Pastel Nautical Nails

Heeeeey guuuuuurl, how you doin'?

Okay, sorry. I had a moment. Anyway, who loves nautical nails?? (Hint: IT'S ME, IT'S TOTALLY ME)

(I apologize for the three pictures that look exactly alike, I apparently didn't get any better pictures before I took this design off)

Okay, so these aren't exactly pastel. But I didn't know what else to call them, so I took inspiration from the lovely, dusty, pastel teal that is OPI Gargantuan Green Grape. So for my thumb and ring finger, my base color was OPI Cajun Shrimp, with white acrylic paint stripes on them. On my middle finger, I painted Essie Good As Gold and then put e.l.f. Golden Goddess over that. Then for my index and pinky fingers, my base color was OPI Gargantuan Green Grape with stamped anchors from Cheeky plate 36 with Essie Good As Gold on them. 

These were absolutely precious, and they were a really nice break from the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge. Like I said in my previous post, my best friend left for a study abroad trip in Japan, and I felt like I needed some retail therapy - So I picked up my three base colors up there. Of course, I had to use them immediately, haha. I love nautical nail designs more than any other design, so it was a natural pick when I was looking for something easy and comforting to paint on my nails. I painted my sister's nails and then mine, all while she was reading scary stories to me. It was a pretty good way to spend a few hours! I'll be getting back to the Challenge in my next post, but until then... Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Wizard of Oz Nails

Hey there! So I have another very long, pic-heavy post for you. But it's worth it. I decided a while back that I wanted to paint my own Wizard of Oz nails, because I couldn't find too many tutorials or anything that was simple to paint and still represented the movie really well. Mine didn't turn out too simple, now that I think about it. But they still look pretty! And there's always ways to make it simpler if the design is too difficult.

The Emerald City - Well isn't that sparkly? Alright, I used like 7 polishes for this finger alone. So just bear with me, haha. The base color is China Glaze Bahamian Escape. Then I painted the Emerald City first with L'Oreal The Temptress' Power and then with stripes of Zoya Logan. Then I painted the yellow brick road with Sinful Colors Let's Meet. And for the poppies, I just dotted them in with China Glaze Pink-ie Promise, China Glaze Life is Rosy, and Sinful Colors Soul Mate. And finally I painted in the clouds and the brick lines on the yellow brick road with with and black acrylic paint.

Poppies - Poppies are some of my favorite flowers, and I couldn't resist giving them a nail all to themselves. I used a cup of mine that has a poppy design on it as a reference. The base color is China Glaze Pink-ie Promise. Everything else was done with acrylic paints.

The Wicked Witch of the West- Hey, she needs some love too! Instead of doing anything complicated, I just decided to do a witch silhouette. The base color is China Glaze Gaga For Green, and the witch was painted with black acrylic paint. It's much easier than it looks, because you can pretty much just push the acrylic paint in the design you want, if that makes sense. You don't have to be too precise since she's just a silhouette, is what I'm getting at.

The Flying Monkeys - Again, I didn't want anything too difficult. So instead of painting a full monkey, I went with their little outfits. The base color is China Glaze Bahamian Escape, and the rest was done with acrylic paints.

The Wicked Witch of the East - Her stockings! The base color is Sinful Colors Snow Me White and the stripes are black acrylic paint.

Here's a little picture of my workspace. You can see all of the polishes and paint I used - plus a few of my scribbles on paper before I painted it. I don't usually plan it out before I start painting, but this was different because I had multiple ideas floating around in my head for each nail, so I needed to draw them out. And if you look really closely, you can see that I wrote down some Batman characters, because I was originally going to do that before I finally settled on Wizard of Oz. I'm glad I changed my mind! :)

Dorothy - Her gingham dress! This is super simple, even if it doesn't look like it. The base color is China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around. Then I painted overlapping stripes of light blue with acrylic paint. Then you just fill in the square parts where the stripes overlap with a darker blue (I used acrylic paint for this as well), violá! You have a simple gingham dress.

The Scarecrow - He was always my favorite character! The base color I used is e.l.f. Emerald, which was a little too dark for my taste. But I didn't have a dark green at the time, so it worked! The straw and rope are painted with acrylic paint.

The Tin Man - The base color is Sally Hansen XTreme Wear Celeb City and the heart and lines are painted with acrylic paints.

The Cowardly Lion - The base color is e.l.f. Nude and his main and red bow were painted with acrylic paint.

