FingerFood's Theme Buffet #7: Abstract

Hey all, it's time once again for FingerFood's Theme Buffet! This week's theme is abstract nail art. I decided to make a second try at one-stroke art; I based my pattern on this golden veil design by Lucy's Stash. I'm not sure if I like the result--I had a hard time getting the colors to blend properly.

I started with a base of Indigo Bananas Wise Up, Janet!, a lovely lavender holographic glass fleck. I did the one-stroke parts with acrylic paint. Finally I added Revlon matte top coat.

I need to keep practicing one-stroke art! There are so many beautiful designs you can do with it (many at Lucy's Stash!).

An InLinkz Link-up

31-Day Challenge #30: inspired by a tutorial

Second to last challenge! Can't believe I'm almost done! It was hard to choose what to do for today's prompt, since there are so many awesome tutorials out there. I settled on this "one stroke abstract petals" tutorial at Lucy's Stash--she is really talented!

This is my first successful attempt at the one-stroke technique! The background color is Sephora by OPI Merry Me, and the flowers are all acrylic paint.

And here's your cute Trudy pic of the day:

Is everyone else pumped for the final challenge tomorrow?? Here are the rest of today's manis:

31-Day Challenge #12: stripes

For today's prompt I made an attempt at freehanding rather than reaching for the striping tape. I need practice!

For the base color I used Essie First Timer (Love this color, but holy lobster hands Batman!) and I used acrylic paint for the stripes.

Next time doing stripes by hand (which will be coming up soon!) my goal is to use a lighter touch with the brush. Easier said than done, but practice makes perfect!

Oh and don't forget to admire all the other stripey manis today!

My wedding nails!

I'm back, everyone! On Saturday my fiance and I got married. We had an absolutely wonderful time with our family and friends, despite the weird weather we've been having on the east coast--in fact, it was raining about 15 minutes before and 30 minutes after our outdoor ceremony, but during the ceremony the sun came out and it was beautiful! The whole weekend went by in a blur, and I think it's still sinking in for both of us that we're actually married!

Of course I decided to do my own nails, since I thought it would be a lot more meaningful than just getting them done in a salon. I didn't choose anything complicated for the sake of my sanity, but I still got a lot of compliments on them!

(Sorry they look a bit scruffy--it's been a rough weekend!)

I used two coats of Essie Waltz, a white jelly, and then did the flowers with acrylic paint, purple to match my wedding colors. (It wasn't as simple as it sounds; I had to redo them multiple times...) Then I topped everything with a coat of Orly Love Each Other, a clear base with very subtle purple/pink/blue shifting shimmer. This was barely visible, but it made me feel a little more special! You can just see a hint of the shimmer on my thumb and ring finger.

Anywho, I'm looking forward to getting back on the horse when it comes to blogging, and I should have a fun post for July 4th!

Polish Days: The number 5

I'm excited--this is my first time participating in the Polish Days blogger event! The theme for this month is "the number 5". This is a pretty broad prompt, so I thought for a while about what I should do. Then it hit me: the five wizards!

If you're at all familiar with The Lord of the Rings, you know about the wizards Gandalf and Saruman. But did you know there were actually five wizards? They were angelic beings incarnated in mortal bodies, sent to help the people of Middle-Earth fight Sauron.

Gandalf the Grey/White gets place of honor on my thumb. (Did you know his real name is Olorin?) The base is Maybelline Porcelain Party, and I painted his G rune in acrylic paint. (I love acrylic! So great for nail art!)

Saruman is on my index finger. I used Revlon Carbonite as the base because it reminds me of the war machines he built at Isengard. Then I painted the White Hand (the symbol his orc soldiers wear) with acrylic paint.

On my middle finger is Radagast the Brown. He's mentioned a few times in Lord of the Rings. He was the one who sent the Eagle to rescue Gandalf from the top of Orthanc (no magic moths in the book!). He was mostly interested in animals and plants, and didn't do much to help fight Sauron. Radagast's real name is Aiwendil, 'bird-friend', so I gave him a blackbird.  The base color is Sephora by OPI Leotard Optional, and the bird is done in acrylic (I think it turned out really well!).

Finally, we don't know much about the last two wizards, except that they were friends and wore blue. They traveled far to the east, off the known maps of Middle-Earth, to fight Sauron's influence there, and were never heard from again. Their names were Alatar and Pallando, or Morinehtar and Romestamo ('darkness-slayer' and 'East-helper').

Since we don't really know about their personalities, I chose to give them a kind of wizardly-looking sweep of dots. :-D The base color is China Glaze Hanging in the Balance, and the dots are Julep Millie, Orly Royal Navy, Wet 'n' Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint, and Wet 'n' Wild Shameless. I'm a little mad that I blurred the dots on my ring finger, even though I waited an hour before putting on topcoat!

Well, am I a geek or what? How did I do? I had fun doing this mani, and I'm hoping to participate in future Polish Days!

Today's mani: bridal shower chevrons

What's up all? This weekend my lovely future mother- and sister-in-law are throwing me a bridal shower, which means one thing: NAIL TIME! I wanted a mani to match the dress I'm wearing, which is here. I decided to do a chevron pattern using some of the colors in the dress:

This is the usual tape mani. I started yesterday by painting my nails in Maybelline Porcelain Party (the white) and letting it dry overnight. Today I stuck on pieces of tape to get the outline of the chevrons and painted my tips (Sephora by OPI Thyme for a Mani and Zoya Ziv).

Then the black stripes...I originally intended to use a Sally Hansen nail art pen to do the stripes, but it ended up bleeding a lot and making blotches everywhere. :-/ Kinda disappointed about that purchase. So I resorted to using acrylic paint and a striper brush. The lines came out a little wiggly but they look good from a distance anyway!

I also painted my toes to match the dress, using L'Oreal Orange You Jealous? Now I'm all set for the weekend!

What's your weekend mani going to be ?