Arg.

I tried twice, but neither of my attempts at an Ultimate Geek Manicure turned out the way I had them in my head. It turns out that it is harder than expected to replicate fabric in nail polish.

The first time (the manicure that my camera ate) I made my pinky look embroidered, painted quilt blogs on my thumb and ring finger, and attempted to make index and middle fingers appear knitted. It didn't turn out so well. So for the redo, I used a different method of representing the knitting (which just became a blurry mess as soon as I put on my top coat) and thought, "hey, a doticure would be a great way to approximate a colorwork chart!" but it turns out it just looks like a doticure:

So I guess this one falls into the category of "fail."

It's been a lot of fun doing the Geek Challenge with everyone. What do you say we try again next year?

Geek Nail Challenge: Games and Gaming

Well. I kind of fell off the blogging wagon the past couple of weeks, didn't I?

I've been working on several projects lately that are just not polish friendly, even with Seche Vite to speed things up (I'll have more about that on my personal blog in a couple of weeks). In addition, I've been having some nail problems. As I've mentioned before, I've been battling peeling nails all summer. I've tried vitamins, nail treatments, diet changes, everything I can think of. I've had a little bit of improvement, but I think that what they really need is to not be coated in varnish for a while, so I'm giving my nails a couple of days every week where they can breathe. I did find a base coat/treatment that seems to be working pretty well, but I want to give it another week or two before I talk about it, just to make sure it works in the long run. Hopefully, I can kick this soon. I miss my long nails!

This week's manicure is actually a redux of my very first nail art, the one that sent everything else downhill. Back then I was just fooling around with polishes and pens, I had a very limited pallet, and the idea of not flooding my cuticles was a foreign concept, but I had so much fun doing it and even though the white wasn't nearly as opaque as I wanted (that was about thirty layers with a Claire's Nail Art Pen, by the way), I was very pleased with it.

Colors Used:
White: Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party"
Yellow: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lightening"
Blue: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By"
Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime"
Black: Claire's Nail Art Pen
Red: Pure Ice "Siren"

I started playing Mario when I was eight or ten on a black and white gameboy pocket that belonged to a friend, and have been hooked ever since. It is still not only my favorite game, but one of the few I actually play (other than Arctic Thunder, Mortal Kombat, and Twisted Metal). I actually have a collection of the candy tins you see around gaming stores and Hot Topic, but they are at my parent's house currently, since shelf space is at a premium in our place.
Can I just say that you ladies do awesome work? I am continually floored by the designs I've been seeing as part of this challenge. If you haven't yet, check out some of them below.

Geek Nail Challenge: TV and Movies

You know when you get really excited about doing something, and then when the time comes to do it you just draw a complete and total blank?

That was me this week.

Now don't get me wrong, I love all sorts of geeky shows and films--Joss Whedon can do no wrong in this house, and I love the comic book movies being made. When I manage to catch Big Bang Theory in the break room at work, it makes my day. But I just couldn't find a theme that felt right.

And then I had a Duh moment.

Because really, can you get any geekier than spaceships and Klingons?
I decided to go original Star Trek on this one, even though "my" Trek is actually Next Generation. I remember being in about third or fourth grade, sitting on the floor of our living room with my mom on the couch, both of us working on crochet projects during a cold, wet Ohio winter that made outside extremely unpleasant.
I am inordinately pleased with the way this came out. My roommate just rolled her eyes. I can't wait to show this off to a friend at work (who works at StarBase Columbus) and will properly appreciate it.

Colors used:
Red: Pure Ice "Siren"
Yellow: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "lightening"
Blue: Essie "Smooth Sailing"
Black: Claire's Nail art pen
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Wondering why McCoy and Spock are wearing glitter? Mostly, it's because I can't find my go-to blue at the moment. But also, this is closer to the actual color of the costumes. And who doesn't get a giggle out of the idea of the two of them wearing glitter?

Yellow is Kirk, obviously.

Wondering who the Redshirts are?

Does it really matter? They won't be around for very long, anyway.

Live long and polish.

Banananananana

BATMAN!

I had to do two. You know this, right?

I decided to go a little more subtle for this one:

I painted each nail black (Pure Ice "Touch me Here"), then sponged on a combination of black, purple (Wet n Wild "On a Trip"), silver (Wet n Wild "Metalica", and white (Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party").

For the Bat signal, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Night Lights" with a couple drops of "Porcelain Party" added for opacity, and drew it on with a toothpick. Once it was dry, I did add a thin layer of glow in the dark acrylic paint, just where the grey is (note to self: top coat keeps glow in the dark paint from charging/glowing).

Geek Nail Challenge: Commence!

Yay! Today is the first day of the Geek Nail Challenge, which is all about comics and manga!

I was super excited about this one, since I've had this particular manicure in my head for a while.

