If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it

Haha, classic. Today I have a Baroque-inspired pattern - I say inspired because I didn't do too much research before painting. I kind of just went for it. A random swirl here, dot there, leaf over here. I think they still turned out pretty (and probably took less time than if I had tried to painstakingly recreate a pattern), but they say more just vines to me than Baroque.

I started out with two coats of Essie Going Incognito. I CANNOT believe that this is only the second time I've ever used this colour. I mean, I remember liking it the first time, but I didn't remember it being such an amazingly rich and glossy and all-around gorgeous green! I am now seriously considering buying a backup bottle, I love it that much. I'd show you a swatch on its own, but I did these at a friend's house, so I didn't have my camera handy then. Next time!

The gold pattern is painted on with Zoya Ziv, another great polish. I used my regular medium length brush to draw the main path/shape of the swirl, then built onto it by thickening some parts and adding leafy extensions. I used a tiny dotting tool for the dots. Lesson learned: don't overdot. Too many dots makes it look cluttered.

Look, I was not lazy and actually did both hands this time!

What do you think, are these Baroque-y enough for you? You can really tell how much I know about the style, huh. Also, is it just me, or does gold look amazing with everything? I thought I loved turquoise and gold, but this combination is definitely giving some competition. Until next time!

The bunny jumped over the moon

I was reminded of the folklore story of the rabbit that lives on the moon, after seeing Shannon's adorable bunnies at night at Somewhere over the polish rainbow. This "moon rabbit" is akin to the idea of the man in the moon. It's really interesting to see variations of the story across cultures!

I recently scored a bottle of Zoya "Storm", and it is absolutely perfect for a night sky with millions of tiny holographic stars. Ugh, it's just so beautiful. I painted little stars and bunnies in white acrylic paint over three coats of Storm.

 

I just need to take the time to praise the wonderful, forgiving qualities of water-based, white acrylic paint. I first discovered while painting my Japanese wave nails that if I made a mistake, all I needed to do was rub it out with a Q-tip dipped in water. This saved me in more ways than one, let me tell you.

I hope you love these little bunnies as much as I do! Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends, may you stuff yourselves silly with turkey this weekend.

Alice in Wonderland Nail Art Series: Cheshire Cat

 "You may notice I'm not all there myself."

Hi friends! I'm happy today to make the first post in my "Alice in Wonderland" nail art series. I'll be doing a set of Wonderland themed nails every week, for the next several weeks. Hope you'll enjoy these! I've always loved the imagery from "Alice in Wonderland". It's crazy and can be a bit unsettling, but so colourful and fun.

These first set of nails are inspired by the Cheshire Cat, with his trademark grin, and disappearing stripes. If you look closely, you can see the pink stripes start solid on the middle finger, get slightly more transparent on the index, and then disappear completely on the thumb.

Polishes:

Left to right: OPI "Sparrow Me the Drama", Zoya "Reagan", Sally Hansen "White On", black striper

Directions:

Here is how I created the Cheshire smile. The Zoya brush was very easy to maneuver, so the thick purple stripes are painted freehand.

1) Paint two coats of white and make evenly spaced stripes with a striper.

2) Cut a smile shape from tape. I just modified a binder paper reinforcement.

3) Line up the smile with your cuticle, and make sure it's pressed down completely. 

4) Paint a coat of white on the remaining area to cover up the extra stripes. Then a coat or two of pink.

5) Remove the tape the reveal your wide Cheshire smile.

Finished! If you have any suggestions for me or specific designs you'd like to see, just leave me a comment!

Alice in Wonderland Nail Art Series

• Down the Rabbit Hole
• Big or Small
• Unbirthday

Nail Art: Calvin and Hobbes

Hello friends, long time no see. I've been pretty busy for the past week, hence the lack of posting, but I happily had time to sit down yesterday and paint something.

I've been wanting to do Calvin and Hobbes themed nails for a while now. I bought several Calvin and Hobbes comic books at an amazingly inexpensive bookstore in Toronto, and they quickly became my favourite thing to read for a quick pick-me-up. Makes me think how much less boring it would be being an adult if I just had a stuffed tiger.

The hard part was making a design that would show their friendship; something the comics express so plainly. I settled on this simple design with a simple message in mind: where some may see a stuffed tiger, Calvin sees his best friend.

Polishes:

Left to right: Illamasqua "Nomad", Zoya "Arizona", Sally Hansen "White On" and "Black Out", Folk Art acrylic paint #949 "Skintone" and #509 "Sunny Yellow"

Directions:

Finished!

I love how these turned out and I get happy when I look down at my fingers. These are probably not the last Calvin and Hobbes themed nails from me. Hoped you enjoyed this!