The Lacquer Legion: Reinvention

Today is the first posting day for a new nail art challenge: The Lacquer Legion! This awesome idea was put together by the very talented ladies at Chalkboard Nails, The Nailasaurus, Work/Play/Polish, and Rebecca Likes Nails, and the idea is that people from around the nail art community all post manicures fitting a particular theme on the same day and tag them so that they can be viewed across a variety of platforms. I thought this sounded like a lot of fun, and a once-a-month challenge is definitely doable for me, so I decided to put together a contribution of my own.

The first theme they chose was reinvention. I spent a lot of time thinking about this and all the different ways it might be interpreted, but I kept coming back to the idea of a phoenix. The whole death/rebirth in fire thing just seems like a quintessential form of reinvention to me! Also, I knew that a fire-themed look was going to require pulling off some fairly involved nail art—involved for a non-artist like me, anyway!—so I feel like taking the plunge and attempting something like this symbolizes reinventing myself as someone who can be a little brave and try something outside my comfort zone occasionally.

In the end, I went with a stamp/freehand hybrid technique to make my fire and phoenix come to life. I started with a base of Sephora by OPI Never Enough Shoes on all my nails, and then stamped an image of flames from the Messy Mansion MM27 plate using white stamping polish from the Born Pretty Store. Then, using a small detail brush, I added color to the flames on top of the white using Julep Nadia, Julep Marjorie, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Red My Lips, and Julep Brenda, in that order.

I mentioned that this manicure was outside my comfort zone, but that's probably a bit of an understatement! Between the stamping and freehanding the colors, I felt very, very challenged by all the techniques I used here. Overall, it didn't turn out quite as neatly as I'd have liked, but from a normal viewing distance it looks okay, so I'm focusing on that. And, more importantly, I came up with an idea and found a way to execute it, which definitely makes me proud!

Thanks for looking, and thank you to the wonderful bloggers who came up with this idea. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next month!

12th Man Waterfall

The whole city of Seattle is super excited about the Seahawks' playoff run right now—me included! So I decided to try out a waterfall mani (a technique invented and made famous by The Nailasaurus) in Seahawks colors to match my 12th Man jersey and help celebrate the playoff spirit.

This was my first time trying a waterfall look on top of a dark base color, so I had no idea what to expect or whether it would even work, but it turned out great! I think waterfalls are really perfect for showing off your team colors because they're genuinely fun and easy to do, and they look impressive paired with a matching jersey or other accessories.

I used OPI I Saw...You Saw...We Saw...Warsaw for my base color, and the stripes were created with four different polishes:

• Nars Galathee
• FNUG Bandana
• Sephora by OPI It's Totally Karma
• Zoya Rikki

Galathee, It's Totally Karma, and I Saw...You Saw...We Saw...Warsaw are pretty much my go-to polishes when I want to do something Seahawks-themed. Bandana and Rikki were new additions this time, but I love the extra depth and sparkle that they add to the group.

What do you think—do you like the idea of using team colors in waterfall manis? What team's colors would make the BEST waterfall?

Thanks for looking! GO HAWKS!

A Little Glitter Goes A Long Way

Today's mani uses a technique I've admired for a while, but just never got around to trying until now: a reverse glitter gradient.

There are tons of tutorials for this look—I watched this one from Lucy's Stash before I did mine, but I think following just about any of them would work. I used Sephora by OPI Beauty Junkie for my base and Finger Paints Hue Left A Message? for the glitter gradient. It was very quick & easy—the technique is super forgiving! And I got lots of compliments on this look, which is always nice (and a great incentive for wearing a mani like this again soon).

Thanks for looking!

Seattle Seahawks Nail Art

We're big Seattle Seahawks fans in my house, so when they played their big Monday night game recently, I decided to do some crazy Seahawks-themed nail art to celebrate (and to match my jersey!).

As you can see, I couldn't decide exactly what kind of look I really wanted, so I did a little bit of everything. I started with a base of Nars Galathee on my thumb, middle finger, and pinky, and then a base of Sephora by OPI It's Totally Karma on the other two fingers. Then I used striping tape on my middle and ring fingers before adding a coat of OPI I Saw...You Saw...We Saw...Warsaw and peeling the tape off. I applied the blue hex glitters (from the Born Pretty Store) to my pinky using a toothpick and clear nail polish, and a coat of ILNP Matthew Peri finished off my pointer finger. Finally, I applied the Seahawks helmet waterslide decal from Nail Country Decals to my thumb and finished everything off with a couple coats of topcoat.

After wearing this mani for a full week (butter LONDON P.D. Quick Topcoat does not mess around!), I decided that the design on my ring finger—the navy blue with the bright green stripes—is probably my favorite. The two colors together in a pinstripe just look really sharp, I think. What about you—which nail do you like best out of this random assortment?

Anyway, thanks for reading! Go Seahawks!!

Nail Art: Galaxy Nails Attempt #1

I've seen a TON of different takes on galaxy nails recently, and the concept seemed easy enough, so on a day when I had a dark base color already pre-applied and ready to go, I decided to give it a shot.