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!)

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. 

31 Day Challenge: Green

I did Elphaba nails for the Green challenge. Index and pinkie are China Glaze Electric Pineapple, middle finger is Sonoma Nail Art Flippin' Out (get your own bottle here), and ring finger is a base of WnW Ebony Hates Chris with acrylic paints for the witch. And I matted it, cause that is awesome!

This shot is before I matted it. 

Here is what I did for the green challenge in 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Orange

For the orange challenge, I decided to try a jelly sandwich. I then stamped a fun pattern of skulls on my ring finger.

I started with one coat of OPI Y'All Come Back Now Ya Hear? and then used one coat of Sonoma Nail Art Pumpkin Hurl, then added another coat of the OPI polish. I love how squishy and pretty it looks! On my ring finger, I used Konad Black to stamp an image of skulls from Sugar Bubbles SB023. 

Here is what I did for the orange challenge in 2011.

You can buy Sonoma Nail Art Pumpkin Hurl in my esty store now! :)

MoYou London Stamping

I am having SO MUCH FUN with my MoYou London stamping plates. The quality of these plates is far superior to any other stamping plates I have used. The etching is perfect, and the images are unique and well thought out for use on the nail. The landscape style of plates are beautiful and seem like little pieces of art on their own. I have been posting a few manicures on my Instagram account for the MoYou 10K challenge. Here are my manis so far:

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 1: Art 

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 2: Nature

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 4: Fantasy

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 5: Shadows

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 7: Red

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 8: Food

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 12: OOTD (I chose to go nudie for this challenge, ha ha!)

MoYou 10K Challenge Day 14: TV Show

As you can see, I am having a blast with this challenge. Please follow my Instagram account for more challenges this month. Also, I am sure you noticed a new color in my Kermit manicure! Yup, my new collection is out and available in my etsy shop. Click here to view the collection and pick up a few bottles. They are Muppet inspired colors, yaaaaaay! *Kermit arm flail*

Pueen Stamping with Clockwork

Today I am featuring some of my new stamping plates I got from Pueen! They are gorgeous and I love the full plate designs which let you really customize your images. I paired this plate together with my polish Clockwork, which is available right now in my etsy shop.

I painted my nails with Orly Buried Alive first, then topped most of my nails with my Sonoma Nail Art color Clockwork. On my ring finger I stamped Orly Glitz over the nail with Pueen Plate 57. I topped it all with Seche Vite. 

Isn't this color pretty!? I am not sure why I haven't tried it before. The colors in this collection (inspired by Dark Shadows) were super vampy and fun. I bought this at a big discount at Sally Beauty Supply.

Here is the full plate image from the Pueen Palte 57. There are so many ways you could wear this, I just love it. I think I will have to do a Yellow Brick Road mani verrrrry soon! Happy Monday!

Run Lola Run aka Lola Rennt

One of my favorite films is 1998's Run Lola Run (originally "Lola Rennt") starring Franke Potente. At the center of this movie, a woman is trying to save her boyfriend and each scenario ends badly, until she finally finds success. Lola, the hero, runs almost non-stop through the film, but instead of being monotonous, the film is filled with tension and energy. The film style is innovative, the acting is intense, and the soundtrack is elementally entwined in the telling of the story. If you haven't seen it, you should. And please, please, PLEASE watch it in German with subtitles. The English overdub is particularly annoying.

I am developing a set of Powerful Women decals, and I tried this one featuring Lola.

I started with a base of OPI Big Apple Red, then painted on patches of my glitter topper Sonoma Nail Art "Red Flag Warning" (check it out in my etsy shop here). Then I added stamping from Pueen 52 (from the new stamping buffet set) with Konad Black polish. On my ring finger I painted Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and then added my Lola water slide decal. After I top coated it, I added thinned down red and blue polishes to color her hair and tank top. I hand painted the black french tip with Wet 'n Wild Ebony Hates Chris.

This is before I added the stamping and black french tip. I kind of like it this way too. The glitter gives it a fun sense of urgency.

I will soon have some fun news related to the Powerful Women decals I am putting together, so keep checking back for an announcement!

Beast Mode Nails

These are the nails I did for the Superbowl on Sunday, and I did them right before we were headed out to watch the game at our favorite watering hole. My husband was chomping at the bit for me to get done already, so we could score good seats to watch the game. And so I am sharing these with a caveat: I didn't have time to moisturize and make sure all of my cleanup/lines looked good. I was kind of horrified to look at close up pictures of this mani. SO DRY! With that in mind...

I deconstructed the Seahawks logo. You can see part of the beak on my index finger, and the eyes on my middle and pinkie fingers. On my ring finger is The Beast from Disney's Beauty and The Beast. For those unfamiliar with the Seahawks, one of the players, Marshawn Lynch, is nicknamed 'Beast Mode' for his amazing skills as a running back. So these are my Beast Mode Nails!

The base colors I used were Zoya Dove, Orly Fresh, OPI Ogre The Top Blue, and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. All of the artwork is done with acrylic paints, then topped with Seche Vite. And obviously no moisturizer. What have we learned from this, kids?! Always moisturize your cuticles!

I think it was totally worth it to keep my husband waiting while I finished these. Can you imagine what would have happened if I hadn't?! LOL

Go SEAHAWKS!

Here is a manicure I did to show off 12th Man team spirit for the Superbowl bound Seattle Seahawks! Yes, I live in 49er country, but I am from Washington State.

I used Orly Fresh and OPI Ogre The Top Blue for the base colors, then topped most of the nails with my Sonoma Nail Art glitter 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. There are bottles of this color available in my etsy store right now! On my ring finger, I used acrylic paint to freehand a Seahawks logo.

