Mad About Nails: The Olympic Edition

 

Welcome to my brand-new feature!  I've had quite a few people comment on my nails in the past month and ask what I was using or wish I'd done a close-up so they could see better, etc., etc.  So recently when I was in NYC and some book bloggers were commenting on my nails, I had a realization:  Why not do a feature on nail polish?  It's not book-related (Unless you're wearing the new HUNGER GAMES-inspired line from China Glaze, but I'm not even going into how wrong that is...), but it's fun.  Plus, if I do this feature, I'll be more likely to re-paint my nails this week and less likely to let them chip their way to the bare bones (which would mean that I could see my nails...and if I see them, I want to bite them!).  What do you think?  I think I'm officially toeing the "too crazy" line now...

A little messy, but I never claimed to be an artist...
Plus, this is my first time really doing nail art like this!

If you haven't figured it out after all of the Olympic-related posts this week, I love the Olympics.  Every two years, I get excited when the Summer or Winter games come around and have favorite sports I watch during both.  I even watch sports that I wouldn't normally stop to otherwise watch.  If, on the rare occasion I'm bored and flipping through the TV and find ice skating or gymnastics on, I'll probably stop and watch it, but I really don't do this with any other sport...except during the Olympics.  Why? I don't know. *shrug*  It's just the way it is.

Anyway, to celebrate the Olympics, I decided to forgo the nail stamping I'd been looking forward to and give myself an Olympics-inspired manicure instead.  I knew I wanted the five Olympic rings in the design, but wasn't sure what else to do.  I turned to YouTube and watched a few different videos.  I got the idea for the Union Jack and the stripes from Pixie Polish's Channel and the French nails from Nicki's Nail Art Channel. I'm really glad I looked at the videos because the rings are really hard to do when you don't have nail art polish in most of the colors you need or art brushes (Although today I DID order the 15-piece nail art brush kit from MASH on Amazon for only $9.99 along with a couple of bargain books I found to get free shipping, so I'll have brushes soon!!!), so the rings (and stripes) took longer than the French nails and the Union Jack, surprisingly!

YouTube Link

This hand looks messier because I can't really
write well with my left hand!

I started off with ULTA's salon formula Base Coat because I knew the glitter polish and the dark blue would wereck my nails.  I waited a couple of minutes for that to dry, then painted my thumbs and pinkies with Wet n Wild Wild Shine in "French White Crème" (which was a birthday present along with my nail stamping kit...I can't wait to try this out!), then put a base coat of ULTA Professional in "Indigo" from the ULTA Denim Blues Collection kit that came out in 2010 (no longer available, at least in this kit).  I polished my remaining fingers with a Sally Girl clear glitter polish I picked up last week at Sally's Beauty Supply.

Starting with the Union Jack, I used a white striping polish in So Easy Stripe Rite that I picked up a couple of years ago from Sally's Beauty Supply. When I did the red, I used a glittery red So Easy Stripe Rite, also from Sally's.  All the rest of the nails using red were done with China Glaze's "Phat Santa."  Any other time you see white, it's either the Wet n Wild or the Striper; I used both throughout as needed to hide mistakes.  The black I used was also received for my birthday for nail stamping purposes,  Wet n Wild Wild Shine in "Black Crème."  The yellow I used, ULTA's "Zoom!" from the Pop Aganda kit (still available for sale), is a little too sheer and glittery, but I didn't have anything opaque, so I made do.  For the green, I didn't have a moderate green, only dark, pale, lime, aqua, etc.  I mixed together a few drops of "Wham!" from ULTA's Pop Aganda kit and Ultra Pro Salon Formula in "Emerald City" to get the green you see on my nails.

Most nail polish used EVER? Maybe!

MASH Marbleizing Dotting
Tool Pen Set from Amazon

When I created the rings and stripes, I used the MASH 5 X 2 Way Marbleizing Dotting Tool Pen Set for Nail Art Manicure Pedicure that I received as a birthday present (Amazon sells the 5-pack for $4.45!).  I used the thin side to create my stripes and circles (Because, again, I didn't have striping polishes or brushes), then used one of the thicker dotting sides to make the dotted pattern on my French nails.

I let everything dry for at least 30 minutes before applying OPI Top Coat to make sure my designs wouldn't smear.

It took ten bottles of nail polish (not counting the base and top polishes) to bring this design together.  I don't think I've ever used so much at one time before.  This took FOREVER to do, and I won't do something like this all the time, but I had fun, and that's what counts, right?

 Is anyone else obsessed with nail polish? What are you wearing right now?