Rain, rain...

The past few days have been wet, and cool and I have been loving every minute of it! When I was outside walking the other day, I looked up at the overcast sky and and actually thought "I love this!". Now I don't hate the sun, I like it in small doses and with no trace of humidity. Sadly in the summer that's not really an option.It's funny my friends always joke that I don't like anything, but now I have something else to add to my like list. Bad weather*

For this I used saran wrap, and blobbed on white, and dark gray polish. Then I added the umbrella with acrylic paint. To finish it off I added a matte topcoat and blobs of Seche Vite so it looked like rain. Honestly there was one thing I didn't like about them. The colours on the umbrella. I thought the contrast would look neat, but looking at it now I wish I had done something like different shades of blue.

*Not thunderstorms. Those are scary.

Mandatory Mani

I feel like this is a mandatory manicure for anyone that has pointy nails. Watermelons. You just have to do it at some point. So this is my time/I wanted to do it before it started to feel like autumn.

I started with my base of Running in Circles then with acrylic paint I added the pink and white. Finally I painstakingly added the black glitter which is Ninja Polish Sticks and Stones. That took the longest time, trying to pick out the small black glitter from the white glitter. Love how it looks even though he glitter was a pain.

Here's running in circles on it's own. I have actually swatched it before, but this is too pretty to not show again!

Le meilleur des mondes possibles!

So my nails are getting out of hand. I stabbed the boy for the first time ever. I contemplated cutting them for half a second and then I though "No." Although they may need a trim, but only because my thumb nail is broken really low down on both sides after I was trying to lift something heavy and it slipped.

Enough nail talk, lets talk about my nails some more! Today I have the Wiki Challenge done ON TIME. I actually have a few ones from weeks gone by, but haven't uploaded them. This week we got to choose a random article from Wikipedia. I got "Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs," a "written-out" jazz-in-concert hall composition written by Leonard Bernstein for a jazz ensemble. My only idea for this was to do music nails, but what I had in mind I had already done before. So I started to look for more insperation, when I thought "Leonard Bernstein -> Composed Candide based on the book by Voltair -> I have the book -> It has neat art -> I must put it on my nails." So that is how I got to my Inspiration for these Candide nails! I suggest you give it a read if you have yet to!

These nails are inspired by the four of the main characters listed on the inside of the front cover. For my base I used Zoya Jacqueline and everything else is acrylic paint. Then finished with Essie's Matte About You. Kudos to people who do nail art like this all the time. This took me FOREVER. Literally FOREVER.

Inside of the book where I took my characters from. You can see I used Candide, Cunégonde, Dr. Pangloss and Old Women.

This is another copy of the book I have. I found it at a used book sale. It's from 1930!

Sheep? Sheep! Goat???

I feel really stupid right now. I was looking through some tumblr tags and I kept seeing sheep manicures.  Naturally because I am a millennial, I didn't take the time to read any of the captions on the posts due to my short attention span and my constant need for instant gratification. Finally after scrolling some more post it finally clicked! Chinese New Year is coming up! Turns out this year is the year of the sheep/goat. I'm not sure which one most people are calling it seeing as the Chinese only have one word for sheep and goat. Either way a sheep was easier to draw.

For this manicure I used mostly acrylic paint. The only part that is polish is the black around the eyes. My Seche was acting all weird for this manicure. It was SUPER bubbly, which is a first for me. Well it's been bubbly before, but It's been sitting on a table for at least 2 days untouched. How odd.

Are you born in the year of the sheep goat?

Lines are hard...

So I have been wanting to do fishnet stocking nails for a while now but I figured now was the perfect time. First off let me apologize for my sad dry hands, as I had to redo some nails a thousand times. I kept messing up the netting. I know it does not have to be perfect, but I really wanted to to at least looks somewhat even.

When I was done I realised it looked a bit plain(and I'm also on a do my manicure, and hate something about it kick). So I though it would look really cool with cartoon hearts. I originally tried outlining the heart but it highlighted how eneven my hearts were. So I just had to stick with the reflection lines(?) I don't know what those things are called. Shine marks? Anyways I mattified the whole thing and it finally came together!

Will you be wearing fishnets this Valentines day? BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT!

Ps. Apart from the sheer black polish I made, everything else is acrylic paint.

A-Z Challenge - Inspired: Tonight, we gotta live for, we gotta live for, these days! + 500th POST!!!

