Recent mani's

I haven't posted much lately, but I have gotten to take a few pics of mani's I have done that I liked.

Hard Candy Crush on Lava in water to show the chrome.

My Engagement mani! :D

Challenge - A Tutorial - Gradient

I chose to do a sponge gradient mani for this tutorial challenge.  I tried this once before, with very poor outcome.  So, this time, I think it came out way better. Still not EXCITED about this one. Kinda grainy, and the top coat dragged some of the red. I did find that soaking the sponge in water really helped the polish apply better, and less sticky.  All in all, I will definitely be trying this again. I love the effect, and will try to incorporate it in an upcoming challenge.
For this mani I used Rimmel Black Satin, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby.

Without flash.

With flash.

I was contemplating not posting these, and redoing it completely.  But, I want to show my progression and learning.

Until next time,
Rachel

Reverse-Gradient Redux

Rachel inspired me to revisit a prior mani that I loved.  I am so excited and proud of the results! My nails have clearly grown longer/stronger and my clean-up skills have definitely improved.

Have I mentioned how much I love this look?

May 30, 2013

April 11, 2013

Do you have any progress photos of either your nail growth or of improved nail art?

Challenge - Under the Sea

Well, this is uber late... But, school has been getting busier.
This challenge I wanted to do something with octopi. My thumb I took from a pic of the eye of an octopus. I used for the background Julep Korin topped with Pixie's Polish Spectraflair Topcoat.  I then used Julep Madeline Sea Salt mixed with Julie G Gum Drops Tangerine Dream for the sand. Everything else was acrylic paint.
It's not exactly what I planned at the start, but I am still happy with it.

I will be working on the Tutorial Challenge tomorrow since I am NOT WORKING!!!! Awww yeah!

Rachel

Release the butterflies!

I'm heading to an SCA went tomorrow and wanted to make my mani a little flashy for the occasion.  I planned on a gradient but was pulled into the springiness of Monarch nails!  What's springier than butterflies and sparkles?!

I'm shocked at how easy this is.  Props to Rachel of WaddupRachel for her tutorial! I clearly didn't follow it exatly, but I was heavily inspired by her.

Polishes:

Color Club Magnetic Force Electro Midnight (underwear)

Sinful Colors Love Nails

Zoya Tart

OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It

F21 Love & Beauty Black Nail Art Pen

F21 Love & Beauty White Nail Art Pen

Challenge - A Tutorial Under the Sea

I cheated and I don't feel the slightest bit bad about it. I've been behind in my challenges the past couple weeks (too many non-lacquer adventures) and have struggled to catch up. In order to make sure I'm ready for next week (Inspired by Candy!!) I combined the last week and this week!

Last week's theme: Under the Sea. This week: Inspired by a Tutorial.

I immediately though about a watercolor mani. I found a bunch of tutorials online and used their advice (which often differed) to create my bubbly ocean waters. It is such a shockingly easy mani compared to the effect you get! The greens in it didn't photo well, unfortunately. 

One of my favorite pictures of myself is one in which I'm high-fiving the giant starfish statue at Sea World. I had to give props to my homies if I wanted to go underwater in style! To achieve this look I used a star shaped punch on a piece of scotch tape.  Then, I stuck the tape to my hand to make it a bit less sticky before placing it on my nail and painted two coats of Julep's Sea Salt Textured Jill. Once tacky, I pulled it off and cleaned up the edges a bit.

The Sea Salt texture was exactly what I needed to make my starfish pop, but Jill is very much not a starfish color. I painted over it with Julep's Sasha and a detail brush.  When it dried, I still had a good deal of that sandpapery texture. After finishing the other details, I painted the topcoat around the star to maintain the "roughness."

I kept my accent nails simple since I really wanted to showcase the watercolor background.  Essie's Shine of the Times is PERFECT for the fishy scales and added just enough flash without being overwhelming . The bubbles were done with dotting tools and tacky black polish.  I did have to go back in with a toothpick to finish a couple areas that weren't cooperative.

