Zombie Cakes

Here’s a terrible joke for you – what do zombies use to bake their cupcakes?  A brain pan.  Wah-waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. 🙂

Zombies were the name of the game for the fourth prompt in the nail art challenge I’m participating in on Instagram.  I wasn’t in the mood for your more traditional blood ‘n’ guts design, choosing instead to go with this cutie pie cupcake manicure, which even features two of my favourite zombie-themed polishes, Girly Bits Cosmetics’ Dead Man’s Toe and Dollish Polish’s Look at the Flowers, Lizzie.  Can’t go wrong with brain cakes drizzled in sanguine coulis and snot green frosting, can you?

 

Do You Suppose This is His Way of Telling Me I Smell?

Simply curious, as my husband gifted me with a metric butt ton (actual measurement, “butt ton”) of delicious Demeter fragrances for my birthday, and you just don’t do that unless a) someone really stinks (“This smells so great!  Wear all of it at once, immediately”) or b) you know your spouse really well, as mine did when he correctly surmised that I’d love to receive such a bounty of beautiful birthday blends (also an affection for alliteration.) 😉

So what terrifically odd combination of fragrances did my husband put together for his beloved on her 40th? Let’s take a peek, shall we?

Starting with the header photo, this apparently represents my birthday breakfast, a thing I actually didn’t have because I was fasting in anticipation of a blow-out Italian dinner later that evening.  But the thinking here is that I’d wake up and snarf down a plate of birthday cake-flavoured cinnamon toast topped with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup. With a tomato on the side (which I wholly approve of; all that sugar needs a bit of tart and fresh to balance it out.)

Speaking from a dietary perspective, that’s kind of horrifying!  But these fragrances are not – lovely single scents, all.  I particularly like Cinnamon Toast, which smells like cinnamon hearts, and, super surprisingly, Tomato, which on initial application smells exactly like a ripe, sun-warmed tomato.  It’s a unique smell that conjures up nice memories of my grandfather futzing over his heavily laden tomato plants out in the garden.

Next up we have the zombie fragrances, which, upon spritzing and sniffing, we decided I will never, ever wear because they smell like dirt and rot and probably skunk pheromones.  I love the theming behind these Zombie for Him, Her and Dog fragrances (what, the cats just fend for themselves?) but wowza, do they stink.  I suspect that Demeter’s Dirt fragrance, an otherwise pretty acceptable fresh earth kind of scent, is the base for all three of these colognes, with hits of dead flowers (for Her), decaying leaves (for Him) and something that’s erring awfully close to urine (for the Dog.)  I adore them, they are so weird, but these will probably remain collectibles only.  Also, you will pry my Snowmint Mallow from my cold, dead, zombiefied hands before I trade it in for something more apocalypse-appropriate.

Leaving the best for last, we have my cat Weegie looking disillusioned (so basically a day ending in Y) beside a bottle of Kitten Fur!  Which smells a bit like very mild laundry detergent.  I don’t think Weegie’s tummy fur smells like soap (you get the best, most accurate results – also probably hissed and swatted at – by sniffing a cat’s tummy) but I suppose if any creature in this house is going to smell like laundry, it’s going to be the one that spends 22 hours a day lounging around on freshly washed linens.

All in all, a lovely, thoughtful gift full of fun surprises and some very unique finds.  Well done, sweetie. 🙂

The Polished Dead

I don’t watch The Walking Dead, but in the interest of my ongoing education in pop culture and the fact that Ninja Carol is a total badass, I armchair quarterback the occasional episode. Fear the Walking Dead, however, is a show I can speak a bit more authoritatively on, if only because I’m continuously gobsmacked at how stupid the central characters can be. It’s a train wreck of reckless idiocy I’m powerless to tear my eyes from. I’ve since come to understand that the concept of a zombie is one that is totally unfamiliar to the denizens of the Walking Deadiverse, hence all the talk of walkers, geeks and anything-but-the-Z-word. But when the entire world is going to hell around you – civil disobedience, military invasions, burning hospitals, riots, police shootings, the woman next door who’s been stuck in a gap between your fences, snarling and bleeding from the eyes, FOR DAYS – it simply won’t do to put on a happy face, have a cuppa tea and wait for this all to blow over. “What’s going on, Dad?”, the befuddled catchphrase of one of Fear’s central mouthbreathers, has become shorthand around my home when you’re caught being a dumbass – “Dad? What’s going on, Dad? Why is there all this water on the counter? Dad? Dad? Daaahhhhh-aaaaaddddd?”

All that to say these are zombie skin nails, featuring a polish from last year’s China Glaze Halloween collection, Don’t Let the Dead Bite, that I think looks like entrails (in the very best way!) Guaranteed walker-approved.

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.

Brrrraaaaaaaiiiiinnnnnsssss

Look no further than these pastel pretties for the softer side of exposed organs this Halloween.

Mini Movie Monsters

Frank, Ho-Tep, Edward Cullen, Teen Wolf – looks like the monster squad’s all here, and just in time for Halloween!

Zombie Kitty

These Hello Zombie nails are my entry in Nail Polish Canada’s annual Halloween Nail Art Challenge. I didn’t participate last year, having only just started dabbling in nail art some months prior and having not yet discovered the delightful, bank account-draining world of online polish stocklists. So it’s with excitement that I submit these zombiefied Hello Kitty nails that I think are so, so cute without being all gross and bloody (some of the Google images of Zombie Kitty are disturbing.) Just a hint of exposed organs – and one yummy-looking brain cupcake – for my Kitty. 😉

If you think my brains-obsessed Kitty is swell and you’d like to vote for her in the Nail Polish Canada contest, you can do so here. My entry is “Zombie Kitty/Finger Candy” – not that you’d be able to miss her cute little neon green mug! And thank you for thinking enough of my work to take the time to vote. It’s a lovely feeling indeed to know you care, you really, really care! But in all seriousness (in this most serious business of nail art) thank you.