Galaxy Nails

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

I cannot lie, I'm pretty happy with today's nails. I did them while half-drunk last night, which would usually portend abject failure, or hilarious hijinx, but in this case: success!

Today's ABC Challenge prompt is G for galaxy. Galaxy nails have a long, honourable tradition in the nail art world. They're fun and low-pressure; usually you just sponge on various colours, have at it with a dotting tool and some white polish, and voilà! But noooo, Jolène had to go all realiiiiistic.

Here's my source image: 

Save this photo if you want an awesome galactic background for your computer. Oooh, aaaah!

Obviously, I didn't try to replicate the source photo exactly, but I did try to keep my design sort of in line with the spirit of the thing.

I used so many polishes for this. I've listed them all below, but I can't really get into the process of painting this. It kind of went: black, dark colours, medium colours, lighter colours, turquoises, white. That's as descriptive as I can get. I was really feeling this one through! I'm really pleased with how it turned out, though. :)

And, frankly, I'm also super-pleased that I did it all with nail polishes. Woot woot! Sometimes polish is actually more appropriate a painting medium than acrylic, and galaxies are one of those instances.

This photo can be super-zoomed to see all the detail, including the faintest starts that are a combination of Galinda and black + acetone (the only thing that doesn't come across is the faint holo from Greatest Treasures):

Polishes used:

A England - Camelot

OPI - Germanicure, Rally Pretty Pink, Funny Bunny

Maya Cosmetics - Smolder

Nfu Oh - JS42

Pretty Serious Cosmetics - Nightmaren

Literary Lacquers - Greatest Treasures

Nubar - Stardust

Modha HD - Ousada

American Apparel - Moon

Cirque - Galinda

Liquid Sky Lacquer - Still Waters

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaid's Dream

Cult Nails - Tempest

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

Have you ever tried galaxy nails before? (Fun, hey?!)

xo,

J.

Earth Day 2013

Hello!

It is still Earth Day (where I am) (just barely)!

I whipped these up as quickly as possible, which shows, BUT I wanted to do something because the Earth is important to me. As it should be to everybody. (I am talking to you, corporate "persons".)

This is not to scale even remotely, and it is scientifically as off the mark as it is possible to be. You've been warned.

aaaaawkwaaaard

This look is all nail polish except for the Earth, its atmosphere, and the ISS. Because that is indeed the ISS! With a heart! Cmd Hadfield takes some gorgeous photos of this planet, and his love for it is apparent, and my Canadian self is very fond of him and his every-uncle-ness. And so there you have it.

middle finger is KIND OF the milky way-- kind of

Polishes used:
GOSH - Nero
OPI - Happy Anniversary!
Revlon - Spirit
acrylic paints
one-stroke brush and detail brush
Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food (on acrylics only)
Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri (top coat)

Insert Captain Planet theme song here!


J.

Retro Spaceships! (Kind Of.)

I have a fun one for you today! Unfortunately, it is irredeemably cloudy out, so my photos aren't their best, but hopefully it's possible to get the gist of it.

I had this idea in my head as a pure exercise in geometry, but my partner saw them upon completion and announced they looked like old school space capsules. Which is, I guess, kind of true! So I added some dots to the background at the last minute, to resemble stars, and called it a day.

I love this thing.

I started with a base of Cape Liz (3 coats to opacity); lovely formula, unfortunate that I couldn't get a photo that shows its beautiful multi-coloured glass fleck finish. I then sponged Marble on the top halves, and learned the hard way that it is IMPOSSIBLE to clean up this particular polish-- it just disintegrates into a million little sparkles that stick to your skin forever (augh).

I then cut out the shapes in tape and stuck those pieces of tape on my nails, followed by two coats of Euphoria and the swift removal of the tape while the polish was still wet. Lastly, I glued on the little studs, made the little white dots with a small dotting tool, and covered the whole thing in Glitter Food and topcoat.

And a super-overexposed photo to show you the holographic goodness of Euphoria. (It also shows up in the sun, but is too subtle for cloudy conditions.)

Polishes used:

Cirque - Cape Liz

Spa Ritual - Marble

Wonder Beauty Products / Superchic Nail Lacquer - Euphoria

Konad - Special Stamping Polish (White)

Born Pretty Store - 1.5mm silver studs (affixed with Orly nail glue)

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

OPI - Nail Envy Matte (base coat)

New York Color - Grand Central Station (top coat)

Hoping to do something really awesome for the end of this week, stay tuned!

J.

PS: DUN DUN DUNNNN: