New 31DC: Watercolor

So, first an explanation for my missing challenge yesterday, then today's challenge. Yesterday's theme was stamping, which I am terrible at. Like, to an embarrassing degree. I haven't put a ton of time into it yet, but I was not in the mood to fail. I try to be open and do not edit my photos at all (if I get handy with some editing tools, I'll let you know when they are cleaned up pictures). I try to be real about my shortcomings. Sometimes, though, I need to be a little gentle with myself. I'm not super stoked on my life situation right now, and polish (and this blog) are a little refuge for me. I may not be perfect, but I am becoming more and more happy with my polish skills and the way that my nails look. They are one of the very few things I feel I am moderately good at and they make me happy. When they don't, when they feel like a chore or a bummer, I need to stop. This is something to lift me up and give me some joy, not bring me down or frustrate me. That is not to say that I don't want to try new things that I may not be great at, but I don't want to set out to bring myself down with something as trivial, and yet therapeutic, as painting my nails and writing about it. Yesterday was the breaking point--I had done enough sketchy challenge days and was just tired of feeling like a failure, so I didn't do that to myself. I little part of me felt bad, and I may try some stamped nails later this month, but for now I'm okay with the fact that I was kind to me yesterday and I hope that you are too!

So, onto my first watercolor attempt. If you've never tried watercolor nails before, the idea is to use acetone to dilute the pigment. You start with a base and a couple of coats of top coat, then dab on color and use a brush dipped in acetone to dab over the color to wash it out and blend it together. I was having a hard time coming up with inspiration, so I went with different shades of blue.

 

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*2 coats Out The Door
*Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Co-Bolt Blue
*Sinful Colors Why Not
*Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau
*1 coat Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor
*1 coats Out The Door

I started with a clean white base.  Then, with very little direction for application, I went with my darkest color first--Co-Bolt Blue.  I love this navy, shimmery blue (which you already know if you've seen any other post I made with blue in it) and it's wonderfully opaque.  I dabbed it on and then, with a small paint brush dipped in acetone, dabbed some more!

Next I used Why not, with the same technique and (lack of) precision.  This cream is a medium blue, much lighter than I realized when it was diluted with acetone.  I'll also draw your attention to my index finger and the missing polish near the tip.  The point of using 2 layers of top coat before the water color effect is to protect your base from the acetone.  However, if, like me, you decide to add more polish or are overenthusiastic with your dabbing, you might just see your nail make an appearance...  Lesson learned.

I added a coat of Pearl Harbor, an iridescent blue glitter, to draw it all together.  This last picture was under a lamp, without flash, and I added it because the color is much truer here.  Overall, I'm not super-thrilled with this look.  I think part of the problem is the monochromatic choice, which I'll remember.  I think this look is interesting and I may very well try it again with better color choices.  Have you done a watercolor mani before?  What did you find worked well?  Do you have any good tips?

New 31DC: Flakies

I didn't think too much about today's challenge because I like flakie glitter and have an amazing untried.  So, I wore a simple swatch of Cult Nails' Seductive today:

*1 coat Yello-Out
*1 coat Maybelline Plum Paradise
*1 coats Cult Nails Seduction
*1 coat Out The Door

 

I wish that I had planned better for Seduction. I used a thin base without realizing how sheer the tint of this is. In the future, I'll build my base much cleaner and better. This polish is packed with red to green duochrome flakes with scattered blue ones too. I did a horrible job of getting the color shift to show, but know that this is a-mazing! I bought it when it became pretty clear that Clairvoyant will never come back, and I think I'm okay with that. I'm dying to see this over something with more contrast, like black...

After I got home with chips in my nails, I reconsidered my flakies. Today is my best friend's birthday! She is amazing and, even though she is really not into nail polish, she stops by here to see what I'm up to. She's on the other side of the country and I miss her so much, so I wanted to do a special mani for her today. AND, I even worked in some flakies!