Challenge - Indy and The Lost Ark!

This was a difficult one for me! While I totally love me some Indiana Jones, I struggled with what I could possibly paint to do it justice.  I landed on Raiders of the Lost Ark because I adore that ugly gold idol a little too much; it cracks me up!  

I started with the Staf of Ra on my thumb. It isn't perfect but I really love how the gem kinda brings the picture together.  I couldn't get a good picture of it to save my life, though.  Please forgive the uber-blurriness.

From there I moved to my buddy the Golden Fertility Idol.  I spent SO MUCH TIME ON THIS.  It doesn't look how I wanted it to, but I am impressed I was able to do anything similar to it.  It's crazy hard to paint something that small and reflective on a pinky nail. Some may say "Poor planning, Teyie." and to them I say, "Yep, totally."

Finally, I tried to illustrate the craziness that was the Ark of the Covenant itself.  By this time I was pretty tired and fed up with how my fingers were cramping from painting the gold idol.  I kina phoned it in. Sorry! Please avert your eyes if you're offended by golden bathtubs spewing electric blue coral.

Challenge - Indiana Jones and the TEMPLE OF DOOOOOOOOOM!

I have been a little late on these challenges lately. Been busy with school work. Trying THIS term to make sure I get better grades than last. However, there is always time to fit in a mani or two!
So, there, AGAIN, were sooooo many options to choose from for this challenge. I chose to do Temple of Doom. Mostly because my favorite villan is Mola Ram. He's insane, and it cracks me up every time he does the whole chant thing. I did this in a cartoony/Lego's kinda vibe. I didn't give them eyes... Because 1. I'm not very good at them, 2. Because I kinda like them being blind looking.
I LOVED Chalkboard Nail's Mythbuster's mani. And took that kind of idea and ran with it. I WOULD list all the polishes, but most of the colors are mixed, and not just a single color.
This one turned out better than i would have imagined, and am ECSTATIC! I looked around to see if anyone else had done an Indy mani before, and didn't want to copy anyone. I only found three, so this is so exciting that Tey and I will be doing something pretty different.
On with the pics!

Mola Ram, Indy, Willie, and can't forget Mr. Round... SHORT Round.

The Sankara Stones. (yes, I had to google the spelling!)

This is one where I HATE to remove it since it came out so good. However, my other hand I swatched about 10 different polishes, and it is NOT very pretty...

Lemme know what you think!

Rachel

Challenge - Inspired By Art - Mondrian

This is a VERY late post for the challenge. I have been swamped with homework, but I am caught up and ready to get this party started!
I have always loved Mondrian. The simplicity, use of the space, and using mostly primary colors. I have always been intrigued by just using simple shapes to create a very intricate image, and Mondiran took it to another level of simplicity. However, this is not an art critique, so on with the photos!

My index finger looks almost like a Pokeball. LOL! I like how this came out, and hope as I get better my hands become less shaky, because I would have liked the lines to be less wobbly.  And hey! No cat hairs snuck in!

Until next time,
Rachel

Challenge - Inspired by Art - John Avon's Unhinged Forest

Hello, My name is Teyie and I'm a super-mega-(awesome)-nerd!
Hi, Teyie.

When this challenge came up I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I love classic art and have a handful of favorites, but translating them into nail art was impossible (I'm looking at you, Bernini).  Then, Mr. Husband reminded me that we have over 10,000 unique little pieces of art in our Magic The Gathering collection.

For years I have coveted the cards John Avon illustrated.  His use of color and depth to create a magical representation of something as simple as terrain is breathtaking.  In fact, I loved them so much that I purchased the lithograph set of his Unhinged Lands and have them hanging in my living room. I chose my favorite of the 5 for this week's inspiration.

This was my first attempt at painting with acrylics.  I just picked up a big ol' set of them and will probably use them for my more complex designs again.  I had a blast doing this mani and I'm pretty proud of the result, so I took extra pictures!