Hunger Games: The Nails On FIRE

Today's nail art is actually inspired by the swatch that my buddy Sarah of Chalkboard Nails did for my new polish "Pumpkin Hurl". She did a coat of it over black and then used a matte topcoat. It looked so much like glowing embers, that I had to work it into a mani! So I present: Hunger Games, The Nails On FIRE! (I totally just said that in my head as if I were Stanley Tucci playing Caesar Flickerman!)

I started with a base of Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris (my favorite one coat black) and then added the Mockingjay artwork using gold, brown, white, and black acrylic paints over that. I mixed the other colors into the gold to add highlights and shadows.

It looked pretty cool this way, but I wanted to extend the artwork onto the other nails, and that is where this polish comes into play. I originally developed this color to illustrate the summer fire danger we have in Sonoma County, and I called it Red Flag Warning. But then tragedy struck Yosemite with massive wild fires, so I changed the name to Pumpkin Hurl. The new name is inspired by all of the pumpkin themed contests and fun we have in Sonoma County during the fall. Things like growing giant pumpkins, carving them, eating them, and yes, hurling them through the air with a giant trebuchet.

So here is the mani with one coat of Pumpkin Hurl. You can get a bottle of it in my etsy store this fall! Click here to check it out (and to see the swatch Sarah did that inspired this mani!)

Then I had to top it all with Hard Candy Matte-Ly In Love matte top coat. I am so happy with how these look! I'm totally gonna do this look again for the Catching Fire premier. Happy Hunger Games! 

OH PS (Am I the only one who was totally disappointed that they didn't give Jennifer Lawrence cool fire themed nail art in the first movie? I mean C'MON! That was gonna be EPIC!)

Tribute to Erin

Today I am posting the first nail art I have done in a while. Two months ago today, my dear sister-in-law Erin passed away suddenly. She leaves behind her new son, born just four days before she died, her 2 year old daughter, and my brother. Things have been really rough and we are all having a hard time adjusting to this loss. Last night I decided to make this simple design to honor her memory.

I painted my nails with Sinful Colors Gogo Girl. The bottle I used belonged to Erin. She was not big into painting her nails, and when I was with my brother right after she died, he gave me her one bottle of nail polish. (I would give all of my polish to have her back...) It was a really nice gesture and I wanted to do something with it to remember her. 

I painted a Gerbera Daisy on my ring finger. This was Erin's favorite flower. I actually did two versions of this flower. The first one was like 7 layers of paint and getting crazy big, so I took it off. Then I looked up techniques for painting a Gerbera Daisy and I was able to do this version. I do like how it turned out. And I learned that it is actually Gerbera not Gerber! (Gerber is the last name of the botanist who found this daisy, but the Latin scientific name is Gerbera.)

Here is a closeup of the artwork. Instead of 7 messy layers, there are about 3 layers of petals painted with acrylic paints. I topped it with my favorite: Seche Vite. 

This is my brother, Erin, and her little girl from a trip I took to visit them in 2011. There aren't many pictures of Erin with her son. But we do have a few and they are precious. I miss you so much Erin!

Prince Nails

So I am going to see Prince in a club in San Francisco tonight. AAAAAAAG! I am so excited, I am almost crying. Had to do Prince nails, natch.

I actually like my right hand better than my left! It's the Prince symbol (done with acrylic paints) over OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI and Candeo Colors Anochi Kai.

Here is what I painted with my right hand on my left hand. It is more detailed, but I still like the other hand better. That rarely happens. Alright, time to get my funk on! LATER!!!

One Fish Two Fish

... Red Fish, Blue Fish! Dr. Seuss would have turned 109 years old this coming Sunday, March 2nd. He was a brilliant artist and children's author. His impact is evident around the world. Many of us learned to read with the help of Dr. Seuss. He is so inspiring to me personally as an artist, I really can't put it into words. Here are my nails celebrating one of my heroes:

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

I started with a base of Lime Crime Once In A Blue Mousse, then applied acrylic craft paint in red, white, blue and black. 

After I added the rad body and white eyeball, I completed the details using black paint. This was not easy!! The lines are so tiny, but I am really happy with how the red fish turned out.

Next I added the blue fish. This little guy is very Seuss-ian, in that he doesn't look like any real fish, but has sort of a fishy quality. 

Finally I added some little white bubble on my pinkie fingernail and topped everything with Seche Vite. Side note: one of my German professors in college was named Dr. Suess. Ha ha!!

Groundhog Day!

It's the 20 year anniversary of the best movie about a rodent EVAR. Groundhog Day is such a fun movie, and I am shocked that Bill Murray did not win an Oscar for his performance as Phil Connors, the snarky weatherman who hates covering Groundhog Day every year. I did this quick nail art as an homage to little Phil The Groundhog. Will he see his shadow on Saturday, or won't he?

