Family Appreciation Nail Art #3 - Texas Hold 'Em!

Sorry I was MIA for so long! I had a long week with homework and allergies trying to kill me. Apologies in advance for ranting more than normal for this family appreciation, this one is a big one. Today I decided to (finally) finish my nail art that is dedicated to my dad. He has been supportive of everything I've done since I was a little kid, and nail art is no exception. My dad is a software engineer, a super smart guy, and a talented poker player. First, a little backstory on why poker means so much to me. When I was very young, I felt very inferior to both of my sisters. They were both in different sports, they were good at math, naturally talented at writing, taller than me...You name it, I was insecure about it! My dad was taught to play Texas Hold 'Em by my great-grandfather (his maternal grandfather) when he was very young, and he taught us in turn. When my sisters and I were much younger, we often had poker tournaments at the house. I was always really excited about them because I was actually good at poker! It really gave me something to be proud of and feel secure about at a time in my life where I felt useless. Since then, I've grown to accept my strengths and those of my siblings, but poker was the only thing that I felt good at for a long time. I still watch poker with my dad fairly regularly and I love when he calls me when he's playing to get advice or to tell me stories. It's something that has really bonded us over the years and I can't imagine our relationship without poker conversations!

As I've said, my dad has been so supportive throughout the years for every random thing I've grown attached to. He was even supportive when I got a tattoo of all of the card suits since it was in his honor. He is a very frugal and reasonable guy, so he doesn't remotely understand the amount of money that I spend on nail polish. He worries about my finances and constantly keeps an eye out for my sisters and I in that regard. He's done so much for us and he continues to astound me everyday with how amazing he is at being a dad. He shares my nails with friends from work (hi friends!), he asks me to send him pictures of my nails almost every day, he asks to see them whenever he gets home; I just can't even explain how much all of his support means to me. Now that I'm done being all sappy, I'll get to the actual nail art!

I stuck with black, white, red, and green ($$$$) for this mani, so it's pretty simplistic.

For the thumb and pinky finger, I used two coats of Supernatural Lacquer "Prototype 3" as a base. This shade is not available anymore, but it is extremely close to "GED & A Give Em' Hell Attitude." On my thumb, it was covered in one coat of Supernatural Lacquer "We Kill the Sparkly Ones For Free." I've blurred it a bit in this picture so you can see all of the gorgeous holo glitter in it!

On my pinky finger, I used one coat of 365 Days of Color "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit." I know, I know, I basically put this on everything. It's just one of those must-have, perfect glitter toppers!

On my pointer finger, I used one coat of A England "Camelot" topped with one coat of 365 Days of Color "Pulling. It. Off." Again, this is just one of my must-have glitters! I use it on everything.

On my middle finger, I did a gradient using Pretty Serious Cosmetics "Nightmaren" for the base. I did one easy coat of Nightmaren with a quick coat of NYC "Grand Central Station" to seal it in. After that dried, I sponged on a combination of Nightmaren and Camelot until it was blended enough for what I had in mind.

Lastly, my ring finger! For this, I started with one thick coat of OPI "Alpine Snow." After that had dried enough, I put on one coat of GCS and let that dry completely. I decided that I'd rather use polish for this than acrylics since I really wanted the shimmer in Nightmaren to show up on the accent nail. I honestly used the tip of a sharpened colored pencil and a dotting tool to do every suit on here!

I hope you all enjoyed what is my second-to-last family nail art!

Family Appreciation Nail Art #2 - Mass Effect!

Sorry I'm a bit late with this one! As luck would have it, the sister who these nails were designed to honor came over for a sleepover last night so we were all rather caught up with that. These nails were designed for my older sister, Amanda, and our shared love of Mass Effect. She is probably one of the sweetest people in the entire world to everyone and has always been incredibly supportive of my sister and me. She even made a post on Reddit bragging about my blog because she's like my second momma! It was really adorable. Anyways, I love her to freaking death. Now for the nail art!

I didn't do a close-up of my thumb or my pinky since they're not really nail art, but I'll still list polishes. My thumb has OPI "Over & Over A-Gwen" with one coat of 365 Days of Color "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit" over it. By far my favorite black and white glitter in the world, just by the way. My pinky was two easy coats of "Librarian's Shush" by Femme Fatale Cosmetics. I added this because it softened the other nails a bit and she used to work as a library assistant so I knew she'd appreciate the name! Now on to the actual nail art.

For my pointer finger, I did a sort of gunmetal color base ("Carbonite" from Revlon) with some simulated blood spatter. The blobs were applied using a dotting tool that I bought from Winstonia Store. As with my thumb, this red is "Over & Over A-Gwen" from OPI.

