Not Out of the (Piney) Woods Yet: October 2014

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Day 29 #31DC2014: The Supernatural

This one kind of threw me for a loop and I think I was more excited to do the last two than I was for this prompt. Then I saw HannahRoxNails(https://www.youtube.com/user/pixiepolish) post a smoke effect tutorial, and I thought it was just so ethereal looking, so I thought that would fit perfectly for this theme. Then I went off and changed the name of the prompt all over Insty haha. I kept calling it "Paranormal" oops. haha.

Bonus: My pointer finger pattern came out looking like the profile of a creepy man with a big nose. Can you see it?

Day 28 #31DC2014: A Flag

There is no other flag to do on this day but the flag of TEXAS. If I do this challenge again, it will always be Texas. My entire dining room is Texas themed! I went for a traditional Texas flag. I posed with one of my fave necklaces in some of the pictures.

Sally Hansen Batbano Blue
Sally Hansen White On
OPI Coca-Cola Red

Day 27 #31DC2014: Artwork

I think either I was losing steam or I bit off more than I could chew on these nails. I decided to tackle Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans for this theme. I figured I had enough colors to execute it. What I didn't figure in was how teeny tiny the details were on these things. I think it came out decent, but I wish I had something that would make the details a little neater. Cuticles are a little messy also =/

OPI Coca-Cola Red
OPI Amazon Amaz-off
L'Oreal Fluo Azur
Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow
Sally Hansen Pacific Blue
Sally Hansen White On
Sally Hansen Kook-a-Mango
Sinful Colors Pull Over
Sinful Colors Happy Ending

Day 26 #31DC2014: A Pattern

After I saw this prompt I immediately knew I wanted to try my hand at quilted nail. I think my execution of it was terrible!! I used Sinful Colors Black on Black and OPI Push and Shove for the dots. Then I topped with Essie Matte About You Topcoat.

Day 25 #31DC2014: Fashion

This prompt is pretty much in the same category as the delicate print - I don't really have much to go off of. Of course I have an appreciation for fashion, but I'm definitely not a fashion forward person. The only person I do try to keep up with is Betsey Johnson! I adore her. There used to be a Betsey Johnson store in the Galleria in Houston, and although I couldn't afford her stuff at the time, I would go through and look at all the clothing and jewelry. It was just so unique and beautiful! Then when she made her comeback and started having her merchandise sold in stores like Macy's and Dillard's I started my collecting! Brock has even gotten in on the fun - we would make special trips to stores to see what new Betsey stuff was in. I have a nice collection of what we like to call "pieces" lol. I have large blingy necklaces like gangstas do - except mine are of unicorns and peacocks and rainbows ;).

For the nails, I knew I had to throw in as much hot pink as possible! It's not Betsey if it ain't hot pink!! I wanted to incorporate all the things that are considered trademark for her brand: hot pink, roses, animal print, and of course BLING! So I did her signature floral print which is bright yellow with pink roses. Then I created a skull with rhinestones and a cheetah print background, although you can't see it very well Next I painted her perfume bottle called TooToo on my pointer finger, complete with lightning bolt! :) I really liked that detail of the look. Then i painted her famous runway shirt on my ring finger. I so wish I could get my paws on one of those shirts! Then finally, I painted her signature on my thumb. Overall, I think these turned out magnificent! I didn't want to take these off. It was days like this that mad me wish I had painted them on falsies so I could keep them forever, but I guess a bajillion pictures are going to have to do!

Color Club Wicker Park

OPI Push and Shove

OPI I Snow You Love Me (for the skull)

Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

Cosmetic Arts Hot Pink

Funky Fingers Lazer Pink

OPI Coca-Cola Red

Day 24 #31DC2014: A Book

I hate to admit it, but I have stopped being an avid reader over the years. I kind of lost interest in books for a while (thanks college) but being with Brock has renewed my interest. He always tells me about books he's read and it inspires me to be on the lookout for some good reads. It also helps that I have a Kindle Fire, so I can browse through thousands of books every now and then. Unfortunately the only recent books I've read are The Fault in Our Stars and Gone Girl. TFIOS nails had already been done, and there wasn't really anything I could depict from Gone Girl besides frustration and bewilderment ;) So I decided to go with something with vibrant colors that everyone could recognize.

Enter: A Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

This is one of the most colorful books I remember from my childhood. The abstract painting of the caterpillar and alllll the food he ate gave me plenty to work with. I don't think you can go wrong with choosing colors, almost every color was used! I don't even have a complete list of polishes I used. I also used acrylic paints. I think I just grabbed what looked similar to the illustrations for the books.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Day 23 #31DC2014: A Movie

Today, I have Pitch Perfect nails!! I was super excited about doing these! This is one of the most enjoyable movies ever! The plot is hilarious and the characters are so lovable! I decided to do each nail based on Beca's love of making music, the Barden Bellas' pitch pipe and scarves, the Treblemakers outfit, and the flying burrito! Everything is hand painted. I even used studs for the buttons on the jacket. I swirled some cheesy looking colors around to make the burrito look like it was oozing out melting cheese. These were so fun to do, it made me wanna bust out the movie and watch it! haha

Wet n Wild Here Comes Trouble
Zoya Darcy
Sally Hansen Batbano Blue
Sally Hansen Breezy Blue
Essie Roarrrrange
Essie Vices Versa
OPI Cute Little Vixen
OPI Push and Shove
OPI You're So Vain-illa
OPI Coca Cola Red
OPI Juice Bar Hopping

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Day 22 #31DC2014: A Song

Prepare to be Rushified!!!!!

