Geek Nails: Coin 'n Carry Edition

Today's mani was inspired by the new biggest source of not getting other things done: Coin 'n Carry (this is a referral link to note that I sent you). The premise of the game is that you're a shopkeeper, who needs to make money and increase the popularity of your shop. To do that, you play mini-games that reward you with resources you can use to make items to sell in your shop. The mini-games are quick and fun, and the shopkeeping requires a bit of strategy. So, best of both worlds. If my blogging pace slows down, blame this. Here's a short demo video.

And now, on with the nails. For each nail, I chose something from one of the mini-games to stamp on. I was having trouble making my pinky design show up, so I decided to go back over it with my dotting tools. Now, it looks awful. Seriously. Don't look at it.

The base polish for all my nails is KleanColor Blue Pearl. The stamp designs and polishes are:

Thumb: Crab - Fauxnad B78, China Glaze Aztec Orange; Crown - Bundle Monster BM08, Sally Hansen Color Quick Gold Chrome
Index: Strawberry BM05, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red
Middle: Diamonds BM09, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White
Ring: Lime BM04, Revlon Top Speed Emerald
Pinky: Hearts and Clovers BM 03, Revlon Top Speed Bubble and Emerald; Stars BM14, KleanColor Neon Yellow

I won't explain what games these symbols come from; you should come play and find out. However, I do want to note that there's a crown on my thumb because I currently have the month's highest score in The Claw, which involves grabbing sea creatures out of the water. The crab gives you the most points, and I attribute my success to muttering "crab grab" under my breath while launching my claw at it.

So, if you decide to come play, leave a comment or email me at the address in my profile with your shopkeeper name so I can add you to my friends. Just don't plan on beating me at The Claw!

Geek Nails: Rue Edition

As you know by now, I recently got really into The Hunger Games. When China Glaze came out with their Hunger Games polishes, it gave me all kinds of ideas for themed manis. The first one was inspired by Katniss, and this one is based on Rue. Specifically, it's based on Katniss' tribute to Rue.

The base color is, appropriately, China Glaze Agro, the District 8 color from the Hunger Games collection. I absolutely love this color; in fact, it was my favorite from the collection. It has some gorgeous, if subtle, multi-colored shimmer that you can't really see in my photos.

The texture on this seemed like a dream going on - it could almost have been a one coat polish - but it bubbled a lot afterwards. So, I'll probably thin it a little next time I wear it.

I did the stamping with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White and finished off with a few flower-shaped jewels in two sizes.

My cuticles could have used a little work, but I'm happy with how the mani turned out.

Geek Nails: Girl on Fire Edition

As I mentioned in a previous post, my newest geek obsession is the Hunger Games trilogy. Sadly, I haven't been able to see the movie yet, but I loved the books. I have a couple of  ideas for Hunger Games themed manis, but I had to start with my Katniss tribute (making it a tribute tribute?).

This one was taken in full sun.

I decided to try to make a gradient manicure that looks like fire and embers. Personally, I think I succeeded pretty well. I started with a base coat of China Glaze Riveting, then working from the bottom up, brushed on China Glaze Lubu Heels, ELF Cranberry, and some more Riveting.

This one was taken in partial shade.

Next, I used a bit of make up sponge to add more of the same colors and blend them. It turned out that Lubu Heels was darker than I liked so I sponged some of both of the other two colors on top to lighten it up. The end result had a depth that definitely resembles coals. I finished up with a little bit of Cover Girl Boundless Color Gold Rush to add sparks to the tips.

This one was taken in complete shade.

I loved this look so much I wore it until the tips were chipping and it was really grown out at the cuticles. It's definitely one of my favorite manis I've done in a while.

Geek Nails: Pern Edition

This manicure is one that I've been planning for a really long time. I wanted to wait until I could get just the right stamp to do it because it's my tribute to something very close to my heart, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series.

The Pern novels are set in a distant future on a colony world that Earth has forgotten. The colonists have survived the main natural threat of their world, a voracious organism called thread, through a partnership with telepathic dragons. The world is rich and complex, with it's own politics, culture, and social mores developed over two thousand years. The series covers several periods in that history, including everything from colonization to Pern's present day.

The dragons of Pern were my inspiration for this nail art. There are five colors of dragons: gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green, and they have faceted jewel-toned eyes.

The polishes I used to represent the dragon's colors are (from thumb to pinky):
China Glaze Mega Bite
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Bronze Ablaze
Loreal Owl's Night
Maybelline Colorama Blueberry Surprise
Wild and Crazy Colors Erie

I stamped the dragon image using Chez Delany plate D10 and Konad White Pearl. I added the jewel on my thumb to represent the dragon's eye.

I started reading the Dragonriders books when I was in middle school, and they were an important part of my life from then on. I've re-read the majority of them in the last two years because they are still a place I escape to when things in my life are hard. I was lucky enough to hear Ms. McCaffrey read from one of her books and meet her briefly at DragonCon several years ago, and I'm glad that I got a chance to tell her how much her books mean to me.

