Melody of the Night

 Painting in acrylics on nails is one of my favorite things. I recreated the painting by Leonid Afremov as best I could - I love the vibrant colors! In order to do photos without glare I used a matte top coat, which did dull it ever so slightly.

 

Supplies: 

OPI Alpine Snow

Acrylic Paint

GEL LEN matte topcoat

Day 10: Landscape

 For the nature prompt I decided to try to paint a landscape inspired by an image I found online. I hope I got close to portraying the image, at least! It's a bit rushed, but it gave me an excuse to break out the acrylic paint again. It's really been way too long since I painted on canvas.

 This is done entirely with acrylic paint, so I have no polish to list! I hope the sunbeams look sunbeamy enough - it changes meaning if it looks more like an explosion!

 I'll have to do another landscape sometime when I'm not rushing to do a crazy 30 day challenge! At least now I have a functional if cheap set of acrylic paints to work with.

Day 6: Hamblen Landscape

Today's theme is 'Inspired by Art', and I decided to try and replicate one of the stunning landscapes by Matthew Hamblen. It's just so dynamic and colorful! This was a bit of a speed paint as I started late, but I tried to at least make it recognizably based off the painting. Woo!

  So this is a bit different for me in that I used very little nail polish! The entire design is painted in acrylic paints. Of course, I learned from this that I really need to buy some more paints. Only after I started did I realize that my bold orange paint was dried up, and I had the hardest time getting a good vibrant orange from mixing the reds and yellows I had on hand.

 Even if it didn't turn out as an exact match to the colors of the painting, I had a lot of fun with it!

 Colors Used:

Acrylic Paints

Three Little Kittens

 Time for some cute kittens! I decided to go all out and paint the cover to one of my childhood favorites, The Three Little Kittens.

 I started with a layer of Morgan Taylor Ahead of the Game over a coat of OPI Alpine Snow, since I didn't feel like doing three coats of yellow to get it bright. However, this yellow was surprisingly easy to work with!  My index and pinkie nails were then painted with Morgan Taylor Varsity Jacket Blues. I then started with the white cat on my middle nail. Her fur is OPI Alpine Snow, shaded with a combo of Varsity Jacket Blues and very watered down China Glaze Liquid Leather. Her dress was done with OPI Where Did Suzi's Man Go? and Sinful Colors Feel the Vibe. 

 The black cat was colored with more Liquid Leather tipped with Alpine Snow, and her dress was done in the slightly darker Morgan Taylor Doo Wop, shaded with watered down Sephora by OPI Metro Chic and with heart-shaped dots of the same color. Ears on all three cats were done using Where Did Suzi's Man Go mixed with Alpine Snow to make an orangey-pinky color.

The wash bucket between the white and black cats is a combination of Metro Chic and Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day, filled with bubbles in Alpine Snow and Varsity Jacket Blues. 

The tabby cat is a mix of Doo Wop, subtle touches of watered down Where Did Suzi's Man Go, Metro Chic, and Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day. He wears a shirt of SpaRitual Dreams Becoming Reality and pants of Liquid Leather.

On my index and pinkie nails, I used striping tape to cordon off a section, then filled it with Ahead of the Game. I then added mittens using Flower Good Bud-Dy, OPI Where Did Suzi's Man Go, and Spa Ritual Dreams Becoming Reality.

Colors Used:

Morgan Taylor Ahead of the Game

OPI Alpine Snow

Morgan Taylor Varsity Jacket Blues

OPI Where Did Suzi's Man Go?

Sinful Colors Feel the Vibe

Morgan Taylor Doo Wop

SpaRitual Dreams Becoming Reality

Flower Good Bud-Dy

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day

China Glaze Liquid Leather

Mummy Madness

 I do so love Halloween! This time, I tried to paint a scary mummy, and it turned out better than expected! Unfortunately, it also proved to be hard to photograph. I'm glad I took pre-topcoat photos, because the post-topcoat photos were too shiny to see the details!

 On my right hand, I didn't go as detailed with the anatomy and instead just did bandages over embalmed skin. Heh! I left it very loose with brush strokes, to add to the weathered feel.

 I started on both hands with two coats of OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle. I loosely roughed in the idea for the mummy's face and hands using a marker. Then, I started filling in the shadows with Sally Hansen Grey Area, which is a cool grey-brown. I also outlined the borders of the bandages on both hands. Wherever I wanted to have 'flesh' visible, I loosely dappled on more Grey Area for a textured look. I darkened bandage creases and parts of the mummy's face and hands with diluted NYC Black Lace Creme.

 I then started working in some highlights with Spoiled Only in Creams, which is a nice cool light brown. I lightened the hands a bit, as well as the right side of the mummy's face. I diluted the polish a bit to only subtly lighten some areas, but used straight polish to highlight around his nose, jaw, and eye.

 I then used multiple layers of Sally Hansen Beige Blast to color the bandages. The fact that the polish was sheer allowed me to create a more aged look. Next, to add a little more color to the mummy's flesh, I put in touches of Wet n Wild Private Viewing, which is a warmer brown creme.

 The last touch was adding a small amount of China Glaze Sun Worshipper for his eyes. Yay for creepy!

 

My favorite thing is that I can totally make the mummy dance by moving my index and ring fingers, haha!

