Tales From the Borderlands Nails, Part Two: Fiona

When I posted my first Tales from the Borderlands manicure a couple of months ago, I heard from a few folks that I should also do some nails for the game's other main character, Fiona. Well, I love Fiona a ton, and the only reason I shied away from doing a design for her the first time around was because I knew how much harder it would be, so... I really have no good reason for not doing it the first time around, is what I'm saying here.

It took me a little while to pull together my ideas—and supplies—to execute this look how I'd envisioned, but it turns out my timing is actually pretty good: the fifth and final episode of Tales from the Borderlands was released just a couple of weeks ago, making now a great time to get excited about the game and go check it out. I talked up TftB a bunch in my last post, so I won't repeat myself, but guys, seriously. Go play it. You won't regret it.

Anyway! On to the nails!

Misty Green-Grey Halloween Nails

Happy (early) Halloween, everyone! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so even though I've been super busy with work and vacation and then getting sick at the end of it all, I couldn't let the occasion pass without posting some seasonally appropriate nails here.

Tales from the Borderlands Nails: Rhys

I'm afraid you're all going to have to humor me here, because this is probably another one of those manicures that most people are just going to find totally strange. My apologies if that's the case!

One of my big obsessions right now is the video game Tales from the Borderlands. It's a short little narrative adventure game by Telltale Games (they do lots of great stuff if you like stories more than shooting—check them out!) that I played a couple of weeks ago and completely fell in love with. It's gorgeous, funny, and full of complex characters that you can't help but adore.

Right after I played the four (out of five) chapters that have been released so far, it was time for me to head to PAX Prime, a huge video game convention in Seattle. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to honor my current favorite game on my nails, so I decided to recreate the outfit of one of the main characters, Rhys, with nail polish.

She Said Yeah Striped & Stamped Nail Art

I feel like it's rare for me to run across a (US-based) nail polish brand out in the wild that I've never heard of... but it does happen! When I was at the salon recently, I stumbled upon a new-to-me brand called Smith & Cult, so of course I had to grab a bottle and give it a try. The eye-catching, rocker-inspired display and packaging definitely helped draw me in, too.

Black & Silver Spotty Stamping

I set out recently to find a blue polish that matched a specific shirt I have, and when I saw Butter London Giddy Kipper, I knew immediately that it was the perfect choice.

Tri-Holo Lined Gradient Nail Art

Surprise—another stamping manicure! I swear I'm going to push myself to branch out a bit more in the coming weeks, but I just couldn't resist this one.

One More Valentine's Day Manicure

*press samples*

I'm not entirely sure how or when this change happened, but stamping has become my fall-back option for nail art these days when I'm short on time and/or inspiration. I can remember the not-so-distance past when stamping made me want to pull my hair out, so it's definitely a surprise to have it become my default!

Born Pretty Store Stamp & Glitter Review and Nail Art

*press samples*

Born Pretty Store is an amazing nail art resource and one of my favorite online shops, so I'm really excited to be able to review some of their products for you today. I couldn't remotely fit everything into one post, so expect to see another Born Pretty review post from me soon!

Now that I have my stamping mojo well in hand, I was especially interested to review some of Born Pretty Store's stamping plates. You can never have too many good sources for plates, right? BPS has also started offering plates with larger, full-nail images, which is very exciting for those of us with longer/wider nails.

And since Born Pretty Store is the place to go for all kinds of nail art supplies, I wanted to highlight that in my review by adding another element to what would otherwise be a typical stamping manicure.

Bright & Sparkly Stamped Gradient Nails

Gradients and stamping: they're my go-to techniques when I'm short on inspiration. So on those days when I'm feeling doubly uninspired, a stamped gradient must be the way to go, right? Right!

Red and White Holiday Sweater Nails

Happy holidays, everyone! I got busy with all my various shopping/wrapping/baking tasks and forgot to post these traditional red & white fair isle sweater nails I wore recently. But thankfully I found a few spare minutes and got them in under the wire!

Purple Snowflake Stamping

Snowflakes are a staple of winter/holiday nail art. I think just about everyone loves snowflakes—even me, and I hate snow! When I was thinking about my own contribution to the huge collection of snowflake nail art I've seen online, however, I decided that I wanted to put a new spin on this classic holiday look.

Neutral Damask Print Nails

I promise that I have some more holiday nail art in the queue, but first I need to post some of my non-holiday stuff that's been languishing for a while, like this simple damask print manicure. The color palette is very fall/Thanksgiving, which is close to the time I actually wore these nails—and since it's not technically winter yet where I am, I feel like I'm still safe sneaking them in under the wire!

Blue and Brown Stamped Waterfall Nail Art

I didn't have a chance yesterday to share the nails I wore for Thanksgiving (I was rushing to get out the door for dinner), so I thought I'd go ahead and put them up today. Better late than never, right? They're really more of a general wintery look than Thanksgiving, anyway, so hopefully I can be forgiven.

Black and Grey Curly Checkerboard Nail Art

I'm on such a stamping kick lately! I'm still enjoying my Messy Mansion stamper heads so much that I feel like I'm rediscovering all the awesome plates I have. And in the case of this look, I finally got to use a polish I'd coveted forever (surprise, surprise—it's grey!), so I'm especially pleased to share today's post.

Stitched Gradient Nail Art

Happy November! I can't believe how fast the year is flying by. It's already well into sweater weather where I live, so I decided to embrace the cold temperatures and rock the cozy sweater look on my nails, too.

Tan Flannel Stamped Nail Art

I wasn't planning on posting this manicure originally, but after some kind comments from my Instagram followers when I posted a preview over there, I decided to go ahead and go for it. I also found that the right camera angles can actually hide a LOT of flaws!

Stamped Holo Hexagon Nail Art

It's been a while since I've done a full-on stamped manicure. Like, a very long while. I'd like to say that I was just in the mood for other things, but that's only partially true: I also became kind of disillusioned with my plateaued stamping success. I've talked before about making an effort to improve my stamping skills, but I eventually reached a point where even when I tried my best, I just never felt like I could quite get the results I really wanted.

Well, I'm happy to report that there's been a new development: I have some new tools that are finally helping my stamping efforts be successful and, more importantly, fun.

Garnished Galaxy

I really, desperately wanted to do some Guardians of the Galaxy nails before seeing the movie over the weekend. (It's amazing, by the way! Go see it!) I racked my brain for ages trying to come up with a concept that would be both a recognizable representation of the movie/characters AND doable for my skill level, but I couldn't come up with anything. I love the Guardians to bits, but they just don't have super iconic (and nail-art-friendly) logos or costumes like the Avengers & other superheroes. In the end, I went with some embellished galaxies and called it a day—I had a movie to go see, after all!

Easiest Gradient Ever

Gradient manicures are one of my absolute favorite things, but sometimes they're just a little too much work, y'know? Waiting for the base layer to dry, painstakingly sponging on layers, dealing with cleanup—it can take forever! That's why all the thermal polishes popping up these days are so great: if your nails are long enough, you can (sometimes) get that gradient look without all the hassle.

A Walk Around the Color Block

My husband and I were out doing some outlet mall shopping recently, and as we breezed through the Kenneth Cole outlet, this mixed-pattern blouse caught my eye. As you may have already guessed, I always love a good mix of color blocking and patterns—and this combo in particular was so striking to me that started recreating a version of it on my nails almost as soon as we walked in the door at home.