Goldy Locks (31DC2015)

Well, lock and key. These very Tiffany-esque nails, which are my belated entry towards day eight’s theme of metallics in the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, are a great example of the products used influencing the final manicured result. I had initially just thought to lay the little lock and key charms, which I purchased from Daily Charme, over a simple glitter. I then thought how much they looked like Tiffany’s Return to Tiffany lockets and keys (available in an assortment of necklaces, bracelets and earrings.) That then made me think that maybe I should be laying my charms down on a Tiffany blue background, which in my polish collection is Nails Inc.’s little blue box-hued Royal Botanical Gardens. Finally, I decided to add a nice little hit of metallic glitter to my index finger, pinkie and thumb in the form of KB Shimmer’s Toast-ess with the Mostest, a silver, gold and rose gold glitter bomb that I think looks like a smashed jewelry counter in a bottle. And just like that, another challenge mani locked down. 😉

Snap Out of It!

I woke up this morning and found myself in a mood. I slept poorly and was woken by the not-so-dulcet tones of my grumpy, bellowing cat. My arm quite mysteriously ached and the driving conditions were terrible. I walked out of the drugstore empty-handed after waiting in line for five minutes while the one cashier on duty did…other stuff. Back at home I rode the elevator with one of my elderly neighbours, who was returning from his morning swim and wearing naught but an insufficiently small towel to cover his girth, which based on my close proximity to his naked gut, I could clearly make out was covered in a fine pelt of snow white hair. And I’ve just been listening to far too many moody, melancholy songs given the already bleak time of year (Joy Division? Massive Attack? Instrumental scores from favourite television shows where everyone eventually dies?) TL;DR? It hasn’t been the best start to the week.

But things are looking up (I think there’s nail mail waiting for me in the mail room! So what the heck am I still doing here, right?), and not just because these nails, a pastel-on-pastel gradient topped with a bright, multi-coloured glitter, are super cheerful and just looking at them makes me a little happier (although it certainly helps!)

For this peppy, bubble gum ice cream-ish mani, I sponged on a perhaps too-similarly-hued gradient (Nails Inc.’s turquoise Royal Botanical Gardens over Pure Ice’s mint green Home Run) before finishing it off with a super colourful and cheery glitter topper (Candy Lacquer’s Carnival Games.) See, better mood already. 🙂

Flutterbyes (OMD2)

Day 16’s theme of glitter placement in the Oh Mon Dieu nail art challenge was a particularly inspired one (past tense, because of course I’m three off the pace) with all participants submitting amazing entries, particularly challenge hostess Craftynail, who blew me away with her monarch butterfly glitter nails (really, go check them out; they’re spectacular.)

I suppose “glitter placement” could mean all sorts of different things to different nail artists, from glitter polish gradients to individually hand-placed sequins. I chose the latter, topping a couple of coats of Nails Inc.’s Royal Botanical Gardens (which itself was topped with Essence’s rainbow holo glitter, Space Queen) with a sprinkling of neon hexes and dancing butterflies. It was nit-picky, painstaking work wrangling all that tiny glitter, but not unduly difficult. Just remember that patience is a virtue when dealing with tiny piles of microscopic glitter that want to creep into everything you own. Seriously, glitter gets in your everything.

A quick note on glitter for use in nail polish-based projects. Whether you’re making your own (I can’t recommend it enough when you’ve got a polish in mind that just doesn’t exist) or using it as a nail art enhancement, you’ll want to use solvent-resistant glitter. I got my polish crafting glitter from a couple of different Etsy retailers, although you may be able to find a small selection at your local beauty supply. Standard craft glitter (like that in the 35-shade kit I have never, ever used but needed very badly, because apparently I was going to glitterize the WORLD) can be used, but be prepared for some pretty epic colour-bleeding and, in extreme cases, glitter melt. And no one wants to experience the terror that is glitter melt, let me tell you.

The Redemption of Pea Green

It’s really easy: Just take the ugliest colour in your bag of polished beauty tricks – I can practically guarantee it’s the aforementioned pea green, or maybe even an orangey rust or dog poo brown – and cover it with one and a half coats of a fun neon glitter topper seemingly designed expressly to beautify such objectionable nail polish colours.  I mean, I don’t wish to pick on this guy, Essence’s L.O.L. (oh, I’m LOL-ing, all right) but he’s ever so ugly.  It’s a particularly unflattering shade against my pale, WASPy hide, although I can’t imagine a skin tone in this world it *would* flatter.  And yet, when it’s paired with a funfetti-ish glitter like this one, Polish Me Silly’s Over the Rainbow, it takes on a grassy, springy look, like Easter goodies nestled in a basket of fake plastic grass, as opposed to the paint on the outside of the Griswold family station wagon in the first Vacation movie, a unique shade that went by the name “Electric Pea” (or is it “Electric Pee”?  No matter, both apply.)  It also helps if you throw in an accent nail in a colour that doesn’t remind you of medical waste, here Nails Inc.’s perfect robin’s egg blue, Royal Botanical Gardens. See, not all is lost for the noble pea. 😉

Not Your Grannie’s Floral

Floral nail art designs, with their softer colour palettes and dainty patterns, always wind up looking a bit like that mismatched teacup and saucer set your grandmother keeps on the top shelf of her china cabinet but curiously never puts out as something you could actually drink tea out of. But not these nails! Vivid on bright on neon, these nails are most definitely not your grandmother’s cup of tea. 😉

Here I used an assortment of super bright, jewel toned polishes over top of two Nails Inc. base colours, Royal Botanical Gardens, the robin’s egg blue, and St. James Park, the neon coral on my ring finger.