Wow! Has it really been a month already?! Needless to say, some things have been going on in my non-digital world have been getting in the way of my blogging, but never fear, I've still been taking nail pictures. So, I have a nice big back log of pictures to get me started back up with regular posting.
In the meantime, I want to let you know about a shift I'm going to be making in the text of this blog. I've decided to devote less text to reviewing the basic polishes I wear. Most of my polishes are stock color and drug-and-beauty-store brands, and there are many more thorough blogs out there with complete reviews of those polishes. So, I'm going to focus on stamping and nail art techniques. I'll continue to list the polishes I use, and you should feel free to ask if you do happen to have questions about a particular polish.
I have some cool stamping and nail art to show off in the next few weeks, but I'll ease back in with a quick accent nail mani.
The primary color for this mani is two coats of Revlon Black Star. For the accent nail, I covered one coat of Black Star with two coats of Nyx Girls Frizz Spots. Frizz Spots is actually way more holo-tastic, but it didn't photograph well.
Today's nails were inspired by the villainous Drusilla of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She's not necessarily my favorite character on the show, but she does have the best nails. So, I decided to try to replicate on of her two main looks.
Since my tip color, Wet N Wild Smooch, is the lighter color, I started with two coats of it. Then, I used French manicure guides to block the portion I wanted to leave cream and covered the rest of the nail with Nyx Girls Blach Plum. The only problem I had with either polish was the Smooch took forever to dry, but since I can't even remember when I got it, I assume that's because it's so old.
And here's a picture that shows the look I was going for:
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.
