Inspriation Shots

Dang there are some talented ladies out there!

Have you seen the nail art in Katy Perry's Wide Awake video? Most of it is near the end, but the visuals for the whole thing are pretty cool:

Check out this Davy Jones manicure I found on Deviant Art.

Canadian Nail Fanatic made my inner goth squee a bit with this stamped manicure, and for my inner girly girl there's these butterflies from Clothes, Cosmetics, and Chat.

Of course, Nailasaurus had to up the ante with her contribution to this week's Heroes and Villians challenge with her Queen of Hearts theme, and she certainly wasn't kidding with her Perfect Paisley, but I think that Charlotte's Nails kind of trumped us all. Speaking of freehand, did you see this adorable Tucan?

This red and white manicure from Canadian Nail Fanatic is 100% classy. I love the glitter tips and the stamping!

Last, does anyone follow the Cosmo youtube channel? I don't, but I came across this video about nail art this week. They're all pretty basic. And in the world of nail blogging, this is all old news, right? Still, it's kind of cool to see it in the "news."

Heroes vs Villians #6: Sleeping Beauty

Keeping with the gradient theme, I tried to to another one. This time, it didn't turn out quite so well. I got kind of a cool effect, but I was sort of pissed off when I was working on it and I might have taken it out on the nail polish.

I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Fuchsia Power for the base, and Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Blue By for the gradient.

Note to self: Don't take out your frustrations on your manicure.
I have the same complaint about Fuchsia Power that I do about the entire Xtreme Wear line: It's quite sheer and takes forever to dry. There are at least two coats in these photos. I think on some of my nails (mainly on the right hand, though) I did a third coat just before doing the gradient because it was too streaky and I could still see nail through it.


It also didn't mix very well with the blue for some reason, which made the application very difficult. In the end I did a layer of blended color, followed by one where I just sponged on blue by itself. To top it off, I had tip wear and chips within 24 hours, even with a top coat. Grr.

I think I'm just going to swatch for the rest of this week.