For my middle finger, I decided to do a simple N7 design. I was really excited about this one since it was the most detailed thing I could really do with the thickness of brushes that I have. There are a ton of different designs used for the N7 logo, but I went off the one on my hoodie sleeve. The base was (again!) OPI "Over & Over A-Gwen." After the base and the top coat that I put over it dried, I used Scotch tape to paint all but a thin stripe black using "Camelot" from A England. After that dried, I used a striping brush to add the white lines with OPI "Alpine Snow." The N7 logo itself was also freehanded using a brush and "Alpine Snow."

For my ring finger, I decided to do a single galaxy nail. The base for this was "Camelot" from A England and top coat. After that dried, I sponged on a mixture of "Downtown" by Revlon, "Perle" by Dior, "50/50" by ORLY, "Lady of the Lake" by A England, and "Tess d'Urbervilles" by A England. After those all dried, I added small "stars" using "Carbonite" by Revlon. When that dried, it was time for a top coat and it was all done!

I've had better galaxy nails (I clearly need to practice them more often!), but overall I was really happy with these! I actually did this design on both nails and wore them to a friend's bridal shower and got quite a few compliments. Do any of you have any different techniques or colors you like to add in galaxy nails?

Family Appreciation Nail Art #1 - Baseball!

It has become exceedingly apparent to me in the past few months that I'm very lucky to have such a supportive family. I have a hobby that many consider frivolous and borderline strange, but my whole family is so supportive and excited about my nail art. Realizing this, I've decided to do nail art that reminds me of each one of them so that they know how much I appreciate their support and understanding.

I decided to pick my little sister, Emily, for the first spotlight. We've been at odds many times throughout our lives, but she still sticks up for me when people don't understand my obsession with polish. She compliments every mani I do. She likes everything I do on Instagram. She is an all-around cheerleader for my nail art, even though she herself doesn't really understand the interest. One of the main reasons that she is so supportive is that she knows what it's liked to get judged for an obsession, hers being sports. She has always loved them, and her love for them is infectious! And so, in her honor, I made some baseball nails to show you all. I used all nail polish for this, so I'll go through each nail to break down what I did! (All nails are using Jior Couture "Smooth Me" ridge filling base coat and "Cover Me" fast dry & seal top coat.)

On my thumb, I simply had a base of Butter London "Dosh" with a messily applied streaking of OPI "Skip the Gift Wrap." I used a fan brush to give it a sort of grass feel. Mind you, no self-respecting baseball field caretaker would allow their grass to look that ragged and unkempt!

For my pointer finger, I used a base of Butter London "Cuppa" and painted on rough lines with OPI "A-Taupe the Space Needle" (which was very fitting, considering the Seattle theme). After that dried a little, I sponged more "Cuppa" on top of it to give it a very battered, wooden feel. This nail, quite obviously, represents the bats! No batting gloves here!

Since I was born (and mostly raised) in the greater Seattle area, I went with Mariners' colors (teal and navy) on my middle finger. I used Pure Nail Lacquer "Overflow" for the base and did a chevron tip with OPI "Yoga-ta Get This Blue!" using nail vinyls from @teismom on Instagram.

For my ring finger, I attempted to create a zoomed-in baseball look. I used OPI "Alpine Snow" for the base and free-handed the stitches using Deborah Lippmann "Footloose."

For my pinky finger, I simply used Mineral Fusion "Galaxy" by itself since it had small navy hexes and larger green ones, it worked perfectly for this!

Do any of you guys have a baseball addiction? I'd love to hear stories! And thanks again for reading!

Introduction!

I wanted to begin this first post with a little introduction about where I'm coming from as a nail artist and a human being. Ever since I was little, I loved nail polish. I've had pretty severe anxiety problems from a young age, so I bit my nails ever since I could remember until a coupe years ago. My little sister convinced me to get an Instagram (she's much more hip than I am) and I instantly fell in love with the nail community. I had never seen nail art before and was astounded at the things that some of the artists could do. On top of rekindling my lifelong love for varnish, it made me realize how unhealthy my nail biting habit was and how much I wanted gorgeous, long nails! I worked long and hard to have strong, healthy nails that I'm happy with. While they do still break on occasion (thanks a lot, retail work), I know that they're a jillion times better off than they were prior to joining this community. With all of the support and kind words from other nail artists and family, I've decided to become a little more dedicated to my passion of nail art. I've spent my life in love with art and polish, so it only makes sense for me to combine the two and try to share it.

As some of you may know, I started a blog about a year ago to record the steps I was taking to get better nail health. I ended up making very few posts for it since I wasn't happy with how my nails looked (hence the point of the blog) and didn't often take pictures of my manicures. Recently, however, I've been feeling like I'm creating manis that I love and never get a chance to post on Instagram! While this is a very exciting realization since it means my nail heath has improved greatly, I was rather bummed about not being able to share all of the manis I make. With this realization, I've decided to once again delve into the world of nail blogging, only with much more regularity and depth this time around.

I hope you enjoy!
Allison (@whimsicalicious)