American Apparel Gradient, Water Marble and Stamping

Hey there!  Welcome to December.  How was everybody's weekend?  Personally, I am another year older.  On the plus side, my sister bought me a new light box and my friend Susan bought me approximately one million Mod Lacquer polishes which is super exciting because I've never tried that brand before.  A nail polish addict's dream...

Anyways, a couple of weeks ago there was a Groupon for American Apparel so I picked up some new polishes and wanted to use them together.  So here's the spring-y manicure I came up with (despite the snow on the ground).

I started with a white base (Pure Ice Superstar!) so I wouldn't need as many layers of color to reach opacity.  I did a gradient with American Apparel French Lilac (purple) and Summer Peach (peach) on three of my fingers.  For the other two digits, I did a water marble with all three polishes.  

Then on my gradiented nails I added a flower image from MoYou Pro Collection 10XL.  Holy moly do I love these MoYou plates.  I want them all.  I find they stamp perfectly with the XL large sticky stampers which makes stamping SO much easier.!

Now I have two questions.  First, I love how the water marble turned out on my thumb but does anyone have any suggestions for how to avoid the bubbles?  Second, which do you prefer - with or without stamping?

'Til next time...