So after a break I didn't forget to do the A-Z Challenge, I was just really tired yesterday and made an executive decision not to do my nails.

I've had quite the week. Remember how I said this year I was going to do more performing and whatnot? Well this week I did 2 shows and 1 audition :) And in an effort to motivate myself I have decided that for every show, or audition I do, I will have a chocolate from my tin of Quality Street chocolate. And that is the only time I can have those chocolates! Huzzah! Also this is Varnished Valkyrie's 500th post! Double Huzzah!

Back to nails! My inspiration today is my favourite boy band in the history of everything, Take That, and the outfits they wore when they performed their first single 'These Days' on the X Factor in November. As well as their logo, and the number III(Which is the name of their new album, because now there is only 3 of them). And you know what? While I do miss Jason and dynamic he brought to the group, TT3 is growing on me. It's a slightly different dynamic, but different doesn't have to be bad.

All I used for this manicure was Orly Liquid Vinyl and white acrylic paint.

 

Who here loves Take That? Or am I the only one here :(

Take That - These Days (X Factor performance 23... by ilabarlowed

Check out more fab A-Z Challenge manicures!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy (Belated) World Pride - Part 3: Success!

I know I've been away for a while, but I'll get into that later :P

These nails are what I wore to the Pride Parade almost 2 weeks ago. As you know I didn't like how my last set of pride nails turned out. I am happy to say that I loved these! The whole gradient was done using acrylic paint, and I topped it with China Glaze Fairy Dust! The one thing I don't like about these photos is the blue and purple gradient. My camera hates purple and likes making it blue. Rest assured that in real life the blue->purple gradient looked amazing.

The parade itself was interesting. Mainly because it was sooooooooo long. We were near the beginning of the parade and we were there for 4 hours in disgustingly hot weather before we decided to leave. Rumour has it the parade was 6 hours! But one of the "best" moments happened after the parade. We had decided to go and get something to eat, and I had ordered a water(easy right?) When I got my water there was gunk on the bottom of my glass. So I asked for a new one, but to my joy this one had gunk floating in it. My friend's boyfriend then said "It's fine. It looks like food" My response was, "But it's not MY food!" *facepalm*

Happy World Pride - Part 2: Fail + I'm Going Slightly Mad

A couple nights ago I was really tired when I got home so I took an hour long nap. When I woke up there was this MASSIVE bug of sorts flying around the ceiling. I did what every normal person would do at that point. I pulled my covers over my head and hoped the winged, terror would leave me be. When I eventually emerged the bug was gone. I use the word gone loosely because 95% of the time my bedroom door is shut. So there was a large chance that he(or she) was still in my room. But at the same time this was 2 days ago and I have yet to see her(or him) again. This seemed weird because it was huge! So part of me now thinks that maybe I was seeing things. You know that moment right when you wake up and you aren't really all there? Maybe in that moment my head was making things up? I feel like I'm going a little batty...

Now moving along to the fail!

This manicure was inspired originally by this manicure by Finger Polish Mania. And of course the colours I used were inspired by pride. I am not a fan of mine personally. First of all some of the colours I didn't have the right shade in polish, so I had to use paint. When it comes to using tape paint has a tendency to seep. Lucky for me once it dried I was able to scrape some of the paint off my nail to make the lines appear more clear. My second issue was the red polish (H&M Cherry). Now before I put on top coat my nails were drying for a good few minutes. The minute I put on TC the red would streak. Every. Single. Time. And it was just the red polish! And then other colours started to get messed up because I was fiddling with it. Overall this manicure frustrated me.

 Heart on my thumb. I did really like how this turned out!

Watercolour Fun! (I also got an owie)

So this past little while I've been very busy. Generally I read blogs now on the go. The one thing that sucks about that is I can't actually comment when I'm using my phone. Is that just a thing? Or is my phone silly? Anyway's not to fear I still read all your blogs, I just can't tell you how amazing you guys all are :D

This week I took a tumble. I was lifting a generator with another person and I tripped. One of my knees looks frightening now. I'll spare you the details but it's gross. When I feel 2 things went through my head 1)I'm glad these aren't my nice jeans and 2)I'm glad my nails didn't break. Priorities.

