Challenge - B Horror Movies and A Song - Rocky Horror Picture Show

It's been too long! Life has been busy and I always tend to slow down on the polish when I've had to mow my nails down because of a break. Is there anything more devastating to a polishaholic? It takes the wind RIGHT out of my sails!

Without furhter adieu, I present my Rocky Horror Picture Show and Science Fiction/Double Feature manicure!

To start, here is the Rocky Horror piece of this mani! From index to pinky, we're representing Magenta (Space Hair), Columbia (glittery top hat), Frank N Furter (Lab Coat), and Rocky (stunning little monogramed briefs).

And for the Science Fiction/Double Feature, I freehanded using polish the iconic lips of the opening song! I'm so proud of this one!!

Argyle Nails

$20?! They basically forced my hand!

With Sephora by OPI being discontinued, I had a limited time to get my Butter London Bluey dupe Teal We Meet Again and Sephora's sales got the best of me! The Sephora brand minis were just $1 and far too adorable to pass up! Look at those tiny bottles - they're DARLING.

Of course, I had to try them out and see if they were worth the super-cheap price I paid.  I'm shocked that the quality of these is so great, actually. The brush is dense and wide for such small bottles making application crazy easy. The formula was smooth and dried quickly - full coverage with two coats to boot! I'm just a little over the moon about em and definitely recommend grabbing a few with your next Sephora purchase!

My right hand knows how to paint.

My left hand tries hard.

Challenge - Sushi - Kawaii Sushi Nails!

I wasn't sure what to do for the sushi challenge since "california rolls" are the closest to sushi I've been (outside of a hazy memory of a first date when I was a teen). I turned to the google machine and came up with a couple photos for inspiration: from Hawaii Kawaii and from Kukubee.

Armed with some hyper-cute ideas and a can-do attitude, I went to work creating the most barftastically adorable manicure I could imagine. My wasabi plush begged to be included, so forgive me for any cute aneurysms I induce.

I learned a very valuable lesson from my efforts, actually.  I need a lot of practice with dotting.  I've tried before with limited success, but I've never come so close to ragequitting mid-manicure as I did making my little nori wrapped roll. At one point, it literally looked like I had poked its eyes out with a hot poker.

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 - China Pattern - Lenox Pearl Beads

I should start by saying I am not a person who likes china.  In my house, we use plastic plates made from recycled materials.  They look pretty terrible, honestly.

That said, while searching for the inspiration for this week's challenge I FELL IN LOVE. Lenox's Pearl Beads set is freaking amazing.  It is simple, classic, and understated.  Exactly the kind of china I could actually see myself having!  

The result isn't exactly what I'd hoped for, but I do love it. I tried to capture the dotted swirls but it was way harder than I had thought would be. In fact, you're seeing attempt #2 after a super-duper-mega-failure that I refuse to acknowledge in photo form.  

Overall, this mani feels super-weddingy to me which makes me smile. The quote below is actually a momento from my wedding. Our guests each had a different little vellum quote on their seat for the ceremony that expressed something totally gushy about love, marriage or friendship.  I had a ton left over and have been hanging on to them because, well, that's what packrats do.  

Polishes used:

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
F21 Silver Nail Art Pen
F21 White Nail Art Pen
NYC Matte me Crazy topcoat

Challenge - Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Yay plans!

I am a thriller/horror enthusiast, and love how complex and robust Hitchcock's work is. The biggest hurdle this week was which scenes or themes to pull out of his works!

I landed on Psycho because it truly is my favorite of his films. I didn't even realize some of the depth to the imagery until doing my homework as I planned! This challenge made me fall more deeply in love with the unsettling tale of Norman Bates.

My goal was to capture iconic scenes as well as one can with lacquer. Hopefully, I delivered!

Challenge - Book Inspiration - Maus

I was so excited by this challenge! I had initially thought to do something from Alice in Wonderland but when I reached into my box o' polish and found Julep's Eileen I realized I had a perfect base for a comic inspired manicure.  It's such a great white! Not too white-out and not too white-walls-tarnished-by-years-of-smoking.  Basically, it just doesn't look like crap on me.

Once I had my little canvases white washed, I went digging through my comic collection and pulled out one of my favorites: Maus! It's such an amazingly told story with poignant imagery that is somehow so perfect in its simplicity. 

I hope my homage doesn't make light of its intense and tragic meaning. I was affected for days after the first time I read these graphic novels and could not possibly trivialize how deeply they touched me.

Challenge - St. Pat-Tea's Day!

I have a confession: I am unfairly biased against green polish.

I think most true greens looks weird on me, for one. In addition, I'm haunted by the words of a stranger that said, "You have to watch out for the girls in green nail polish; they're crazy." So, my collection is bereft of the festive greens associated with St. Patrick's Day.

I went on a little shopping spree recently and picked up some Forever 21 polishes and nail art pens. I fell in love with their nail art pens immediately! They have such a fine tip (much easier to make straight lines!) and aren't unwieldy like Sally Hansen's Color Quick pens. F21's Earl Grey polish is totally squee worthy to boot!

So, inspired by my haul, I decided to take the cheap way out and make a St. Pat-Tea's Day mani.

Colors: Love & Beauty Earl Grey polish
            Love & Beauty White nail art pen
            Love & Beauty Silver nail art pen
            Ulta The Jungle Look