Super kawaii! It better be an early spring, or the groundhog gets it!

I started with a base of Essie Bikini So Teeny. I get lots of compliments on this color, it is so striking! And it really levels well, so easy to apply.

I added the artwork using acrylic craft paints.

After all of the artwork was done, I applied a topcoat of Seche Vite to seal it in and protect it. "This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You're hypocrites, all of you!"

Happy Groundhog Day!

Broke A Nail

I am sure this had happened to you. One nail breaks and you have to file it down to a little nubbin. And then you have to worry about the other nails: do they have to go, too? What did THEY do to deserve THIS?! After my index nail broke this week I decided, no! No, I will not file them all down. Instead, I will put a band-aid on it until it gets better.

There there, you'll be back to your old self soon, little guy.

I started with a base of Zoya Wednesday, a dusty turquoise. This is a hard color to photograph as it likes to turn my hands into lobster colored claws. This is the best true-to-color shot I could get.

I painted a little band-aid on my index finger using acrylic paints, then topcoated with Seche Vite. Now it is time to take my vitamins and get that nail to grow out! 

Chalkboard Nails by Sonoma Nail Art

My friend Sarah of Chalkboard Nails is also my official swatcher and photographer for my nail polish line, Sonoma Nail Art. I have created a nail polish inspired by her blog name and it will be for sale this Friday in my etsy store. I played with it this weekend and tried it with a matte topcoat, so fun!

Here are three layers of Chalkboard Nails by Sonoma Nail Art on my index, middle, and pinkie fingers. On my ring finger I painted two coats of OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! and then sponged on some of the same polish that I lightened with white polish. Then I topped it with a decal I made of Sarah's blog logo. And THEN I put on a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love. Whew!

As you can see, OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine! is a really close match color wise to Chalkboard Nails by Sonoma Nail Art. If you wanted to use that as a base color with one coat of my polish on top, it would work well. 

Here is the ring finger after I sponged on the lightened polish. All I did was drop a few drips of polish on a piece of card stock, then mixed it with a toothpick, and used a cosmetic sponge to dab it on. It is supposed to mimic the way a chalkboard looks.

And here is the mani before I added a matte topcoat. I think it looks nice either way! Chalkboard Nails will be available in my etsy store this Friday, January 18th, and will sell for $10.50 per bottle. Keep an eye on my facebook page for further updates. You can also WIN a bottle, by entering Sarah's contest here. 

National Static Electricity Day

January 9th is National Static Electricity Day. Who knew?! So to celebrate and to spread awareness (or whatever you are supposed to do about this 'holiday') I created static electricity nail art!

Zzzzap!

I started with a base of OPI The One That Got Away, from the Katy Perry collection. It is actually a bit more wine/raspberry colored than this photo shows. It is really gorgeous! This is two coats.

Then using acrylic paints, I drew this little dude with his (her?) hair standing on end. 

I used layers of purple and white acrylic paint to create zaps of static electricity radiating out from the little dude. I started with the darker colors and worked my way towards white. Added a topcoat (Seche Vite) and done! Now I really wanna put on some wool socks, scoot around on the carpet, and find my next victim... moo hoo ha ha ha!

Turtle Submarine

I admit that historical military weapons are not normally the "go to" topic for nail art, but I was fascinated by this bit of American history, so I wanted to share it with you!

My hubby and I recently watched an episode of Weaponology from the Discovery Channel about submarines. And apparently the first military submarine was built to attach British Naval ships off the New York Harbor during the American Revolutionary War. The 'Turtle' was designed to be operated by one man who would use pedal power to propel the craft, and hand pump water in and out of a tank on the bottom of the craft to lower and raise the submarine. They intended to go underneath a British ship, bore a hole in the hull and place explosives there. Unfortunately, the hull was reinforced with copper plates and they couldn't drill through it. The submarine was designed by David Bushnell with help from Benjamin Franklin. Isn't this crazy fascinating?! So I present... The Turtle!

It's so cute, and also terrifying to think of actually being in it. LOL I added a bit of my Sonoma Nail Art polish, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" to give it some bling and to indicate the dangerous current and cold waters off of New York Harbor. 

I started with a base of Cult Nails Manipulative for the base color. This is two coats. It is a really pretty polish, but tends to give me lobster hands in photographs. 

And here is the artwork of Turtle before top coat. I used acrylic paints to make the artwork of the little submarine. If you want to see what the sub looked like and read more about it, click this link. 

And if you would love to own your own bottle of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, you can purchase it now from my etsy shop. Click here to see the polishes currently available!