Game of Thrones: House Stark

If you haven't seen Game of Thrones yet -- what is wrong with you?!? No, seriously?
I really, really love this show. I am not sure why I am so obsessed, but I am.
Today's mani is based on one of the main families in the series - the Starks. Their sigil is a wolf (direwolf actually, but let's not get to deep) and they are typically getting the crappy end of the stick in life on GoT.

For this mani I used Indigo Bananas "Great Scott!" as my base. This polish is a gorgeous blue glass fleck shimmer that glows in the dark.  Holy Feces I love this polish. I did a circular gradient of sorts, using white to make a fading circle in the middle, and then put another light layer of "Great Scott!" over the white to soften it up.

Stamping: let me start with the pinky. Bundle Monster plate #BM315 was used to create a flying raven. Technically I believe the stamp is supposed to be a parrot, but I wasn't going to let that minor detail stop me - I took off part of the tail and added feet as well as a longer beak, so hopefully it looks a little like a raven. I didn't have any other bird stamps that looked like a raven dammit.

Anyway, next up: the ring finger. I used My Online Shop plate #JRZ for the House Stark sigil. Love this.

You may have looked at the middle finger and thought, WTF is this?! If you don't watch the show, you will have no clue. However, for us nerds, it represents the weirwood trees from GoT - they are white trees with red leaves, and a face carved into the front of the tree. (Click here to see what I am talking about.) To recreate this, I used  Bundle Monster stamp #BM409 for the tree and a dotting tool for the leaves.

The pointer finger is stamped with Born Pretty plate #BP16, and lastly the thumb is stamped with fauxnad plates m17 &m18.

As much as I am enjoying this mani, I am looking forward to doing more designs with the other houses from Game of Thrones. Personally, I am a big fan of the Starks and Targaryens. How about you?

Panda Bear Nails

Today's mani was inspired by my impending trip to one of my most favorite places, the National Zoo in DC.
My base is Fresh Paint "Firefly" : I like this polish because it is a light, light blue - almost white, but blue enough to allow the white to really pop. Next I did a double-stamping with Born Pretty's plate #BP18. I used two greens for the bamboo, but you can't really see it that well. The bamboo was done with more Fresh Paint, this time "Pistachio" and "#Winning."
I made decals with Bundle Monster plate #BM424 for the pandas. The paw prints are also from that plate.
I am so excited to go to the zoo -- what is your favorite animal?!

Purple Gradient with Foil

Hello Peeps! I have to keep my nails pretty short for Esthetics class, but that doesn't mean that they can't be cute! Today's mani utilizes some of my faves from the purple The New Black ombre set. I went for a lighter purple gradient, added a few loose flecks of bronze foil, and finally applied a matte topcoat. I really like the matte look with this. What do you think?

Flip Flop Weather is Here

It's pretty darn hot already, and it's definitely time to bust out the shorts and sandals. Today's mani is one I did for a friend.

The base is Zoya "Godiva," which is an awesome sandy-looking Pixie Dust. I used Bundle Monster stamp #BM309 and made decals with a variety of polishes. I love the beachy feel of this mani!

Celebrating Spring

Even though it feels like we jumped straight into summer, spring is in full swing here -- the lilacs and wisteria are blooming, the birds are mobbing the bird feeder, and my kid screams when I try to get her to go back inside. In honor of the season, I wanted to do something "flowery." I found the cutest houndstooth/floral design on Pinterest by Fall In NaiLove  (-you can see my inspiration here).

I used NOPI "Always a Silver Lining" as my base, and stamped on Funky Fingers "Gesso" with Bundle Monster plate #BM322. I used two pinks from The New Black pink ombre collection along with "Gesso" to paint the flowers, and then used acrylic paint in black and green for the leaves and to give the design definition. Acrylic is definitely easier to work with on more intricate lines.

I definitely feel inspired most by spring. What is your favorite season?

More Nails Mag Recreations

Even though you can get almost any publication online, there is something that excites me about opening the mailbox and finding Nails Magazine. Here are recreations of some of my favorites from the May 2015 issue:

Working left to right: nails 1, 2, and 4 were pictured in the Hawaii Collection by OPI advertisement. #2 actually have a step-by-step tutorial in the OPI insert within the mag. #3 is another step-by-step demo from Biosculpture gel (I used regular polish) on page 56. My last nail is a Neon Tribal Nail Art tutorial that was contributed by Mia Rubie (@superflynails). I love this design because it looks a bit complicated, but it's actually a lot easier than you might think.

Again, I am not going to clutter up this post with a listing of all the polishes I used, but if you are curious, please ask and I will be happy to answer! :)

Happy Star Wars Day!

Today is May the fourth, which is an international nerd holiday for those of us who love Star Wars. My tribute to this holy day is thus:

I garnered my inspiration from other fellow nerdesses over the great Web, including the Nailasaurus and Cosmetic Proof. I am not going to list all the polishes I used; if you want to know, just ask! I will mention that I used a very sheer coat of Indigo Bananas' "Great Scott!" over the light saber so that it would glow. :D I did actually use acrylic paints for the Death Star, and it seemed to work quite well. I definitely feel like I have more precision with acrylic, which is cool.
I am still using SensatioNail gel growth formula. I decided to go ahead and cut all my nails off short and get a fresh, new start on length, and I am not going to apologize for it! I see so many bloggers apologizing because her nails are short -- does that mean that short nails can't be as cute as long nails? I think not! It's Short Nails, No Wails for me all the way! Till they grow out of course :)