Katniss, Girl on Fire: Hunger Games Midnight Release Mani

Edited to add sun pictures.

After re-reading the Hunger Games in the last couple of days, I was reminded that Katniss herself had her nails done for the interview directly preceding the beginning of the Games. In the book, Katniss says Cinna's team decorates her by "painting flame designs on [her] twenty perfect nails." So of course, I had to do a flame design.

(sun)

(sun)

(artificial light)

For a background, I used Orly Iron Butterfly. I wanted it to look a bit like smoke and ashes as well as being representative of District 12's coal industry. It's an easy one-coater matte black with silver shimmer, and it resembles China Glaze Stone Cold from the Colors from the Capitol collection.

(artificial light)

I wanted a flame design but I wanted it to look a little more natural than the typical hot rod flames. So I opted to paint the flames right over the charcoal instead of using a more opaque base. I started by freehanding the flame design in China Glaze Riveting, a red-orange glass fleck.  At first I'd planned the flames coming up my nails from the tip, but decided since Katniss was the girl on fire, the flames should be coming from her nails instead.

(indirect sunlight)

After doing all the red, I used Zoya Tanzy to fill in all the flames, leaving a bit of a red outline around the edges. I went over it twice to make it a little more opaque.

(indirect sunlight)

Lastly, I added some Milani Gold Glitz to the base of each flame (at the cuticle), to make it fully opaque and add a little bit of extra sparkle. It also toned down the fire to a bronzey-gold. Again, I didn't want bright hot rod flames, but more natural coppery flames.

(indirect sunlight)

I tried so many "versions" of flames (including the "hot rod type" which were made by painting black over the flames instead of the flames on the charcoal), but these actually came out exactly how I wanted them to.  I had a heck of a time trying to get pictures of these in natural light because the glare wanted to wipe out the flame shapes.

I won't lie, these were NOT easy, and it took a LONG time. But the result made it all worth it to me. I feel like the Girl on Fire.

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Amber Ruby Swatch

Here is another of the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line:  Amber Ruby.  This is one I love so much I had to get a backup bottle of it.  It has a strong duochrome/multichrome shift between red, copper, gold, and green (and apparently it goes all the way to blue, but it can only be seen in the underwater pictures).  I swatched it recently but was unsatisfied in my capture of all of the colors, so I re-swatched it over OPI Royal Rajah Ruby and it seems to bring out the colors just a tad more (two coats Royal Rajah Ruby, one coat Amber Ruby).

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Amber Ruby

What can I say? It's just STUNNING. See the beautiful mossy green on the edges? Yes, it does show up like that in person. In low lighting this polish is constantly shifting between all of its colors. It also has a very nice metallic finish without showing brushstrokes. Here's a picture taken at an angle where you can see the mossy green by itself:

And now for the underwater pictures (I love taking these - it's so fascinating!)

*gasp* I can't help it - it's so wonderful.

And here is OPI Royal Rajah Ruby on it's own, which is quite nice in itself!

My version of RBL's Piú Mosso

When Michelle first posted about the Firebird collection from Rescue Beauty Lounge (at All Lacquered Up here), I fell head over heels for Piú Mosso. What an amazing navy blue with fiery copper shimmer!

Since I'm not too big on paying that much for polish (although I have a few RBLs that I love!), I decided I'd try to replicate it using some polishes that I already have. Here are the results:

First I tried CND Effects Copper Shimmer over RBL's Dead Calm but since Copper Shimmer is so dense (is showed up as more of a pearl finish), I decided I'd decant some of it into a partially emptied Wet'n'Wild clear bottle. It turned out to be the perfect copper shimmer - exactly what I was looking for. However, because the clear was not a suspension base, it all settles to the bottom and must be shaken for a while each time I use it.  For the blue, I decided dead calm was a little too bright and wasn't quite as inky as Piú Mosso appeared to be, so instead I used China Glaze Calypso Blue as the base.

All in all I think my version came pretty close to the original.  I think the shimmer in mine might be slightly more prominent in low-lighting than in Piú Mosso, but I think it's just about as fiery in the sunlight!  Overall, it's one of my favorite polish combos I've done in a while!

What do you think?  Did I come close?

Fire Kitty and Nails!

So maybe you didn't know this, but I love World of Warcraft. My two mains (nope, I can't pick just one) are a gnome warlock named Whatsit (Chief has a gnome rogue named Whoosit... aren't we cute??) and a feral druid named Zyrah. Last night, Zyrah brought down the 6th boss in Firelands for the third time and Fandral's Flamescythe dropped!

All of my combat is in cat form, and this staff makes my character look like this:

I was so excited that all night I dreamed of ways of putting these flames onto my nails, and here's how it came out. I'm pretty happy with it, though I might do it again with a little more orange next time (less red). I used Zoya Kimmy for the base (2 coats), then lightly brushed Zoya Tanzy over it starting a little farther towards the tips each time, then added just a hint of China Glaze Lighthouse on the very tips.

I'm still so incredibly excited I can't stop squeaking now and then :o)

EDIT:  By the way, all of my Wow characters or on the US Doomhammer server.  Let me know if you have a toon there or would like to try playing and I can send you an invite for a trial account!