Please welcome NotAPunkRocker! She’s a fellow geek, nail polish aficionado, and lover of blogging. Her blog recently underwent a massive overhaul, and it’s looking pretty fab. Check her out and send her buckets and buckets of rawr love!!
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I was supposed to be a scientist. Chemist, actually.
That is what all the testing said when I went through school. I was a math-science nerd. The idea of being in a laboratory appealed to a dorky chick like me. But that wasn’t where my heart was. I wanted to mix and create, but with paint and color instead of compounds and solutions.
Alas, I have zero artistic ability. My brother got the ability to draw; I inherited the ability to understand calculus. Today, I have a job in neither field. Science is cool, but art is still my true love. I go to the museum often to get lost in the works. Like a butterfly to flowers, color draws me in (and yes, I am also drawn to butterflies and flowers).
Persian Ceiling by Dale Chihuly
My son and I saw a Chihuly exhibit earlier this year. Bright, bold, abstract (but not too much so), gorgeous. The kid, a pretty good artist himself, was talking to me about how it was easy for him to draw, but he couldn’t see colors the way Chihuly or I could. I asked what he meant, but he didn’t say anything.
Instead, he pointed to my fingernails.
Four layers of blue and glitter polish later…
It seems like such a silly thing, nail polish, but it’s a way to have fun, be quirky sometimes and is easily changed.
One day I got hit with writer’s block and started posting my nail pics on my blog. Rara noticed one of these and wanted to see how I would interpret a look for her. Today I finally took on that challenge: coming up with a Rara-cure (Manisaur?).
The obvious choice would be to go with something that allowed me to draw the cute Rarasaur on my nails…but we already know I can’t draw (just take my word for it). Instead, I decided to do with my “interpretation” of Rara & Company. First, I gathered the colors:
Left to Right:
- LA Girl 3D Effects in Purple Effect. You can’t tell from this picture but it has a really pretty rainbow effect in the sun. Dazzling, like Rara!
- Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Gray Matter. I had to put this one in here…how can we have Rara without a nod to Grayson?
- Sinful Colors in Dream On. This is a neon, so wear white underneath and expect it to streak like mad. I did not choose this because I think Rara is a streaker or streaky, I just like how bright it is.
- Wet n Wild Fast Dry in….Orange. Creative, right?
- Fresh Paint in Alex’s Lemonade. The Lemonade polish smells like Pledge Furniture polish! (It does go away…eventually).
- Fresh Paint in Dragon Lady. Too obvious? This color, along with the yellow and orange represent Rarasaur herself.
I decided to use these for a tape-stripe look. First, I started with base colors:
Paint your nails the lightest color of the two you plan to use on your nails. Black and white? Paint white first. Red and green? Wait until Christmas, then choose something else anyway.
Next, the tape. I am sorry I did not get pictures of this, but it is simple enough. Wait until the base colors are dry. Seriously. Stop being impatient. Then, take some scotch tape (cheap, not the super sticky stuff) and put it on the part of your nail that you want to keep the base color. Do one hand at a time.
All taped up? Great! Now, polish the part of your nail not covered by tape. Then, gently yet swiftly, pull the tape off. Think bandaid without the pain. If you waited until your nails were completely dry, you should be golden. If not, then repeat the base coat step. We’ll wait…
If you did it somewhat correctly, you should end up with something like this:
Ignore the fact I already messed up a few of them. Oh yeah, and I added glitter to one.
So there you have it. My lines are jagged and my cuticles are hot mess. It isn’t the neatest look, and certainly not as nice as you can find on other nail blogs…but this look was created for a friend and is full of rawrLOVE and THAT is what makes it awesome!
All except the LA Girl ($3.95) are under or at 2 bucks each at Walgreen’s (neon and orange) or Five Below (yellow and green). I bought them myself, which is why they are relatively cheap.
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Isn’t this post the best thing ever? Now that we’re all feeling the love, and rolling around in fabulous colors, be sure to visit Punky at her bloggy home. I’d start here:
- http://notapunkrocker.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/six-months-and-a-ton-of-bricks/
- http://notapunkrocker.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/its-not-a-contest/
- http://notapunkrocker.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/back-to-the-spackle-again/
What would a manicure based on you look like?
