Snapshots: Kurta, Summer Dotticure

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

I wanted to share with you two looks I completed recently and posted to Instagram, but not here (it happens sometimes, say if something is specifically an IG request).

First up, we have a twin nails look with @thedevilwearspolish based on the design of one of her kurtas. I love these little elephants sooo much.

Polishes used:

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

OPI - Germanicure

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

gold acrylic paint

detail brush

Next, we have a simple summer dotticure requested by a wee denizen of Instagram (only 10 years old!). I of course had to had fun with her request, which was yellow-on-pink dots, because that's how I roll. This is an easy look to recreate if you use a small dotting tool and you take your time.

Polishes used:

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Nina Ultra Pro - Punki Pink (of course, the NEON does not show up, but trust me, it's NEON)

Cirque - Iris (shimmer top coat)

Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

wee dotting tool

I'm always happy to field requests, so never hesitate! In the meantime, I'm thinking of more neons. I just painted my toes with Sunset (see previous post) and they bloody well glow and I love them.

xo,

J.

Grain Elevator

This was a lot of fun to do, improbable-looking clouds included. (Colour theory? What's that?)

Unfortunately, it was awful to photograph, so you only get one snap. And, for the first time ever, I've blurred my cuticles. It's for your protection. They're up to some kind of mutiny and I'm not clear on why. I think next week will be a Nakey Nails week while I try desperately to cajole my fingers back to presentability.

This will be entered in a couple of contests, and for some reason I was feeling more Prairies than usual, hence the canola and grain elevator and what have you.

All acrylics, sealed with Seche!

Polishes used:
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Seche Vite (top coat)
acrylic paints (all of the colours!)
size 2 and size 0 square brushes
teeny detail brush


J.

Snow Bengals

Hello!

This was my second attempt at this particular bit of nail art, and while I'm still not convinced it looks anything like its inspiration, I wanted to get 'er done for the inimitably sweet @lilyandjinks. The inspiration was the marbled markings on the eponymous Lily, a beautiful snow Bengal you can see in action here, here, here (oh GOD the CUTE)... and here. I'm basically in love with her.

The background is definitely more Lily but the markings ended up darker than I was aiming for, and are therefore a bit more Jinks. So, I guess I'm just all kinds of Bengal-happy over here.

For this, I used a combination of Temperance, Tettegouche and Dominate (with accents of Jacqueline for highlights) on top of a sponged gradient of Kalahari Kiss, Jacqueline and Spirit. I used nail polish thinner to help blend everything a bit.

This was supposed to go up yesterday but Spamalot was a mostly unanticipated bump in my schedule! Still, I hope it was worth the wait.

Polishes used:

China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss

Zoya - Jacqueline

Elevation Polish - Temperance, Tette (formerly Tettegouche)

Revlon - Spirit, Dominate

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri (top coat)

Poshé nail polish thinner

size 0 flat brush, nail art brush

J.

SIMPLE(R) SUNDAY: The Black Knight

I went to see Monty Python's Spamalot tonight. It married the goofiness of the original with the camp of musical theatre, which was great. It also had a tendency to keep all women on stage as scantily clad as possible, and featured a huge foray into gender/sexual orientation stereotyping, which made me uncomfortable. Especially the ladies thing, it was pretty blatant.

HOWEVER.

Because the original Quest for the Holy Grail is awesome, I did up some nails.

Ah, the Black Knight. Good bloke.

This look could not be easier. Paint shapes in white, then fill in with black and dark grey (for the gauntlets). Thank YOU, Monty Python's amazingly low operating budget! I used a nail art pen for the writing, and clearly need to find a less watery nail art pen. Any suggestions?

I have one other look inspired by the Quest for the Holy Grail, which I hope to get to sooner or later. It'll be a bit more effort, but could be hilarious. And who doesn't love hilarious?

Polishes used:

Pretty Serious - Nightmaren (seriously SO glowy in person, click here for a picture)

acrylic paint in white and black

nail art brush (standard size)

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri (top coat)

J.

SIMPLE(R) SUNDAY: Batfight!

Today's nails were inspired by a few things: first, @glynnavyre on Instagram wanted to see explosion nails; second, I'm headed down to Calgary today for the Fan Expo; third, my friend Jen insisted, upon the occasion of our last hanging out, that we watch the scene in the good ol' Adam West Batman movie wherein he is struggling somewhat underwhelmingly with an inflatable shark affixed to his leg.

It was a good scene.

ZZONK is a real thing; I saw a screencap of it!!

To do this look, I used the explosion mani technique (YouTube it, it's all over the place) and simply added words in a combination of white acrylic paint and nail polish.

This is my favourite one.