 

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau (pinkie and index)
*2 coats Julep Dendrie (middle and thumb(
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out (ring)
*2 coats Finger Paints Motley (all but ring)
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*Cover Girl Candy Corn
*1 coat Out The Door

I decided to use Finger Paints Motley as my flakie.  I layered it over Take Me To Your Chateau and Dendrie to look icy.  I alternated those two because I just couldn't decide which look I liked better.  Both a clean, cream finishes.  Take Me is a pale sky blue, which has streaked a bit each time I used it, but definitely not enough to ditch it!  Dendrie is a pale, warm gray (is that possible?) that also covered really easily in 2 coats.  There were not really any streaking issues with this. 
I used 2 coats of Motley to amp up the flakes.  It's funny that, in these photos, the green really shows in the flakes because in real life, the blue is much more dominant.  My middle nail (gray base) is the easiest to see both colors on--blue down the center and green on the sides.

I used Black Out for my penguin (bestie's favorite animal!), with Snow Me White brushed on for the tummy.  I dotted on the eyes and used Candy Corn to dot on the feet and beak.  I'm pretty proud of how these little guys turned out!  I'm definitely going to use them again sometime--they were pretty easy and super cute! 
So those are my flakie nails--both the ones I wore and the ones I painted tonight to celebrate an amazing girl!  Do you like to paint your nails in honor of others?  I love looking down and seeing something that reminds me of people I love! 

My Movember story

Today is November first, the beginning of Movember.  This is a very personal month and cause for me.  If you don't know the purpose of Movember, I really recommend that you take a minute to check out their website.  In a nutshell, it is a month of bringing awareness and funding to men's health, specifically prostate and testicular cancers, by growing a mustache.  It's all about getting the conversation and research going.

On Valentine's Day in 2011 my dad called me.  I was working night shifts and incredibly disoriented when he let me know that they had been seeing his doctor who had diagnosed him with early-stage prostate cancer.  The rest of that day was a haze.  He told me it was early and slow-growing, but all I could hear was cancer and I wasn't sure why I had such an insane dream that I couldn't pull out of.  I couldn't really wrap my mind around my dad having cancer.  Cancer.
My dad was a champ.  He was brave and honest.  We are fortunate to live near world-class medical centers. When he went to see a specialist, his biggest news was "I think I have Lance Armstrong's doc."  That's my dad!
After a lot of testing, discussion, prayer and thought, he decided to undergo surgery this past March.  Again, I spent a day in a haze.  I've always been a daddy's girl, his only daughter, the night owl who stayed up far into the night listening to stories and talking with him.  When I talked with my mom that night and heard that things went perfectly, literally THE best case scenario, I could only cry.
My dad has had months of recovery and working to get back into life as a conqueror of cancer.  Just a few days ago he received the all-clear from his specialist to simply check in with his personal doctor every six months as a cancer survivor!
We were so blessed and fortunate to have had amazing doctors and wonderful research that gave him back his health.  An important part of that is due to early detection.

Enter the mustache.

This month is about promoting men's health and talking about these cancers.  We have been so open to talking about breast cancer and women's health, which is empowering and so important, but men tend to avoid this subject.  Cue Movember.  As I mentioned in one of my Go Pink posts, a cure for one cancer is hope for all.  I'm committed to being a Mo Sista, spreading awareness because the men in my life are important to me.  Like my dad, knowing their bodies and their PSA numbers can save their lives.  I want to help make this as easy and natural to talk about as "Save the ta-tas" has become. 

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau
*1 coat Pure Ice Oh Baby!
*1 coat Out the Door (2 on accent nail)

That awesome little mustache is a nail decal from RLR Creations Nail Art on Etsy.  They are super inexpensive and easy to use, and much neater than my nail art!  Love it!

I used Take Me To Your Chateau, a pale blue cream, for prostate cancer awareness.  It is really opaque, but streaked a bit, so I added Oh Baby! over the top to camouflage the brush strokes.  This is a gorgeous, fine blue shimmer (you can really see it in the photo above). 

So this month is about bringing awareness to men and their health because it is personal, even for a girl.  I'll be posting some more manis about this subject, and would LOVE it if you would join me.  If you do, let me see your work!  Add onto the gallery below with your own story, your own ideas, your own Movember movement! 





get the InLinkz code