Week 7: Chinese Characters (Sort Of)

T-minust 47 minutes until "next week." So this week was my terribly botched attempt at chinese characters. I googled and tried to recreate the symbols for luck, strength, happiness, courage, spirit, peace, beauty, patience, love, and family. For my base coat I used a red crackle polish-which I don't think I like much- and then used gold to paint the characters on top. I was hoping that the crackle would give the design a distressed look but from far away my nails just look red and up close they look bloody. I really hope that the characters are at least mutilated enough that they don't say anything offensive. Perhaps things will work out better next week. 

Week 6: Fireballs

Okay so sort of, but not really for Valentines day, I painted my nails "red hot love" style. It took a lot of work but I think they turned out pretty cool mainly because I just finished them 30 minutes ago. Yay procrastination! First I put a smudge of red then orange then lighter orange then yellow and covered it in an pinkish-orange-ish sparkle. What do you think? are they V-day worthy?

Week 5: Leather

It's tar! It's paint! It's fabirc?



I know, I know it's technically week 6 but I've decided to give myself one free pass because I was terribly bussy this week. It will never happen again (I hope.) Anyway, this week I did leather, and by leather I mean that I stuck fleecy fabric masquerading as leather to my nails. It sounds weird, and truthfully it looks a little weird but also kind of cool. The fake leather gives my nails the appearance of a matte black and slightly tarry polish. To get my leather nails I cut up some fake leather fabric into nail shapes ( a la nail strips) and then painted my nails with clear and then black polish and stuck the fabric on, although of course the fabric wasn't a perfect fit and I spent a good 40 minutes trimming the fabric around my nails. 



A hand in progress (note the pieces of fabric)

At first it didn't feel all that strange but now the edges have started curling up and I have become increasingly aware that there is something on my nails that shouldn't be, in fact I just ripped off the piece on my left pointer. Gosh I have to stop that. Fabric as nail polish is kinda cool but not completely practical unless you happen to be a handmodel or someone who doesn't wash their hands or really do anything at all.

Week 4: Rainbow Fish

Okay, so in honor of well, nothing, I did my nails as everyones favorite aquatic children's book outcast: Rainbow Fish!  Unfortunately until about 2 minutes ago I didn't remember what he looked like... To start I painted my three middle nails with Sinful Colors Professional in Let Me Go (how fitting considering that's likely what a real fish would say if I stuck it to my finger nails.) Then, because every fish needs water, I painted my thumb and pinkie nails in N.Y.C Skin Tight Denim Cream. And because lips are such a prominent fishy feature I used Rimmel London Lycra Wear in Black satin, and some of my new nail brushes to give my rainbow fish faces and fins.  Finally, since no one has ever seen a fish without scales I cut up some blue sequins and stuck them on top. The sequins were a little impractical and promply fell off as soon as I took my pictures. Oh Well, they looked great while they lasted!

Week 3: Treasure Chest

This is possibly my favorite manicure so far! It doesn't matter that it only lasted a total of two hours and twenty-eight minutes (I had no nail glue so everything was stuck on with clear polish,) it was so much fun, mostly because I got to pick all the jewels and chains off...

My manicure basically consisted of about 5 coats of Love and Beauty nail polish in Gold and then all the gems and shiny things my magpie eye could find.  I'm not really sure how to top this one, sequins... leather? Gah! What's next?

Week 2: Bright Tweed

Sadly, this week's manicure did not live up to my grand imaginings. I attempted a bright pink, orange, and mint tweed print; but due to lack of time only painted one thumb nail (while leaving the rest solid pink.) I used Revlon nail polish in twinkled pink as a base coat, and then painted stripes of N.Y.C. Long-Wearing Nail Enamel in Times Square Tangerine Creme, and Ulta Nail Lacquer in Double Mint. Luckily my inability to paint sufficient stripes led me to purchase a plethora of nail brushes, so hopefully, my nail designs will become more abstract. I plan to get a head-start tommorow and actually finish my manicure before the week's end. We'll see.

Week 1: Metalic Ombre

For my first manicure of the year I foolishly attempted a feather pattern, lickily I realized early on that the feathers just weren't working and decided on a grey/black ombre instead.



My Inspiration



Adding the Finishing Touches





For this manicure I used Rimmel London Lycra Wear 10 in Insolence as a base coat and then added layers of Wet n Wild Craze in Grey's Anatomy, Jackelin in Evening Peace, and Rimmel London Lycra Wear 10 in Black Satin. 



The Final Product