Day 25, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fashion!

I'm  not much of a fashion girl. I know what I like, and I try to put it together in a cute way, but I think because I'm not that super stick thin girl, I just can't get that look. (As I'm chomping on Starburst candy corn... don't judge me)

However,  I like to mix things up and put things together that normal people wouldn't necessarily do on a regular basis.  I am obsessed with colored pants. I love stripes and polka dots. Top it off with a bright color and that's the April style.

So, when seeing today's prompt was fashion, I looked up on Pinterest to see ideas I liked. I found this little picture:

Source: bubblegummelody

So, polka dots? Check. Bright color? Check. Nerdy glasses and top knot? Check! This is totally me. So this is my interpretation of that style:

I did a base of Essie Blanc, and then swiped on a stripe of Zoya Darcy. Once that was dry, I took a nail art brush and mixed a lighter yellow color to free hand on the lace design that is on her sweater. 

After that, I used my dotting tool and placed black polka dots on top of the white. 

So, I also decided to match my nails for work. This is how it turned out. I wish I had that beautiful sweater, but I did have a dot shirt and yellow cardigan! 

I had a luncheon that day, and my entire table asked me after the presentation about my nails. Gotta love nail groupies!  Ha! 

So what's your fashion style? 

April

Day 24, Inspired by a book

I. Love. To. Read. I always have. I remember that there was a contest at our elementary school called Read A Million Minutes.  I won it one year. I typically read a new book at least once a week. I used to be one of those purists when it came to books, but I tell you what. .. I love my Kindle to the moon and back. I have an ancient Kindle that still has a keyboard and it's own 3G network.  Last time I checked I had over 150 books on it.

I jumped on the Hunger Games bandwagon right after Catching Fire was released.  I liked Hunger Games a lot. But the other two books... meh. They were ok. So I went looking for the next dystopian book that looked interesting.  That was when I found Divergent.

This book is amazing.  AH. MAZING. It centers around future Chicago (which as a Midwesterner I completely appreciate) where the inhabitants are sectioned into five factions.  Abnegation: the selfless. Erudite: the intelligent. Candor: the honest.  Amity: the peaceful. Dauntless: the brave. Our main character is Beatrice,  or Tris as she is later known.

In this world, you grow up within your parents' faction.  When you turn 16, you must choose between staying in that faction,  or selecting a new one. Beatrice has grown up in Abnegation,  and selects Dauntless as her new faction. The rest of the book centers around her transition to this new faction which is so unlike her old home, and also finds out that there is something a little different with her mind too. And then there's Four... ah, Four. He's the bee's knees. ;)

Ok, so can you tell I chose Divergent for my inspiration?  This worked out great.  5 fingers, 5 factions.

Here's the whole hand. I sponged on a blue background and then freehanded all of the individual symbols.

Close up of Erudite, the intelligent.  Symbol for them is an eye. Smarty pants.

Close up of Candor, the honest. Their symbol is the scales... they are like the lawyers of the Divergent world.

Close up of Abnegation,  the selfless. In the book, these are the do-gooders and once a year, Beatrice would get her hair cut. That was the one time that she was allowed to look in a mirror.  Crazy! Their symbol are two holding hands.

Close up of Amity, the peaceful. These are the farmers and the hippies. Probably where I would have ended up if I was in this little world. Their symbol is a red tree.

And finally,  close up of Dauntless,  the Brave. Symbol for them of course is fire.

They are of course making this into a movie (boo!) So I hope it turns out true to the book. Of course I think everyone says that. The only time I was pleasantly surprised was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Killer flick and totally how I pictured it. There are currently two of the three books out in this series,  and the third is due out in November.  Can't wait!

So thoughts? Have you read any good books lately that I need to add to my list?

Cheers!
April

Day 23 Is a Jump to the Left

Hello and happy Tuesday.  Do you know what I love? Musicals. Any type. I also love Tim Curry. We were obsessed with the movie Clue when we were kids and watched it over and over. I can still recite it.

Here's something to know about my childhood... we never really watched kids movies.  We loved scary movies and things that were weird.  In the Tim Curry library,  our next movie was It. Loved it.

And then I was introduced to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The rest is in April movie history.  I fell in love with the campy, silly, freaky movie that took over my early high school life. Have you ever been to a live action showing of RHPS? Best. Thing. Ever.

With Halloween just around the corner,  random channels are starting to play the movie. I'm not going to lie. I totally get up and dance the Time Warp and Rose Tints My World. I sing along. The hubs hates the movie,  which I think somewhere is grounds for divorce.  Lol.

Here are my RHPS nails. My heart melts because they are so awesome.

Here are close ups of each nail.

First, the lips from Science Fiction,  Double Feature.  Did you know that they were Magenta's lips? True story.

It's just a jump to the left!!! And then you step to the righhhhhhht! So funny story about the Time Warp. There's a scene where Magenta and Riff Raff rock their elbows and forearms together,  and its called elbow sex. For some reason my middle sister and I did that action when dancing and singing to the song. Weird and kind of wrong!

This one is supposed to be symbolic of Columbia with her bright orange hair and sparkly striped pants. Somewhat of a fail here as it didn't come across as in-your-face as I wanted it. 