Geek Nails: Green Lantern Edition

We finally got around to watching the Green Lantern movie the other day, and I liked it. It didn't seem to get very good reviews from the comic book fan set (read: my people), so I wasn't sure what to expect. While it was a little light on plot, it did a good job of introducing the character and setting up a good villain for a theoretical sequel. So, while watching, I decided to do some GL themed nail art, and I did it gasp freehand (sort of).

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City on all my nails. This is a great, rich emerald green shimmer, which is very superheroic. In fact, I originally bought it to wear with my Robin costume. It applied a little patchy, so I used three coats to ensure maximum awesomeness.

For my accent nail, I used a notebook paper hole reinforcer as a template to paint the circle portion of the lantern. I put it in the middle of my nail and filled it in with Sally Hansen Whirlwind White, a great opaque white that I bought for stamping. I used the back end of a piant bruch to put a dot of Emerald City in the center (I really need some dotting tools), then used a KISS white striping polish to add the bars at top and bottom.

It's pretty simple and a little crooked, but considering my usual terror of creating designs freehand, it's not that bad.

Geek Nails: Princess Bride Edition

This is a manicure I've had in mind for a while. The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies of all times. It's one of the first movies I really remember seeing in the theater (as in the whole movie, not just bits and pieces), and I've loved it ever since. As a kid, I loved the pure, simple fairytale. As and adult, I get all the jokes and satirical parts that make it not just a pure, simple fairytale. I also love that, despite the satire and unlike the book it's based on, the movie and it's characters remain sweet and likable. I have a soft spot for all the actors in it, even the bad guys.

Since I'm not great at painting designs freehand, I had to get creative to do a mani in honor of The Princess Bride. The final product is maybe more inspired by than based on the movie.

I started with NYX Girls Pistachio, which is a soft sky blue creme. It has just a tiny hint of green in it, but that only shows up in certain lights. It applied very easily, but is a little sheer for a creme. I'm wearing three coats in these pictures to get full, even opacity.

Next, I used a teeny-tiny piece of make-up sponge cut into a rounded shape to dab clouds around the base and edges of my nail in Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On. I tried to make them thick and billowy at the bottom and thin out as I moved up.

 Finally, I stamped a crown image from Bundle Monster plate BM08 on my ring fingers and thumbs in Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep. This is an absolutely great stamping polish, and I wish there was a similar gold in the Insta-Dri line. I'd like to point out that, while the cover art above shows a gold crown, it's definitely silver in the movie, which is why I stamped it that color.

Finally, if you've been so deprived as to be unfamiliar with this movie, check out this video. This is a fan made trailer, but the original trailer hasn't aged well. Actually, one of the reasons this movie wasn't originally a commercial success was the uneven marketing. If you want to know that that looks like, go find the original trailer. If you want to know what the movie is like, watch this instead.

Geek Nails: Swamp Thing Edition

Ever since Sammy of The Nailasaurus did her Week of Geek featuring nail art tributes to various topics of geeky fandom, I've been brainstorming ways to do some theme nails of my own. Since I'm not at all handy at freehanding nail art, I have to think of ways to use color and stamping to reflect my favorite characters.

Today's geek nails are inspired by one of my favorite comic book characters: Swamp Thing, created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. In comics, Swamp Thing is both a human soul seeking to find a life in an inhuman body and an earth elemental with a deep connection to life of all kinds. I could wax on about the character for an entire post, but this is the wrong blog for that, so on with the nails!

 

I started with a base of OPI Stranger Tides, which is a murky, light olive green. The formula on this was a little tricky, as it was thin and runny. It badly wanted to pool around my cuticles (which is pretty obvious in some of these pictures). It took three coats to be opaque and even. That said, it is a great color and dried quickly despite the three coats.

On top of Stranger Tides, I used a makeup sponge to add random dabs of Revlon Hot for Chocolate to give the background some texture. Finally, I stamped a cluster of flowers from Bundle Monster plate BM15 three to four times to cover each nail using the slim brush dark green from KleanColor Nail Duo Bright. This polish comes in a two ended bottle that has a base color with a regular brush on one end and a nail art color with a thin brush on the other. The polish worked great for stamping, but the shape of the bottle was a pain, as there was no easy way to put the brush down between stamps.For my accent nail, I stamped a rose using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Ton of Bricks. It didn't really pop as much as I wanted, so I added a red rhinestone on top.

Finally, I used Essie Matte About You topcoat (over my normal Out the Door topcoat) to give my nails a matte finish, since neither swamps nor swamp monsters are well known for their glossiness. It also seemed to change the color a little, minimizing the yellow undertones.

