The Polished Bookworms: Outlander

The Polished Bookworms (a book club on Facebook for ladies who enjoy combining the hobbies of reading and nail art) is starting out the new year with Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. There are several books in the series, but I've only read the first one and these nails might be a clue as to why I can't see myself going any farther.

The story and characters really can be charming at times. The main character, Claire, travels back in time to the Scottish Highlands and meets Jaime Fraser, a true red headed Scott. I thoroughly enjoyed the accents and immersion into that time period. It would have been great except apparently half of everyone from that time was a psychotic, violent sadist. I'd be reading along, really getting into the story when, boom, suddenly Jaime has half the skin ripped off his back by Captain Rapey.. I mean Randal.

I'll admit, I have no ability to stomach that kind of violence. I know those kinds of things and worse happened back then, and it's all part of painting the picture, but I just couldn't get past the torture scenes enough to make the rest worth it.

Because the violent parts are what stuck in my head the most, I chose to paint the results of Jaime's multiple lashings on my nails. Quite brutal, no?

I painted a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Brick Wall and Spoiled, Hit the Brakes, then covered that up with OPI, My Vampire Is Buff. While everything was still semi-wet, I used a needle to drag through the top layer of polish exposing the "blood" underneath. I went back into the "cuts" with OPI, I Sing In Color which is an almost black red to make it look like the cuts had clotted a bit. The end result is fairly gruesome.. just like the book in some places.

I hope my nail art hasn't scarred you too much (pun intended). If violence doesn't bother you much and you like hot Scottish guys in kilts I'd recommend the series. If you're overly sensitive like me you may want to stick with something safer. Maybe someday I'll grow a thicker skin and be able to read the rest because it really was an interesting start.

Quilted Glitter Chevron Nails

I'm enjoying another beautiful rainy day inside, about ready to get started on some new nails for the week. I'm kind of wishing I could be snowed in like the East Coast, but I'll take what I can get. I've been feeling indecisive about what to paint on my nails the last few weeks. Is there anything you've been wanting to see. Let me know!

I've combined a few things for these skittle nails. I started with two coats of Nina Ultra Pro, French Pink (my absolute favorite nude for my skin tone) as the base for the rest of the art.

 I've been wanting to try out a quilted nail for such a long time. It was a little tricky getting the lines straight! I used my old library card because it was flexible and I thought it would be easier to bend it around my nail, but I think the flex of the card made some of my lines a little wiggly. I waited a few minutes till the polish was almost dry, but still dentable and then pressed the card along the nail in a criss-cross pattern. I placed a piece of glitter at each intersection to tie it in with the other glitter nails. 

I used my chevron Nail Vinyls to block off different parts of my nails and painted either a coat of Sinful Colors, Black on Black or sponged on several coats of Nina Ultra Pro, Gilded, which is a really pretty pink-toned holo glitter.

I couldn't decide which color of background I liked best with these nails. What do you think?

Pantone Color of the Year 2016: Rose Quartz & Serenity Nail Art

This definitely falls in the "sorry, not sorry" category. I've been taking an unintentional, but apparently much needed break from my blogging. I just hadn't been feeling it and keeping busy with so many other things. This week I've been feeling the urge to blog again, so I'm happily back at it. I hope the motivation keeps up because I've been painting a ton of great stuff and the internet needs more nails.

I was fully expecting to hate this manicure. For the last couple years I've done nails inspired by the Pantone Color of the Year (check out 2014 and 2015) and I didn't want to stop the tradition now, but barf... Pantone chose not one, but two of my least favorite colors. I tend to like dark or bold shades the most so I wasn't thrilled for these pastel baby colors. The explanation for why Pantone chose these is mildly interesting. Apparently they think we're all a bunch of stressed out crazy people in search of some relaxation (seriously paraphrasing here), so they chose these soothing colors to reflect increased mindfulness in 2016.

To my great surprise I love how this turned out. The colors make me think of a beach sunrise with the gold sand and pearls. The softness of the colors really works with the overall look and feel of the manicure.

I love having a different color on the bottom side for an added twist. I did lavender underneath with a hidden pearl.

I started with two coats of Love & Beauty in Light Blue, then sponged several layers of Sinful Colors, Easy Going onto the tips. I did a layer of top coat and sprinkled loose gold craft glitter from Michael's along the sides of each nail. I also placed larger glitters and pearls from Born Pretty in random places to complete the look. 

On the bottom side I used two coats of Sinful Colors, Candy Coated.

What do you think about Pantone's choices this year? This manicure may have grown on me, but I don't think I'll be running out to buy pants in these colors anytime soon.