GO HAWKS!

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!)

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. 

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!

Happy Halloween!

A quick post to show off my mani today. This was done with one coat of Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, my go-to black polish. Then I painted little random sections of three of my Sonoma Nail Art Halloween polishes: Deadly Zins, Halloween in the Vines, and Here Lies Robert. Finally, I painted a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out and seal it in.

I love these! Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Halloween Collection Winner and Swatch

Congrats to Ina of mynailpolishonline.com. Ina won a set of my Halloween Collection in celebration of my one year blogiversary. :) And here is a quick swatch of one of the Halloween colors: Halloween In The Vines.

I painted my nails with China Glaze No Plain Jane and then added three coats of Halloween In The Vines to my ring finger with a black french tip. It is a fun way to wear this polish!

Don't forget: my next restock of the Halloween colors is tomorrow, September 20th, 2012 at 4pm Pacific Time (7pm Eastern). There will be full sets of the Halloween Collection available for $38 and there will also be individual bottles of the Halloween colors as well. The sets are one per person only. Here is the link to my etsy store. 

Deadly Zins and Danke Shiny Red

Today's nail art is a quick manicure I did before my recent trip to Seattle to visit family.

I painted my nails with this awesome OPI color called Danke Shiny Red, and then added a bit of nail swirly stuff (a la Robin Moses), and then dabbed my new Halloween color Deadly Zins on the tips. Hotsy totsy!

Here is a shot of my new Halloween polish Deadly Zins. This pic was taken by Sarah Waite of Chalkboard Nails. Deadly Zins is one of four polishes I am releasing for Halloween. The labels for these polishes are super fun, like they are oozing down the side of the bottle, LOL.

Here are the polishes I will be selling on etsy tomorrow! Sale time is 5pm Pacific (that's 8pm Eastern). My polishes are $10 each, U.S. shipping only. I am really excited about these and I hope you are looking forward to them too!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SonomaBento

Hello Kitty Nerd

Sorry about the gap between posts, I was covering for a coworker and I also had a polish sale, so sadly I did not have time for fun manicure. But I am making up for it with this cutie patootie mani! Hello Kitty Nerd!!  I was able to use a new technique I have never tried in this manicure, and I am thrilled with how it turned out.

This is a combination of an amazing gradient technique which I learned from The Nailasaurus, some hand painted nail art with acrylic paints, and my very own glitter topcoat called "My Three Glitters!"

I started by painting my nails light pink with Butter London Teddy Girl. It was a little bare in spots with two coats, but I didn't mind since I was going to do a gradient over it anyway. Click here to see a great tutorial by The Nailasaurus on how to accomplish this easy gradient technique. I was able to do this on my very first try!

Here are the colors I used for my gradient, and oops, they are in the wrong order. Butter London Teddy Girl, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Speedy Sunburst, and OPI Elephantastic Pink. I actually used them in this order: Teddy Girl, Elephantastic Pink, Speedy Sunburst. This made for a very gradual gradient with lots of oomph!

Then I started on HK herself. Here you can see the white and black parts filled in on her head and body. Using acrylic paints makes it much easier to get smooth lines and to fix errors. 

Next I added facial features (the few she actually has), whiskers, and her little buttons on her dress. Then I turned her into an adorable little NERD!

This is a sticker of nerdy/1950s era Hello Kitty. She's got big ol glasses on and cute tenny runners. I found this sticker at the Sanrio store in San Francisco's Japantown. I LOVE that store, and I have to be careful when I go there or else I come home with an empty bank account, LOL.

Finally, to add dimension and fun to this mani, I topped all of my other nails with my Sonoma Nail Art glitter topcoat called "My Three Glitters". It is a black and white topcoat with white squares and black diamonds and has a fun retro feel to it. Then I topped everything with Seche Vite. 

My Three Glitter is inspired by one-time Sonoma County resident Fred MacMurray who had a ranch here. One of his most popular roles was the dad in the television series My Three Sons. My friend Sarah from Chalkboard Nails helped me design this label and I really love it! I do have more bottles of this polish available from my last etsy sale. You can buy them here if you haven't picked up this color yet. I like the way the fun squares and diamonds in this mix make the polish a little different than the other black and white topcoats out there. Have a great week polish friends!

1000 Facebook Likes Giveaway!

I am excited to announce that I hit 1000 facebook likes on my Sonoma Nail Art facebook fan page this week! So I am having a giveaway to celebrate! This is a limited edition polish. I will only make 55 bottles of this polish, five are for this giveaway and 50 will be for sale in my etsy shop. I will split the sale of these bottles into two parts. The first lot of 25 bottles will be in my etsy sale tomorrow and the remaining 25 bottles will be for sale in about 2 weeks from now. And now, here is the special commemorative polish, cleverly called "1000 FB Likes!" LOL

TAADAAAAA!

"1000 FB Likes" is a glitter top coat with a mix of periwinkle, blue, white, and purple glitters in a shimmery blue base.

This is one coat of "1000 FB Likes" over Color Club Hydrangea Kiss. You can see the silvery blue shimmer as well as the fun mix of glitters.

Here are the polishes that will be for sale on Friday (tomorrow) July 20th, 2012 at 5pm Pacific Time (that is 8pm Eastern). Here is the link to my etsy shop.

One of these could be yours! All you have to do is enter my drawing below. Each of the bottles (the ones for giveaway and the ones for sale) will be numbered, so this will truly be a fun limited edition polish and a collector's keepsake. :) This giveaway is open to everyone, including international fans. The winner will be announced next Wednesday, July 25th, 2012. Good luck!

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