Even though you can see it in this picture, I guess I didn't get a close-up photo of my other pinky, which was the Ruby Red Slippers - The base color was China Glaze Hey Sailor and I went over it with two coats of Orly Rockets Red Glare (aka my favoritest glitter polish in existence). And there you have it! Wizard of Oz nails. They're sure to catch some eyes and get lots of compliments, because mine sure did! So let me know if you try them out, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Bioshock Infinite Nails - Part 1 (Vigors)

Hey there! :) So, if haven't assumed it from the title... This is going to be a loooong, pic-heavy post. And I'm sorry about that. But this is big! BIG!!! I hope you're as excited about this as I am. This is part 1, because all ten nails are different, so I'm breaking the posts up by hands.

So, if you don't know what Bioshock Infinite is, it is a video game; quite possibly the best game this year (well, in my opinion at least). It was released in March and is the third installment in the Bioshock franchise. I'm not going to tell you the whole story, because that would just take too long and I would probably confuse you. But if you like video games (first person shooter games, to be specific) that have to deal with corrupt societies and interesting powers and dangerous cities, I 100% recommend the Bioshock games. They are my absolute favorite games in the history of video games. In fact, the first Bioshock was #3 on G4's top 100 video games of all time. Trust me, they're incredible. So for Infinite I had to paint my nails!

We'll start with my right hand (painted with my non-dominant hand). I painted my representation of the Vigors, which are powers that Booker DeWitt (the character you play) can use. On my thumb, I painted the Vigor called Possession, which allows you to take control of both machines and humans and get them to fight for you. It's shown as a green, flowing, ghost-like apparition.

I started with one coat of China Glaze Gaga for Green.

Then I sponged a gradient of China Glaze Gaga for Green and Starboard with e.l.f. Emerald at the base of my nail going from dark to light. I also put a little bit of Sinful Colors Snow Me White at the tip of the gradient. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it on the nail.

Then I lightly sponged on some white acrylic paint on the tip of my nail and going up the sides - then I  used a small brush to paint waves, almost like fire. And violá! You have Possession!

On my index, I painted Devil's Kiss, which allows you to throw fire balls, basically. It looked like lava, with craggy rock pieces in it. 

I started with one coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

Then I sponged on a u-shaped gradient of Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Funky Fingers Like Clockwork, and China Glaze Hey Sailor. I wanted the red to outline my nail around the cuticle with the orange and white centered in the middle. Then I took the edge of the sponge and put a few spots of Hey Sailor in the middle.

Then I used dark red and white acrylic paint to put some rocks and highlight spots on the nail. And there you have Devil's Kiss!

On my middle finger, I painted Undertow, which allows you to use water to yank people up into the air and pull them close so you can kill them or throw them off of an airship. It looks like a whirlwind of water. It was my absolute favorite Vigor, but unfortunately I'm not great at painting water. 

I started with one coat of Ulta Concrete Evidence.

Then I painted a whirlwind of water with light blue and white acrylic paint. I also used dark red and grey acrylic paint to make some sores on either side of the whirlwind. And that's Undertow!

On my ring finger, I painted Shock Jockey, which allows you to shock your enemies. It's pretty awesome. And it's also the prettiest, in my opinion!

I started with one coat of China Glaze Fancy Pants.

I then sponged a gradient of Fancy Pants and Snow Me White in a u-shape on the nail just like I did for  Devil's Kiss on my index finger.

Then I used white, black, and light blue acrylic paint to paint the electricity, the burnt cracks, and the blue crystals that make up Shock Jockey. And that's it!

And finally, for my pinky finger, I painted Murder of Crows, which allows you - yep, you guessed it - to command a murder of crows to attack your enemies. This one looks the coolest in the game, because Booker's hand turns black and feathery and then every once in a while he stretches it and he grows claws. It's terrifying while you're playing, because you have no freaking idea what's happening to his hand, but you get used to it.

I started with one coat of China Glaze Tart-y For The Party.

Then I smudged on some white and black acrylic paint, concentrating the black on the tip of my nail. I also sponged on Ulta Concrete Evidence.

Finally, I painted on some crows with black acrylic paint. They're in various states of flight, as well as being bigger the closer they are. And that's Murder of Crows!

And once you add them all together, this is what you get:

(Indoors, with flash)

(Sunlight, shade)

(Sunlight)

Whew, that was a lot. And it was only one hand! Of course, you can choose to just do this on both hands, because if I'm being honest, this is the easier of the two types of designs (mostly because I was painting this with my left hand). But if you're up for it, check out Part 2! I painted the bad guys of the game on my left hand. Even if you don't want to do it yourself, I'd still appreciate it if you want to check it out. Let me know if you try these designs, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading, have a good day, and happy painting! :)