This day is starts off the segment i was most excited about for this whole challenge!! I had a few ideas for this one: Chainsaw by The Band Perry, Chandelier by Sia, and others..but my dad's birthday was around the same time as this challenge, so I decided to make this a tribute to him. His favorite band is a band called RUSH. Best thing out of Canada!! I have literally listened to them my whole life. Their music will be forever ingrained in my mind :) I remember listening to a cassette of Test for Echo on the way to the Children's Museum all the time. Sigh...good ol' days... So, anyway, I decided to do a mani based on one of my favorite songs by them - 2112. It's about a dystopian government who controls every thing that their citizens do; and a man who discovers a forbidden guitar and dreams that his music can change the universe :) The album artwork represents a large red star that is supposed to be the symbol of the government, the Solar Federation. It also has a man, a naked one at that, with his hands up shielding himself from the aforementioned red star. This symbol is what us RUSH fans like to call the man against the masses. Unfortunately, I'm not a good enough artist to depict said naked man, so I figured I would just add the star. Everything is entirely freehand with nail polish and acrylic paint. I am absolutely thrilled with how these came out. My dad liked them too. I even surprised myself with how good that star came out.

I added the RUSH letters later on.

Album artwork inspiration:

Man against the masses album artwork:

Christian Louboutin Rouge
Zoya Storm
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Sinful Colors Black on Black

Day 21 #31DC2014: A Color

This day was also pretty open to interpretation - there were so many ways to take this prompt. I wanted to pick out one of my most unique and favorite colors, but I worried that the color wouldn't translate over to pictures that well. Most nail art is better in person anyway! But I wanted to play with one of the most dynamic and eye-catching colors - cobalt blue! I can't resist buying those colors! Any blurple color I fall in love with almost immediately!

HOWEVER -start rant - The only thing I don't understand is WHY they smell so bad! Any blue/purple shade stinks - no matter the brand. My guess is the pigments are what gives it that skunk smell on top of the normal nail polish smell. I notice it in all these blue colors I use plus some other purple shades from drugstore to brands like OPI and Essie. So weird! -end rant-

Anyway, I showcased this color to also showcase Sally Hansen Pacific Blue - the original formula. The whole Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear line has taken a decidedly downward turn in the past few months - the formula for everything has turned goopy and impossible to dry. I bought a bunch of beautiful looking glitter polishes, but the glitter didn't come out of the bottle and the polish never dried on my nails. So sad! I really hope they do something to improve the formula, but the business side of me is thinking they might be wanting to phase that line out and replace it with the Triple Shine line. Who knows!?

So I layered my blue polishes and topped it off with Pacific Blue. It looks great with my skintone and it was a great simple look for the day.

P.S.This is my Cinderella hand! :) My pointer finger will forever be a nub!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue
L'Oreal Fluo Azur
Essie Butler Please
JulieG Cabana Boy

Day 20 #31DC2014: Water Marble

Today is the dreaded water marble! When I first did water marble, I don't remember it being so hard! I never had to worry about the type of water I was using! Well, I was in Austin at the time, so maybe there is just superior water marble water there...I don't think I had the brain capacity to coordinate colors for this day, but I had been determined to use my holographic polishes, so that is what I went for. Really liking both the subtlety and the uniqueness of these colors together. I've seen My Simple Little Pleasures do a marble with the same China Glaze polishes

(https://www.youtube.com/user/SimpleLittlePleasues) so I knew they would spread like I needed them to. I only had to redo them four times! Something was making the outer layers dry faster than I expected them to, so some of them came out funky looking, but I got a great result in the end!

Indoor Shot:

Outdoor Shot:

China Glaze Cosmic Dust
China Glaze Strap on Your Moonboots

Day 19 #31DC2014: Galaxy Nails

Day 19 #31DC2014: Galaxies

This is my first attempt at galaxy nails!! I have seen so many tutorials on Youtube, but I wasn't very confident at first. I think they turned out better than I expected! I even took step-by-step pictures!

Close up shot:

China Glaze Fairy Dust

Orly Integalactic Space

Zoya Storm

Zoya Dream

JulieG Golden Sunset

JulieG Canary Sunset

Zoya Wendy

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

Day 18 #31DC2014: Half Moons

Half moon manis are a pretty classic look, but of course, I had to take it to another level. So I mixed in a gradient look with it. Once again, I managed to pull in a neon color! I normally freehand the lines, but since I was sponging on the gradient, I used reinforcement labels to block off the cuticle areas. I also added some shard glitter to the moon area to give it a more edgier look. I had been dying to finally use that glitter polish!!

China Glaze Celtic Sun
Zoya Taylor
Maybelline Color Show Gleaming Graphite