Colors Used:

OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle

 Sally Hansen Grey Area

 NYC Black Lace Creme

 Spoiled Only in Creams

Sally Hansen Beige Blast

 Wet n Wild Private Viewing

 China Glaze Sun Worshipper

Day 24: Inspired by Art - The Persistence of Memory

 

So for the Art theme, I contemplated doing something sane like abstract art, which translates spectacularly to nails and always looks amazing. However, I am less than sane apparently, as I tossed that idea out in favor of trying to recreate Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory on my nails.

 I started with a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Once that was dry, I painted roughly 3/4th of each nail brown with Revlon Espresso. The sky was created with diluted Color Club Almost Famous and a touch of Sinful Colors Jolt.

 I then started at my thumb. The box was done with Sinful Colors Anchors Away and touches of Sinful Colors Gogo Girl. Ciaté Cream Soda was used for the tree and silver clock, and additional touches of Almost Famous were added to the gold clock to make it shine. The red clock was done with diluted Gogo Girl. I shaded each clockface with a tiny touch of Sinful Colors Jolt.

 

I used Nicole by OPI Kim Konfidential and more Revlon Espresso to make the melted face. The far rock was done with more Anchors Away, with shadows added with Revlon Espresso. Eyelashes and clock hands were done in acrylic paint, since I could make those details a little finer.

Colors Used:

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Revlon Espresso

Color Club Almost Famous

 Sinful Colors Jolt

 Sinful Colors Anchors Away

Sinful Colors Gogo Girl

 Ciaté Cream Soda

 Nicole by OPI Kim Konfidential

Undersea Adventures!

 I was challenged to do sea-themed nails! I was in the mood to try something painterly. My idea was to try to simulate descending into the ocean depths. The effect works best on these next pictures:

 I painted everything directly on my nails because I'm crazy and it's good practice. I'm getting better with my left-handed painting, too!

I started out with one coat of China Glaze White on White, to make the colors pop and save me time not having to layer some of the thinner blues. I'd run through a description of what colors I used where, but that would be a huge list! I used a rather extensive range of polishes. Check the end of the posts for a list of 'em all!

 Starting from thumb to pinky on my left hand, I did a beach scene with palm trees and some distant birds, followed by a coral reef with a school of yellow fish. Next, two dolphins that actually turned out really nice considering the scale and the fact that I was painting with a tiny brush and toothpick. After that I did an octopus, and he was so much fun I'm almost tempted to do more octopus-based nail art! Finally, my pinky nail is a bioluminescent deep sea angler fish.

 On my right hand, the journey again starts at a beach, then leads to a reef. On my middle finger I did a sea turtle, and my ring finger is a bright jellyfish. My pinky nail is an unnamed bioluminescent fish, because glowy things are cool.

Colors Used: (Gonna be a long list!)

China Glaze White on White (clouds, waves, detail bits)

L.A. Colors Sea Foam (waves)

Revlon Dreamer (Sky)

Nicole by OPI Kim Konfidential (Sand)

ColorMates Mudd (Palm tree trunks, Octopus, turtle, angler fish)

NYC Flat Iron Green (Palm Trees, turtle) 

China Glaze Gaga for Green (Palm trees, turtle)

Wet n' Wild I Need a Refresh-mint (Top half of index gradient, dolphins, bioluminescent fish)

Sinful Colors Fly Away (Bottom of index gradient, top of middle finger)

Revlon First Class (Bottom of middle gradient, top of ring)

ORLY In the Navy (bottom of ring gradient, pinky)

Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet (coral reef, orange fish, octopus, jellyfish)

Sparitual Enlightened Soul (Yellow fish, jellyfish)

Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal (Dolphins)

 Sinful Colors Inkwell (Details throughout)

 

 

Sunny Side Up

 A friend of mine requested I do nails based around her adorable puppy dog, so here they are at last! The dog's name is Sunny, so I knew I wanted to work some bright yellow in somehow! I started with Revlon Electric, then had some indecision when it came to what background color to use for the accent. I'm so glad I went with brown, because it works so well with this yellow. The brown I used was Sephora by OPI Dating the Drummer, and it is my new best friend. It's just this perfect brown tone, but with a secret blue and red shimmer!

 For Sunny herself, I used a combination of many light browns/creams. From dark to light: Wet n Wild Private Viewing, Nicole by OPI Kim Konfidential, Maybelline Canary Cool, and China Glaze White on White. I think Sunny turned out rather well! Even Lefty managed something that at least looks vaguely dog-like, heh.

I then used Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat Peach Fuzz in theory to liven things up, but in reality I used it because I just bought it today and couldn't wait to experiment. I couldn't get the orange component of Peach Fuzz to show up too well on these pictures, but I'll try to take some daylight photos in the morning. Edit: Morning pictures taken, replaced one of the top photos with the new one!

Once that was dry, I added in the brown pawprints to tie everything together.

Colors Used:

Revlon Electric

Sephora by OPI  Dating the Drummer

Wet n Wild Private Viewing

Nicole by OPI Kim Konfidential

Maybelline Canary Cool

China Glaze White on White

Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat Peach Fuzz

Toys

So the assignment here was to first color a sheet of drawing paper in some way (I chose blue watercolor, but it could have been tea or orange juice or whatever) and then draw a still life with some sort of meaning. My attempt here was to show the 'toys' of today on a pedestal, with the toys of childhood kind of forgotten and jumbled underneath. I dunno, it makes sense to me!
Charcoal, conte, and watercolor on drawing paper.