Pre-mattification

The roses on my accent nails are a reference to one of my favorite Swamp Thing story lines. In issue 52, Swamp Thing's wife Abby has been arrested in an attempt to trap him. Using a rose that Abby has carried into the courtroom, Swamp Thing grows a new body covered in roses and puts Gotham City on notice that he's taking over until she's released. He then covers Gotham in impenetrable plant life until she is, in fact, released. This story was written by Alan Moore, who's run on Swamp Thing is the best in the series. If you want to give Swamp Thing a try, I highly recommend reading his take on the character, which ran from issue 20 through 64 and is available in trade paperback form.

Wonder Woman Manicure

This week, Sammy of Nailasaurus has been doing her nails with various fangirl themes for her Week of Geek. I seriously love this idea and all her designs. The first of her designs was based on Marvel comics characters. While I am nowhere near as good as she is at painting freehand designs, these really made me want to do comics nails of my own. Being more of a DC Comics girl, I decided to go with a Wonder Woman theme.

For my first three fingers, I started with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet. It didn't photograph well, but this polish is a cherry red jelly with lots of red glitter in it. It's sparkly, but since the glitter is suspended in the base, it's a subtle shimmer. The texture is a little thick for a jelly, which means it stays put and made for an easy application in two medium coats. For the tips, I used french manicure guides and Sally Hansen Color Quick Gold Chrome. This is a nice polish, but I did run into a problem with these tips. Since this polish is in a pen-shaped applicator, it starts out at the base of the brush. This made it a little tricky to get it spread evenly over a small tip and resulted in my tips being, well, lumpy. They're fine at a normal distance though.

For my ring finger and pinky, I started with China Glaze Frostbite, I've reviewed this polish before, so I'll just reiterate that it is great in terms of both texture and pigmentation. For this, I used three thin coats to get maximum color, but two would really be plenty. On top of Frostbite, I stamped stars from Bundle Monster plate BM20 with Konad Special Stamping Pearl White. Of the three Konad stamping polishes I have, this is the only one that really works the way I hoped it would. It stamped nice crisp images. Any blurring was the result of me using too much pressure.

As luck would have it, this was also the manicure I wore for the 4th of July, and it worked well for that as well. I'm currently thinking about some ideas for doing my own Week of Geek (really, it will probably my Geek Every Now and Then, Spaced Out by Other Things). I want to do designs based on Pokemon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Swamp Thing, a few other comic book characters, and the Princess Bride. I'm not really sure what I'll do for that last one, but it's been one of my favorite movies since I was 10, so it should be represented. I'm also adding a tag for "geek" which I'll apply to all the manicures that I do based on my fan obsessions.

Fireworks Mani

One of my other hobbies is playing video games on my Nintendo DS. My spouse got it for me largely so I could play what was, at the time, the newest version of the game Animal Crossing. The finished mani in this post reminds me of the celebratory fireworks that happen a few times a year in that game. (Sorry in advance for the hideous state of my cuticles. I'm spending today moisturizing and getting them back into decent shape.)

I started with a base of China Glaze Hologram from the Tronica collection, which is a silver polish with a holographic finish. The formula was just the right texture: thick enough to easily control the placement, but thin enough to go on smoothly. I used three coats to maximize the sparkle, but it was basically opaque after two. I really like all the Tronica polishes that I have, and this one is no exception. Here's an indoor picture that shows the holo effect a little better. It still doesn't really show the full sparkly awesomeness.

For the stamping, I used a round flower pattern from one of the older Bundle Monster plates. I stamped the pattern randomly twice on each nail, once in Revlon Top Speed Bubble and once in Revlon Top Speed Royal. The Revlon Top Speed cremes are great for stamping, and these went on easily.

And now, for comparison purposes, one more mani picture with a picture of an Animal Crossing fan (it was surprisingly hard to find a good picture of the AC fireworks online).

Darkseid Manicure

My spouse, a DC comics fanatic, recently acquired a long sought after Darkseid action figure. This happened to coincide with my acquisition of several China Glaze Crackle polishes. He noticed a similarity between the finish produced by those polishes and Darkseid's craggy skin, and he's been campaigning for a Darkseid themed manicure.

Being a comic's fan myself, I've looked around and found several superhero themed manicures on the interwebs. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman seem to be the most frequent characters to get nail representation. However, I feel pretty safe in saying that this is the first Darkseid themed mani out there.

For the base color, I used China Glaze Frostbite, which I absolutely loved. It is an electric blue shimmer that was BRIGHT, shiny, and opaque in two thin coats. I wish I'd taken a picture of it before I added the crackle, but I'm sure it will make another appearance. Next, I added a silver streak on one side of each nail with a Kiss striping polish to give it a glint of metal. Finally, I added a layer of China Glaze Cracked Concrete on top of both. I found Cracked Concrete a little easier to work with than CG Fault Line as it didn't seem to dry quite as quickly and went on a little thinner. I applied the crackle horizontally across my nail, rather than from base to tip. This was surprisingly tricky and very messy. I like the result, so the extra clean up time was worth it. It's a little hard to see the silver in that first picture, so here's an extreme close up where it shows.

I'll close with a picture of the mani with it's inspiration.

Darkseid does NOT approve.