Day 23: Inspired by a MOVIE

Welcome to the next installment of the Longest 31 Day Challenge Ever.  Today I'd like to share with you Day 23: Inspired by a MOVIE, otherwise known as My Hunger Games Failure.

Like many of you, I devoured the Hunger Games series and was really excited to see the book turned into a movie.  I bought my tickets for opening day a head of time, painted flames on my nails, but completely underestimated how popular the movie would be!  I showed up for the movie only to find the only remaining seats were the ones in the very bottom corner...

So I still have yet to see the Hunger Games movie as I returned my tickets (why do theaters even include those seats in the first place??) but I'm hoping in the next week or so to try again.

To create the manicure I wore for opening day I relied heavily on Kayla Shevonne's Hunger Games inspired nails.  She always does such amazing work and I love seeing the designs she creates.  My attempts to duplicate her work never turn out quite the same.

I used a layer of Zoya Snow White for my base, then two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow.  I next sponged Zoya Tamsen on top, making the layers thicker as I moved towards my cuticles.  I then "drew" on flames with a Kiss Nail Art Pen in Black, finally filling in the area outside the drawing with my SoEasy Striper in Black.  A coat (or two) of Seche Vite was all I needed to make this design shine.  Clean up was a complete PITA, black polish just doesn't come off my skin nicely.

Overall, from a distance this design looks pretty sweet because you can't tell that my flames are a hot mess.  At this distance they're much more skeptical though I do enjoy them.  I really need to practice free-hand nail art more.

Coach Patchwork

This week's nail art theme from Facebook's Polish-aholics Anonymous group was patchwork nails.  Ehhh, originally I was not too thrilled for this topic but I love the way the design looks on my nails.

The inspiration for this design comes from a Coach patchwork handbag.  I love the way the colors for this purse go together.  It's bright, cheerful, and makes me smile whenever I look at it.

For this manicure I started by painting my nails with a basecoat (Sally Hansen Continuous Treatment Base & Top Coat), followed by one coat of Zoya Snow White and then one coat of Finger Paints Art Nouv-Yellow.  I used a layer of white below the yellow because it makes this color 'pop' more than if I'd just painted the yellow over my basecoat.

Using tape to section off the area I wanted to keep yellow, I painted Zoya Jancyn over the rest of the nail.  Following the same procedure, I next used Zoya Areej and finally Zoya America.  I wanted to use Zoya Tamsen (one of my untrieds) instead of America but the color difference wasn't noticeable over Areej.  


Since these colors are all so...warm I wanted to distinguish them from one another.  To do this I added black "stitching" with a Kiss Nail Artist Fine Art Pen in Black.  Here's a before and after:

Before "Stitching"

After "Stitching"

My boyfriend said that my nails reminded him of the movie A Nightmare Before Christmas but I think my nails are much too colorful to be compared to such a dark film. 

I swear I moisturize more than it looks like in this photo!

I'm pretty bummed that I have to take it off after only a day and a half of wear but I must look "business professional" for a big meeting and these nails don't fit that look.

Found a Way to Use Areej

Zoya Areej is too dark of a color for me to wear by itself.  I managed to wear it for a day before breaking out the nail polish remover.  I've incorporated into my new manicure and think it looks a lot better.  The inspiration for these nails comes from this video by Miss Chievous.

I painted my nails this color Wednesday evening but didn't take the pictures till Friday evening - after it started chipping off.  The Zoya Color Lock system couldn't keep my nails safe from metallography. :(

I used China Glaze For Audrey as a base (I love this color), Kiss Nail Artist Fine Art Pen in Black for the branches, Zoya Snow White for the petals, and Zoya Areej for the center of the flower.