Blood in the Water

Hey look, it’s my boy Jaws!  Always fun to catch up with my favourite fiberglass shark, with a cameo from the outstandingly tacky anchor print blazer the asshat Mayor of Amity wears as he’s dooming his island-bound constituents to death-by-shark.

Slightly tangential, but I miss the Jaws ride at Universal Studios Florida with the fire of 1,000 exploding oil tankers.  Ah, to smooch that germ-ridden mug just one more time, as I did on our honeymoon (and maybe five or six other times in my life, but this sweet shark kiss happened on our honeymoon.  Mr. Finger Candy was very understanding.) 😉

Favourites of 2014

Personal struggles aside (2014 shall hereafter always be known as The No Good, Very Bad, Super Stupid, So Relentlessly-Difficult-it-Practically-Burns Year), 2014 was a pretty fabulous year for nail art. Here, of course, I’m talking about the hundreds of amazing designs I’ve encountered over the past 365 days (the creativity displayed by the larger nail art community is simply staggering), but also my own work, which has seen an appreciable boost in quality, particularly in recent months. I’m wicked proud of about, say, 87 percent of the nail art designs I did this year – the other 13 percent being of the “Whuuuu?” variety – and I’ve really enjoyed the super rewarding experience of watching my technique improve with each and every lacquered brushstroke.

And so on that horn-blowin’ note, I thought I’d share this collage of my nine favourite designs from the past year in the hopes that you also think I’m as cool as I clearly think I am! 😉 But to bring it down all serious styles for a second, really, my most sincere thank you to everyone who has popped by to visit my little lacquered-up corner of the Intersky this year. Your interest, support and kind comments have spurred me on to what I think are bigger and better things, and I look forward to continuing to bore you with endless stories about Disney World, my cats and “the good old days” in 2015. Happy New Year!

If you are interested in checking out the original posts for these manis, please click the links below.

1. How’s That For a Slice of Fried Gold?! – Shaun of the Dead-inspired nails.

2. Diet Coke – nails honouring a friend’s fun aspartame addiction.

3. 999 Happy Haunts – my favourite design of the year, inspired by the damask-style wallpaper that lines the halls of Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

4. Zombie Kitty – Hello Kitty goes walking with the dead in these fun Halloween nails.

5. A Personal Choice – a sweet, creamy-looking gradient topped with my favourite homemade polish, Hawaiian Ham.

6. You Can’t Close the Beaches! – let’s just say the Mayor of Amity really should have closed the beaches.

7. Coral Reef – a super pretty mani featuring every colour and shape of the underwater universe I could squeeze onto my nails!

8. This Split is Bananas – tiny little banana splits with sprinkles! Plus I got to make a B-A-N-A-N-A-S joke.

9. Brrrraaaaaaiiiiinnnnnsssss – pastel zombie nails for the softer side of Halloween.

You Can’t Close the Beaches! (OMD2)

You don’t have the authority to close the beaches! Tourism dollars, island communities, blah diddy blah blah bla — oh cripes, did we mention the shark? Really, it’s no biggie – he only eats every second or third fisherman, and failing that, your kids and pets and Sunday roasts. Pretty much business as usual around Amity Island.

For today’s theme of nautical in the Oh Mon Dieu nail art challenge – the first time I have actually been able to say that as opposed to the day number, because I have been annoyingly off the pace from the very beginning – I have clearly taken great inspiration from a favourite movie and nail art subject, Jaws. More specifically, I attempted to recreate the mayor’s outstanding grey seersucker blazer dotted with tiny embroidered anchors, with my own bloody and naughty-cal touch.

Judging from the look of things, dude, I think you should have closed the beaches.

Dunnnnnhhhh Dunh, Dunnnnnhhhh Dunh

These Jaws-themed nails, a re-do on one of my first nail art designs, really deserve the then-and-now treatment. I’ve come a long way in just four months, and executing these nails without multiple do-overs, mild weeping and hair-rending is nothing short of miraculous in my formaldehyde-addled mind. It’s too embarrassing to post the old guys, mostly because my nails and cuticles are in such rough shape (or no shape, really) and the sharks are baby blue. So cute and totally not what I was going for!

Wishy washy feelings about my second Jaws-ing aside, one thing that is perfectly clear is I LOVE that movie. Superb performances, great physical effects (don’t be so harsh, it was the 1970s) and that score? Pure perfection. And I continue to mourn its loss to this day, because I’m an amusement park nerd that way, but the now-no-more Jaws Ride at Universal Studios Florida gets my vote for the second greatest ride of all time (a close second to Disney World’s Haunted Mansion, if you were curious.) No trip to Amity Island was complete without a wee stop-off to smooch the giant fibreglass shark hanging outside the ride, and I’d be in a bit of a mood if I didn’t catch at least a few minutes of the in-line entertainment, a faux news program on WJWS (“All shark programming on your all shark station!”) complete with bantering hosts, drunken sea captains and shark puppets. Like I said, (second) best ride ever. 🙂