Polishes used:
Layla - Velvet Effect 08
OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Jade is the New Black
Revlon - Electric
Zoya - Tallulah
GOSH - Nero
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Dior - Gel Coat (top coat-- AND LOOK AT THE SHRINKAGE, SWEET RHUBARB PIE)

All the delightful geekery in the world to you!


J.

Aztec Calendar Nails

These nails drove me MAD. I'm apparently far more patient with painterly nail art than linework. These didn't turn out as nicely as I'd have hoped, but I'm at my wits' end with them.

Topcoat made the black crackle-- unsure what's up with that?

Aztec nails were requested of me on Instagram, and I didn't know quite what to do make of the idea. A Google Image search indicated that most people interpret "Aztec nails" as "tribal nails" (both terms really put me on edge, I'm sensitive to cultural appropriation stuff). I thought it might be best to pay as sincere a homage as I could to an awe-inspiring piece of culture: the Aztec calendar.

So, for this, I started with two coats of Ridnitsohkka and one coat of Atomic. I then painted on the designs with black and white nail art ink and a tiny brush. I used designs from the calendar as faithfully as I could, with some adjustments for nail shape and/or my incompetence (i.e. details too small).

Polishes used:

Elevation Polish - Ridnitsohkka

piCture pOlish - Atomic

black & white nail art ink

detail brush

Rejuvacote (base coat)

Poshé (top coat)

I think I'll go back to painterly next! I'm thinking scenery of some sort...

J.

AT-AT Walker

Hello lovelies!

Continuing with the theme of nail art requested on Instagram, here is an AT-AT, doin' its thang on Hoth. Technically there is a coat of nail polish underneath everything, but you can't see it. Everything you see is acrylic paint.

I decided not to topcoat the AT-AT as I felt that made it stand out from its surroundings more.

And a sunlight shot! Glossy topcoat is glossy.

Materials include:
acrylic paint in white, black, ultramarine, Van Dyke brown, Indian Yellow hue
small flat square brush for background
detail brush for AT-AT
INM - Out the Door (topcoat over background only)

It felt good to get back into detailed nail art like this! Doing the clouds made me want to do some Prairie sunset nail art, which I will hopefully get to soon.


J.

Hand-stitched Quilted Nails

Hello friends!

As promised, I've tried to bring you something more entertaining today. A total sweetheart named Shivani over on Instagram wanted to see quilted nails, so that's what I've done!

Sorry for dry fingers! I forgot to moisturize!!

For this look, I used three coats of Oodiful, which I pressed in using a cuticle pusher when the paint was not yet fully dry. I then painted in the seams first with silver, then with black hand stitching. Lastly, I painted a couple little flowers and petals using acrylic ink mixed with acrylic modeling paste for texture.

Polishes used:

Nail Pattern Boldness - Oodiful

Sally Hansen - Silver Sweep

black, white, red, yellow & green acrylic paints

INM - Out the Door (top coat)

acrylic modeling paste

detail brush

I hope you enjoyed these. And, because it's impossible to avoid current affairs and it isn't desirable to do so anyway, I just want to say that I hope that anybody you may know in love in Boston is safe and sound tonight. My heart goes out to everybody affected by this unconscionable and unfathomable crime.

J.

Waistcoat Wednesday!

Hello lovelies!

I have a friend, Laurent, who wears a waistcoat to work every Wednesday. They are what he has christened Waistcoat Wednesdays. I appreciate the concept (I'm a Fancy Friday kind of gal), and I came across these little bows in an Essence nail art kit, so I thought I'd give the idea a whirl. :)

I did this by first painting a base of Grey-t to Be Here (I may be obsessed!), followed by the little heads in Fashion Safari. The white is all acrylic paint, as white nail polish got too gloopy. The vests are Vertigo (accent Grey-t to Be Here), Nero (accent JS03), Big Smoke, and Dominate (accent Temperance). I mattified everything before affixing the little bow ties.

The index is my favourite. :) I like the brown plaid + green.

On my thumb, I painted two lovely coats of Builder's Tea, which went on fantastically and is so beautiful I couldn't ever capture it on camera properly, but here is a close up just in case:

Polishes used:

Essence - Grey-t to Be Here

NYColor - Fashion Safari

Revlon Brilliant Strength - Dominate

Elevation Polish - Temperance (limited edition, get it now before it's gone!)

butter LONDON - Big Smoke

GOSH - Nero

Nfu Oh - JS03

Chanel - Vertigo

Tough as Nail Lacquer - Builder's Tea

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

Essie - Matte About You

black & white acrylic paint

tiny bows from a random Essence nail art kit

I love dressing in full business wear on occasion, it brings out my androgynous side for sure. :) You? Worth it or too much hassle?

J.