Sparkling Gradients and Nyan Cats

My friend V, whose hands frequently sport the fruits of my hobby, is joining us again today. She thinks I'm a great friend to do nail art for her. But on the other hand, she lets me take pictures for my blog, AND she supplies me with stuff. Remember the "nail armor" done with scrapbooking stickers? V financed the trip through Hobby Lobby where we wandered around going, "Oooh what can we put on our nails?" ^_~ I think it's a pretty fair deal all around.

Well, she had a job interview this week (she's looking at other positions at the University to get some more experience in the different types of work we do around here) and she wanted nails to match the clothes she was going to wear. Since one should always begin as one intends to go on, we definitely wanted to do some type of nail art rather than a single-color manicure, but we also wanted to make it subdued and professional, as is appropriate for putting your best foot forward in an interview. She was going to be wearing a tan skirt and a shimmery red blouse, so after looking through my stash swatches, I settled on a simple gradient of China Glaze Fast Track and Barielle's Elle's Spell. I am really in desperate need of a red glitter, honestly. I've got red flakies, jellies, and shimmers - but I don't have any simple, full bodied red glitter polish. Next time I'm buying China Glazes, I think I'll be grabbing a bottle of Ruby Pumps. ^_^

We're pretty sure the job interview went well, but after getting more information on the position, she's not sure she's right for the job. But hey, her nails looked fabulous!

On the same evening, my daughter Brianna decided she wanted a nyan cat on her nails. She was very particular about wanting the rainbow done with my Sally Girl mini scented pastel polishes, rather than having a bright rainbow. I have only two comments to say about doing nail art on an 8-year-old girl: 1) the canvases are TIIIIINY, and 2) it's impossible for her to stay still enough not to mess up tiny pictures.

But I did my best, and she was happy enough with it that she didn't chip it all off within the day, which is what she usually does when she does her nails. ^_^ I started with a base coat of Milani Whitest White on all the rainbow nails, to make sure the colors would pop (as much as pastels can pop, anyway!) I put a base coat of China Glaze Frostbite on the thumbs for the dark blue sky the Nyan Cat is usually flying through. To create the cat, I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and Hooke and Line for the black and grey, respectively, and used the Sally Girl minis Cherry (mixed with a little Whitest White) and Banana to do the pink and yellow areas. The pictures are necessarily pre-cleanup, since there was no clean-up of any kind. It was hard enough getting her to sit still for putting the polish on her nails, there was no way I was going to be able to get her to sit still enough to take it off her skin without ruining something along the way. ^_^