Larry Nail Art

So in the world of radio, it is not uncommon to work with someone for years and never meet them face to face. One of my colleagues works out of San Francisco, and I have worked with him for probably 6 years. We finally met today. He knows about my nail art and I promised I would do something fun for him. Here you go, Larry!

I painted Larry on my ring finger. I also added a bit of stamping with the mug of beer from a MoYou London plate, but I could have left it plain and I probably would have liked it more. The base color is China Glaze Electric Pineapple. I used acrylic paints to do the portrait.

I used Larry's Facebook profile as my model. He's a bit of a weirdo, but then, so am I. And after I painted this, I realized that I chose one of my sister-in-law's favorite colors for the base. It wasn't a conscious decision. She passed away two years ago today, and she would probably have busted up laughing at this. :)

This is the third time I have painted the face of someone I know on my nails. Here is the first one of Sarah from Chalkboard Nails, and here is the second one of my little nephew (Erin's son) Will. 

Indie Coalition For A Cause

Hello! I am very proud to be a member of the Indie Coalition For A Cause. We are a group of independent polish makers and bloggers united to make a difference. Our goal is to hold two fundraisers a year. Each fundraiser will support a different cause. We have decided to raise money for the charity Equality Now for our inaugural fundraiser, which starts today!

Equality Now is an organization that advocates for the human rights of women and girls around the world by raising international visibility of individual cases of abuse, mobilizing public support through global membership, and wielding strategic political pressure to ensure that government enact or enforce laws and policies that uphold the rights of women and girls. Their areas of focus include discrimination in law, sexual violence, female genital mutilation and trafficking. The members of the Indie Coalition for a Cause are in full support of this charity as we both envision a world in which women and men have equal rights under the law and full enjoyment of those rights.

I have contributed a new color called Equal Work Equal Pay. Here is a look at the bottle:

This is a glitter topper in a clear base with lots of small glitter in green, gold, and blue. 

Here's a swatch of Equal Work Equal Pay.

You can enter to win this polish as well as a selection of polishes from other indie makers by making a donation to Equality Now, and then entering a rafflecopter raffle. Here are the details:

Donations are to be made to the ICC fundraiser located here in increments of $5 and those that wish to be included in the raffle drawing may enter the rafflecopter below at the end of this blog post. There are two prize packs for this raffle: one large prize and a second smaller one. At the time of this post, there are still a few polish prizes trickling in, so there will be even more for our generous polish fans!

Here is a look at the two prize packs we are giving away:

PRIZE PACK #1

 PRIZE PACK #2

Enter to win now by making a donation to Equality Now and then entering your name into the rafflecopter drawing below. Big thanks to Jen of Musings of the Wife of a Jedi for organizing our first fundraiser, and to Melissa of Silly Bee's Chickadees for her great leadership in getting all of us together on this. Thank you for supporting such a great cause and GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Eggshell Nails

I wanted to make a delicate nail design that would reflect the gorgeous colors of egg shells. We are so lucky to have lots of farmers markets in Sonoma County selling farm fresh eggs. They are not only beautiful on the outside, they are also gorgeous on the inside, with richly colored yolks.

I painted each nail with a different egg shell hue, then used MoYou London Explorer plate 03 with Konad White. The base colors are OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle, OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?, Orly Decades of Dysfunction, and Color Club Factory Girl.

Fire... BAD!

This challenge was to create nails inspired by a movie. I chose Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein.

I used a combination of techniques, including sponging, stamping (Frank and the castle), decals (the Bride), and freehand (the lightning bolts and the highlights on the castle. I think the whole look turned out great!

(I still love Young Frankenstein best!)

Stamping Challenge: Black and White Nails

This week's challenge is black and white nails. I asked my husband what I should do, and his standard answer was perfect: "Star Wars."

I used a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris. I stamped images from Sugar Bubbles plate 004 for the Stormtrooper and Darth Vader. I did a muted galaxy nail on the other nails by sponging on OPI You're a Pisa Work and Color Club Age of Aquarius, then dabbing a bit of China Glaze Fairy Dust. I added random stars with more Snow Me White.

I even painted my right hand! Princess Leia is a decal I made. 

May the Force be with you.

Stamping Better than Jamberry

The recent challenge on Adventures in Stamping was to create a design that is better than Jamberry, or other similar nail wraps. Here is my interpretation:

 

Base coat is OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? stamped with Konad white. I used the decal method on my ring finger with acrylic paints. Image is from MoYou London Pro 06.

31 Day Challenge: Glitter

For today's challenge I of course had to use my own fabulous glitter toppers! Who loves Sonoma Nail Art?! I heart Sonoma Nail Art. (See what I did there?)

I started by painting my nails with Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, then topped the black with Pumpkin Hurl (a gorgeous orange, red, and yellow topper), and the middle finger with Grape Stomp (purple squishy goodness). Both of these shades and other gorgeous colors are available in my etsy store right now. And that orange topper would look great for any Bay Area sports fans right about now, wink wink. On my ring finger I started with butter LONDON Minger, then used acrylic paint to make the Jack Skellington head. 

Click here to see my glitter manicure from 2011.

P.S. I am going to have to take a breather from the challenge for a bit. I am supposed to be getting ready for a group open studio at my art studios and I really need to get ready for that. Plus, I am just stretching myself too thin right now, and starting to not feel good. So I will probably pick the challenge back up in November. Thanks for your support! Oh and if you are in Sonoma County and want to come to my art show (it's free!), it is at 3840 Finley Avenue in Santa Rosa. It will be November 1st and 2nd from 11am to 5pm. We will have a little reception on Saturday the 1st, from 5pm to 6pm.