So the nails I'll be showing you today I did a few weeks ago. It's my first water colour nails! I used this tutorial by Melissa Rose. I started out with a white base, then I covered it with a matte topcoat. From there I mixed a bit of water with a bit of acrylic paint, and then gently blotted and brushed it onto my nails. One important thing is that you wait for each colour to dry(which can be a pain in the bum). The drying time was a lot less when I used less water. But also know that if you use less water your colours will be more pigmented. Which was good for me because I wanted the look to be a bit bolder. But if you want a softer look you'll need more water in your paint, and a bit more drying time. When finished I applied a layer of topcoat!

I was really pleased with how this turned out. So pleased that I'm going to show you my RIGHT HAND!!!

Left!

 Right!

This Isn't Your Grandmothers Easter Manicure Part 3

Today I have for you a recreation of a manicure I did two years ago! As you all know by now I REALLY like Monty Python, and am permanently scarred for life because I can't see them all live. And for the past 2 years I have done an Easter manicure inspired by the sketch troupe. Two years ago I did a manicure inspired by the The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog from film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of mt favourite films of all time.  This year I decided to recreate it!  The one main difference was the bunny. He is much cuter and throwing and eyeball. Awwwwwwwww.

This time around the egg nails look a lot better(even thought most got covered in blood).  I think the colours suit Easter a bit more. Apart from the white base, the eggs were done almost entirely from acrylic paint that I had mixed. The bunny accent nail was done with a base of Orly Liquid Vinyl and paint. I like it A LOT better this time round :P

I also decided that this would be my entry for Nail Polish Canada's Easter Nail Art contest!  So please head on over there and vote for me. I will also lower you taxes if you vote for me...I wont.

 Before the blood

Comparison

And just in case you don't know anything about Monty Python:

My first gradient that I've liked liked :D

So I guess I should start with a story, because I have one.  So I spent this weekend in bed in pain.  If you read my last post you may have noticed I said I may have had a case of beard burn.  Turns out that wasn't the only injury that night ;)  But seriously though, my back was aching all of Friday, then I woke up on Saturday with lower back pain.  Not only that but if I moved too far forward or sat or stood up straight the pain would just explode.  It's safe to say the heating pad was my best friend for a few days.  But not to worry, I'm all better not for the most part, just a achy still.  Just glad I didn't need medical attention.  Lesson learnt, play safely :P

On to the nails!

These nails are my attempt of recreating Sammy from The Nailasaurus's Black and White Gradient.  Where she did a black and white gradient and then topped it with black and white glitter.  I used acrylic paints over a coat of white and topped it with Cover Band Sticks n' Stones.  In Sammy's original post Sammy points out how there is a lot going on.  Originally when I started doing this I was going to add onto it because I thought there wasn't enough.  Then the minute I put it on I looked at it and thought "That's enough".  There IS a lot going on, but in a good way.  I feared it I added anything else it would just be too much.

So what do you think of my gradient?  And have you even injured your back?  Doesn't it suck?

 Before glitter and topcoat

If I had done a top nail art list for 2013, this would have been on it.

So I'm a bit late posting this.  I actually did this last year, shortly after Christmas.  It was one of those manicure that you look at and think "I am never taking you off".  And when you do take it off a small part of you cries.

Even though I rarely do them I love fashion inspired nails.  Like I said I don't do them often, but I do have a whole folder full of fashion stuff for inspiration.  I just think fashion is a really great place to look if you are in search of some fun ideas, or you are just flat out of ideas but still want a neat design on your nails.

For you today I have these Vivienne Tam, Spring 2014 line nails.  The minute I saw it I knew I had to put it on my nails.  This was super easy to do.  I simply painted my nails white, blobbed on dots of acrylic paint an polish in varying colours(You don't have to use one or the other, the colours I needed I don't own all in polish or all in paint), finally using the sugar spun technique I strung black polish all around the nail.

What do you think of these?  What do you use for inspiration?

 

3D Lego Nails Tutorial: First Tutorial EVER!!!

Minus the infamous 53 coats of polish my Lego nails would have to be my second most popular manicure.  I always wanted to do a tutorial but I never did...until now!  So I'm going to try and make this as quick and painless as possible.  If you would like the quick but painful version, I suggest you get some nipple clamps and wear them while doing this.

So let's start with what you will need:

 - A bottle of polish of whatever colour you want your lego to be.  Along with a corresponding acrylic paint colour.  If you don't have paint just keep using the same polish.
- Circular glitter(any colour).  The ones I used are 2.5mm.
- Nail glue or clear polish.
- A thin topcoat(my SV is watered down).

