Hello lovelies! I am so very excited for today's post. It's part one of my Christmas gift to you and something I've been planning for months and months ... pretty much since I started making nail polish I knew I wanted to do this collection. The idea has grown since then to be a massive, multiple collection idea that has taken so much planning but I'm finally ready to start sharing this with you. What is this massive top secret idea? Harry Potter, of course! Those of you who know me even a little know how utterly obsessed I am with Harry Potter! So many years after the last book and I still pick them up occasionally for a re-read.
I started this series in a way I thought was very appropriate - with Book 1. I took some of my favorite things from the book and turned them into polish. And in an attempt to be symbolic, I created 7 polishes. 7 books, 7 horcuxes,
Since this will be such a long, image heavy post please click the Read More below. If you'd like to simply skip this post and check out the polish for yourself you can find it here.
Hello everyone. Welcome to 2013!! :) Today's post was supposed to be for the letter Q in the ABC Challenge but, after the Christmas rush, I felt like doing nothing, so I'm a little behind in my posts. I don't feel right moving onto Q before posting P so ...
P is for ... Phoenix.
I cringe a little looking at this design. I was cleaning my usual nail art brush and the bristles came out. I was stunned because I was cleaning it like I always clean my brushes. I wasn't any more or less rough/gentle or pulling on the bristles excessively. I'm really not pleased because I pay an outrageous price for these brushes—4 brushes for about $15! I think I'll be ordering my brushes online from now on; for my usual price I can probably get a full set.
So, all brush rants aside, this design is a little messier than my usual since I had to use a thicker brush for the line work. Still, I felt very Harry Potter creating this phoenix ... though it's not as stunning as Fawkes. :)
Today's post is my very first Harry Potter mani. I have dozens of Harry Potter designs sketched in my nail art book, but I've never felt confident enough to complete any. So, when I was completely stumped on what to do with my nails last week I figured it was past time to do something Harry Potter.
I went through all my sketches and realized I didn't want to do any of them. I thought briefly about doing something for each book but there are seven books ... too many for one hand and too few for both. I could have also done something for my favorite parts of the books but ... well, I have too many. :)
I finally settled on Quidditch as my inspiration. When I think of a Quidditch uniform all I can think of is stripes. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the Hogwarts striped ties. I tend to imagine the house colors as stripes now. And as all the muddy Quidditch training in the books tells us Quidditch is a dirty job! With this in mind I sponged on some deep brown over the uniforms to create a muddy, dirtied look.
Last but not least ... what Quidditch game is complete without the Golden Snitch??
Polish Used
Hufflepuff: Pure Ice Excuse Me & Beauty Concepts unnamed shimmery black
Slytherin: Sally Hansen Emerald City & Sally Hansen Celeb City
Gryffindor: Maybelline Bold Gold & Wet n Wild I Red a Good Book
Ravenclaw: Bon Bon Blue & Petites Bronze Baby
Snitch: Revlon Blue Lagoon, LA Colors White, Maybelline Bold Gold, Wet n Wild Goldmine, Funky Fingers Platinum Record, and a mix of black and white to create the gray used for outlining the wings.
Before beginning this mani I used 2 coats of white polish on all my nails so I could get the brightest colors possible.
