AMC is doing a Matrix marathon today. Since I've only ever watched the first one, I figured I should probably see what I've been missing. I've heard the other two are terrible, and after 5 hours of non-stop Neo, I can confirm that this is true.
Independence Day is fast approaching, and since I'll probably be bbq-ing too much to do my nails, I went ahead and did them now. The first to nails are (obviously?) the flag and the other two are fireworks!
I started off with base colors: Essie Aruba Blue, Confetti The Red Carpet, and China Glaze Smoke and Ashes.
Have you guys been watching all of the Diamond Jubilee coverage? Well I definitely have. I think I was meant to be a queen... Somebody get on that.
I have been doing this challenge forever. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm about ready to be done. Today's challenge is inspired by fashion. Truthfully, I hate most outrageous fashion stuff. Models walking out in unflattering trashbags just isn't my thing. However, Lady Gaga's outrageous clothes somehow don't count. She just makes it work! I could never, ever ever ever, wear the stuff she pulls off. My nails today are inspired by one of her famous see-through black lace dresses.
I started off with a couple layers of Ulta Sweet Nothings. Then I used a striping brush to add in two black stripes. No, I didn't try to draw her lacy undies. This is more of an abstract interpretation!
Finally, I used a stamping pattern from Drikk DRK-A for the lacy dress. I think they turned out pretty well! A little weird, but still pretty sweet, I think.
I am an Amazon freak. No, I do not mean the giant jungle women (shout out to Xena and Wonder Woman!), I mean the amazing website on which I spend all of my money. Every month or so they send me an email about "Artists on the Rise" and then give me a free album with a song from each person they talk about. I'm always on the hunt for a new favorite, and this time Amazon really helped out! [I actually just noticed that they have a new Blind Pilot album on there for like $8. Gah, now I have to buy it.] One of the awesome guys they promoted was J.D. McPherson. This guy sounds like old-school 50s/60s rock (back when it was rock-n-roll!)!! I'm seriously in love, so feel free to rock out to a few of his tunes while you look at my lovely fingers. The third one is actually a sweet video - look at that bass!
Today's challenge is inspired by a movie. I've already done a couple movie designs (which I think are way better than this one) so this time I decided to make 101 Dalmatians nails. I used a blobby-looking stamp to make the puppies' spots, added a red tape line for the collars, and put a little orange dot for the tags. For my thumb I used a little pawprint stamp (kinda like the footprints they left in the snow!). Now I really want to watch the movie! Unfortunately I'm watching a horrible reality show called The Catalina, waiting for Rookie Blue to come on. *SIGH*
I won't lie, these were cuter in my head. Buuuuuut oh well. Now I know.
China Glaze White on White, Essie Licorice, Essie Action
In keeping with tradition, Glee's finale last night made me want to die, bawl my eyes out, and throw up all at the same time. Damn you, Ryan Murphy! I won't give away any spoilers, but if you haven't watched it yet you'd better get crackin' because people WILL be talking. Right now I'm watching SyFy's Alice, which is really weird.. but good! It's got the girl I hate from Private Practice (I mentioned her a few posts ago) but this character is slightly less horrible. This guy is by far my favorite character -
I keep forgetting that these SyFy movies are meant to be watched over the course of days, so they take up my entire evening. Ah well. It gives me time to paint!
Sorry this challenge is taking me so long. Sometimes I just need a few days to admire my handiwork! I was really liking my bright summery colors from last time, so I decided to do something similar today! Today's challenge is a design inspired by a song. I thought of a million different ones I wanted to do, but I ended up choosing "99 Red Balloons" by Nena. Here's the original German version, which I find to be a lot more fun to sing than the English one. PLUS it's 80's-tastic - big hair and embarrassing wardrobes all the way. Anyways, feel free to rock out to this delightful ditty while you browse my pictures!
I started with Ulta Mint Condition for the sky - no flash.
Flash!
Then I used a dotting tool to make a variety of balloon sizes and add in the white shine blobs. Finally, I used a tiny brush tip pen to make the strings! The red color is "e-nuf is e-nuf" from Essie. Sorry the red kinda smeared... It doesn't look as bad in person.
Hopefully these don't look too much like 99 red sperms going by.
I went for a very cartoony balloon here. Me likes!
I'm not even gonna lie, I'm writing this approximately 24 seconds after I posted the tribal print pictures. Still fuming about Wade and Zoey, still watching SBM be a creep.
I have about a zillion different glitter polishes and I couldn't think of a good way to show them all off. I originally did an orange polish with rainbow sparkles on top, but it looked weird. Then I decided that I could practice my stamping AND throw some glitter on it! There's also some gold flakies, which are a little hard to see. Use your imagination. I think these look a little like shooting stars and an asteroid belt. Sexy?
Guess what!! I got a light box!! I think it's defective... but I rigged it up to work juuusst fine!
How it started off...
Finished!!
Today's challenge is blue nails. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time today making my brother's senior poster, sorting all of my polish, texting Kelley and Laura about how much we hate the tv show we all refuse to stop watching, and searching for Game of Thrones online... so I didn't get to do as much with this one as I wanted to.
Although I didn't do much, I also did too much. I should have stopped after the flower and let the glitters off. One day I will learn.
Orange! Hooray! One of my two favorite colors, and my absolute favorite flavor! For this momentous occasion, I got an orange-scented polish from Sally Girl. Perfect!
To jazz this up a bit, I added a layer of Shine of the Times by Essie.