First paint your nail whatever colour you want your lego to be using nail polish.  This will help anchor down the first piece of glitter and protect your nails from the paint (They STAIN).

Now while the polish is still wet/tacky place between 2 and 6 pieces of glitter, depending on how many bumps you want your Lego to have.

Once those are in place add a TINY bit of nail glue or clear polish on top of each piece of glitter, then carefully stack another piece of glitter on top.  When those are in place repeat this step.  You should have 3 pieces of glitter stacked on top of each other now.

Next, take your paint and using thin coats go over everything.  5a is one sloppy coat, and 5b is after two more.  The second coat for me in the most important.  I focus on around the bumps.  If you don't have paint, go over the glitter in polish, but be careful.  Polish is thicker so your bumps may not be as crisp, so it is very important to use thin coats.  Also it also doesn't give you as much time to play with it as it gets goopy quickly.

Finish off with a couple coats of your thinnest top coat to even everything out, and make it all pretty.  I say thin again so you can keep the bumps crisp.   NOTE: My SV has been watered down with thinner. I do this with old bottles and use them when I want to use SV but don't want the extra weight.  I find it works just as well but isn't thick.

And there you have it 3D Lego nails!!!

 

NOTE: You can actually tell in this pic that the pinky was done in all polish.  As it's a bit less crisp.

Hope my first tutorial wasn't a huge fail :D

Nail Polish Canada Nail Art Challenge. Week 2 - Decorations: Finally the perfect opportunity to do my half naked, sexy, Christmas, Merman nails.

So I meant to do these nail a couple days ago.  BUT as usual my laptop was messing up again.  This is probably old news on this blog, there always is something wrong with it.  I was lucky that this time I was able to resolve the problem in a somewhat timely manner, thanks to my friend who keeps me warm during the long winters night...the internet. 

So this week is the second in Nail Polish Canada's Holiday nail polish challenge.  This was actually really easy for me to choose what I wanted to do.  A few years back I remember seeing a company(Diamonds of the Sea) that made Christmas tree ornaments, and they had a whole series that is mainly different sexy mermen.  Amazing, I know.  While they are all tree ornaments I decided to stick close to the Christmas spirit and do Jingle Merman(Although Officer Ripped Merman was a close second).  The description of him on the website is as follows:

Jingle Merman Christmas Ornament joins the December Diamonds Merman Collection. Come sit on Santa's lap and let's talk about the first thing that pops up. Just saying'… that sounds like Jingle Bells to my ear.

Hahaha!!!


So for the nails I used everything from nail polish, to acrylic paint, to glitter.  My thumb and pinky are both part of his tail, my ring finger are his abs, middle finger his Santa hat, and finally my index finger says 'Been Nice?'.  I wanted to say 'Naughty' but I don't have the skills to write a word that long on my nails.

Anyways if you like that, please go over here and vote (varnishedvalkyrie.blogspot.ca) for this sexy merman.

Nail Polish Canada Nail Art Challenge. Week 1 - Snow: When all else fails, do a Doctor Who manicure

When I was invited to do Nail Polish Canada's nail art challenge I thought "Why not?"  Normally I don't do things like these because I loose interest quickly.  But since this is once a week for 3 weeks, I think I can do it.

This week's theme is 'Snow'.  Now I know what you are thinking.  And no they don't mean Snow, the Canadian reggae sensation.  They mean solid water that is 0° or less.  As we all know by now I hate snow, it's cold and it tastes funny.   I was less than inspired.  So I thought maybe I could connect something I liked to snow.  So I thought Doctor Who ---> Snowmen made from telepathic snow!  Perfect.   Although it is kind of funny because I actually am not of fan of the episode they were in(The Snowmen).  Thought it could have been better for a Christmas episode.  Hopefully this year will be more exciting with 11 regenerating.

To do this mani I started with a base of Butter London Big Smoke.  The rest was done using China Glaze Glittering Garland, Fairy Dust, and White Ice.  Along with a white Wet n Wild(Cant find a name), Essie Pretty Edgy and acrylic paint for the Snowman's teeth.

If you like this mani.  Head on over to Nail Polish Canada and vote for me here(Yup it's a challenge where you can win things.)  Just scroll down the drop down box till you reach varnishedvalkyrie.blogspot.ca.

Is there snow where you are?