Pinky finger is reflective of Frankenfurter in his surgeon scrubs and pearl necklace.  I gotta say, I really liked this and it was the least amount of work! Figures. 

Last but not least is my thumb which is supposed to be Janet at the floor show / Rose Tints My World. If you know what you're looking at here, I think its totally awesome. But if you don't,  its a little weird.  

So, what's the verdict?  I personally loved these and made sure I went shopping at places that I could force the clerks into checking out my nails, lol. I also sent a preview to my middle sister and she was in love. 

So, let me know your thoughts and if you enjoy campy ridiculousness that is Rocky Horror. 

A toast!

April

Day 22, Inspired by a Song

Hello lovelies... I hope you all had a great weekend.  My football winning streak is over. We played like poo, it rained on and off all morning, and now it's super cold and I am freezing.

Bonus though, I got caught up on the challenge and I can see the end!! Today's prompt is inspired by a song, and I love music so this one was tough. I have several playlists on my ipod, and one is just my favorites.  I was flipping through them and trying to think of what I could translate into nail art... and stumbled upon this diddy.

The Black Keys are a phenomenal band. I've liked them for a long time, and was super stoked when they recently won a Grammy.  Gold on the Ceiling is one of the songs on the aforementioned playlist.

I painted the nail entirely white, using Essie Blanc. I then freehanded the keys on there with black polish. The tip, or the ceiling, I used Nicole by OPI The Next CEO and topped it off with some gold glitter.

Overall,  I'm okay with how this turned out.  But I do need to purchase a new paintbrush.  The one I have is jut not fine enough,  so the lines weren't as neat as I wanted them. But I like the concept.  Not exactly a literal interpretation of the song, but hopefully ya'll get it.

So, what's on your favorite playlist?
April

Here's the video if you've never heard the song.

Day 21, Inspired by a Color

Today starts the last section of the 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge, and they are mostly "inspired by" prompts.  The first inspiration is a color.

I love color. I love almost all colors, and I like to miss-match them in my wardrobe.  I also color code EVERYTHING. My coworkers laugh at my OCC with color coding my days of notes. I use a different color every day (going in rainbow order, of course) and then I can look back and say, oh yes. That was the orange day, September 17th.

My niece,  Pickle, used to make it a goal to know what all of our favorite colors were. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I changed about 5 years ago from pink to green. And I recently purchased a new green polish.

I pulled out all my other green polishes and of course, wanted to go dark and light.  Inspiration struck to do a saran wrap mani. (Please forgive the pictures as it was cloudy outside this morning and my pics reflected everything! )

My base coat is Zoya Hunter, and the light color is Essie's The More the Merrier. After the base coat is dry, you swipe on the top color and while it's still wet, tap it off with scrunched up saran wrap.

I have to admit it... I'm in love with this. It looks like a mix between tie dye, algae and marbling.  And throw in some Jackson Pollock splatter art. I just adore this.

I cant wait to try this with other colors.

If you had to choose one color to wear the rest of your life, what would it be?

Cheers!
April

20 Days of the Challenge

Well hello there.  I cannot believe that I've made it to day 20. I seriously thought that I would be so far behind that I would just quit around day 10. But I made it to the dreaded water marble.

I actually re-did this one from my first look because it was a hot mess. I took a deep breath,  watched several tutorials,  and did a do over.

I cant remember what tutorial I watched, but it was a similar design from this one. And let me preface this with that I've only really attempted water marbling a few other times. And I'm kind of partial to purple nail polish.

I used three different colors here for the marbling: Essie Jamaica Me Crazy, OPI Do You Lilac It and Essie No More Film. My base was a light coat of Essie Lilacisim.
So, you drop good size blobs into water and repeat with other colors.  Take a toothpick and then cut in your design.  Dunk your nail in and then collect off the excess. Bring out your nail, and the design is transferred onto your nail. Oh yeah. Best part? It comes out of the water dry.

I think with a little more practice this could be very cute. My pinky got a little funked up, but ended not being as annoying as I thought it would be. I definitely need to check out some more ideas and tips. I saw one that was a striped look that I really liked.

So that's all for today! Let me know what you think!
April

Day 19- Galaxy Nails For The Win

Happy Tuesday my nail polish buddies.  When I first looked at this challenge,  I was super intimidated by today's prompt. But let me tell you, I don't know how I've lived without doing a galaxy mani before.

I started with a base of Sinful Colors What's Your Name, which is a dark dark blue with blue micro glitter.  I then took several other colors and sponged them on, layering the colors. Adding a holographic sparkle glitter on top... and this is heaven.

That pic is actually of the rarely seen right hand. I of course did my left first, and then did my right. I honestly prefer my right hand!! A stunning simple galaxy look.

Here are some pics of my left... I followed a tutorial that suggested to put these starbursts on top, and again... I prefer it without!

And forgive the blurriness,  but I wanted to show the intense sparkle that the holographic top coat provided. 

Seriously,  I couldn't stop staring at this. I also would stop random women and make them look at my hands.  I don't care how weird it looked. I had to shout this one from the roof tops I loved it so much. I see a million more galaxy nails in my future. 

I'm dying to hear your thoughts on this one.

April