: Ulta After Party