Do cherries grow up to become cherry blossom trees?

Ok, I totally took the title from a manga chapter of Gintama. Oops, let my nerd show for a bit there.

Going to Japan to see the cherry blossoms is at the top of my life list, but until that happens, I know of some cherry trees a bit closer to home. Last April of 2012, I visited High Park, Toronto after I heard that the blossoms would be in full bloom that weekend. It definitely did not disappoint.

Of course, I had to do my nails to show off my favourite flower. A bit different from the traditional cherry blossom mani, I used nail foil for the petals by painting on spots of glue in petal shapes. I love when the light catches the petals, they flash and glow.

I painted three coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, then painted the branches with Essie Mink Muffs before applying the foil. I was thinking of doing a light blue-green gradient as the base, but I decided on a soft white base to let the foil shine on its own.

I dotted on some white afterwards, but I think I prefer it without.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to visit High Park this year - good thing I took so many pictures!

Hope you didn't mind my cherry blossom spam. Oh and one last gif from Gintama.

Bam. See you!

Painted feathers

Hello, hello! I wanted to try feather nails, but I also didn't want to deal with the cutting and trimming of actual feathers. So I tried my hand at painting them. I used a fan brush to try and get that wispy look. A valiant attempt, but I think this one would go in my fail book. I asked my friend if she could tell they were feathers and she said, "...well, they do look kind of furry". LOL.

I used three coats of Sally Hansen Crinoline as the base, and brushed China Glaze Ingrid with a fan brush for the bulk of the feather. I used China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, OPI Thanks A Windmillion, and OPI You're Such A Budapest for the colour details.

If you squint and don't look too closely, they kind of look like feathers? Have a good week!

*No birds were harmed in the making of this manicure* - Wafflerun

Poppy print

The sun is shining, and I'm feelin' fine. Happy weekend, everyone! Today I have this pretty poppy print that was inspired by my Rowan skirt from Club Monaco (kind of obsessed with their clothing recently). I love having my nails match my clothing. Gives me some kind of weird sense of accomplishment.

I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff for the base. I didn't think I could love another neutral base as much as I loved OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, but I was wrong. For the blue brushstrokes, I dipped the tips of a fan brush into Essie Bobbing for Baubles, getting the excess off before making quick, random, short strokes. Then with a normal striper brush, I made thicker strokes of blue, and added accents of red with Sally Hansen Kook-A-Mango.

For the poppies, I painted the shape of my flower with Zoya Arizona, so I have a bit of orange peeking through. Then I painted over the flower again with my red. Finally, I went back in with my blue and base colour for the poppy centres and extra details.

I love these designs where I don't have to worry so much about being neat. It's a much more free way of painting.