Sailor Moon!

Sadly, my execution did not live up to my expectations (entirely my own fault and not that of the polish).

For those not in the know, those are the symbols/colors that represent each of the Sailor Scouts--the Inner Seishi, at least (5 main characters).

And because you know I love my theme songs, even if they get butchered in translation:



Sailor Moon was my first anime. I remember being five or six and sneaking into the living room at 6:30 in the morning on Saturdays to watch it while my parents were asleep. I had to be really quiet because my mom was a light sleeper and she hated Sailor Moon--still does. She thought Usagi--or Serena, as I knew her then--was a poor role model for young girls because she cried all the time. I disagree, especially since I'm kind of a crybaby myself, even now.

Please note the rating in the corner of the screen. For those unfamiliar with American TV ratings, "Y7" means that is considered appropriate for "Youths 7 and older".

*Cough* Obviously, a LOT got cut when SM made it's way here from Japan. Namely an entire season.

And how exciting is it that the manga is being released in the US, AND there's a reboot of the anime in the works? I'm totally pumped about this.


Colors used:
Pure Ice "Touch Me Here" (black)
Sally Hansen Insta-dri "Lightening" (yellow), "Blue By" (Blue), and "Just in Lime" (Green)
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear "Sun Kissed" (orange)
Pure Ice "Siren" (red)

I was sort of hard on my nails after doing this mani, and the color started to chip before I got to take pictures. While I'm happy with the way my left hand turned out (mostly), My right hand looks like crap. I can't draw with my left hand, at all.

I'll try to do another manga/comic mani for later this week--hopefully with better luck!

Administrative

For those keeping track, Monday is the first day of the Geek Nail Challenge. Several people have already signed up, and I will be sending them emails with more information this weekend. I have a family reunion on Saturday, so the emails will likely go out some time late on Sunday. I'll try to get them out sooner, but I don't know what my schedule looks like quite yet.

We'll be using Inlinkz to share photos, just like for the Summer Fun challenge. That means when I send you the email, there will be a link to another site. On that site will be a couple of links/codes that you can paste into the relevant blog posts, which will show other people's manicures, and will enable you to add your own.

Feel free do do as many manis as you want--Since I'm only doing one topic per week, you can take it as far (or make it as simple) as you would like. The point is to have fun geeking out together!

If you don't receive your email by 10 pm eastern time on Sunday, make sure that you check your spam folder since that first email will be sent out as a bulk email. My email screen name is KnotMagickKnitter (from my other blog), so keep an eye out for it!

See you next week!

Geek Nail Challenge

I just wanted to remind everyone about the Geek Nail Challenge:

Week 1: Comics and Animation
My Little Pony? Naruto? Batman? What tickles your geeky bone?

Week 2: Television and Movies
From the Lord of the Rings to Big Bang Theory, celebrate the nerdy side of Hollywood.

Week 3: Games and Gaming
It doesn't matter if you prefer Alice or D&D, or if Trivial Pursuit is more your speed. It's all about having fun!

Week 4: Ultimate Geek
We all have things we love--books, movies, games--but what is it that makes you a geek? Are you a math nerd? A science geek? Or are you just a fan of other geeks? (P.S. Nail polish is chemistry. Chemistry is science. It totally counts for geekdom!)

Since each week has a theme, you can post one manicure on Monday (or Friday, or whenever is convenient) or, if you're like me and having trouble choosing just one thing, you can post seven manicures (one every day!) if that floats your boat.

If you would like to sign up, please leave a comment here with a way that I can contact you!

Lux

I meant to post yesterday, but things kind of fell apart on me. I wound up spending twelve hours at my parent's house (sans laptop) doing laundry (normally it takes 6-8). No blogging or nail polish-ing, but I did do a lot of reading and finished a knitting project.

I had to trim my nails way down earlier this week, so to make myself feel a little better, I painted what was left with some new Essie:

These are two of the colors I found at Marshalls last week: "Luxedo," and then I went against my natural inclination and got "Sequin Sash."

Normally I'm not one for anything in the sheer, gold, or shimmer families, but I like this one for layering. I should have done two coats of it though, to make it pop just a little more.


"Luxedo" is a deep, dark grape-plum color in the bottle. On the nail, it can look anywhere from dark purple to burgundy to black depending on the lighting.

It went on pretty easily, but I discovered that some nails required a third coat to even them out (in this case, the middle and index fingers). Two did a pretty good job in most cases, but I hate having any inconsistencies in the color.


"Sequin Sash" is warm, sheer gold shimmer with just a pinch of microglitter thrown in. It's not as intense of a shimmer as the Cover Girl "Rose Quartz" that I used on my tropical drinks mani, but that doesn't bother me.

Hopefully, now I can get back on track. I'll probably skip a couple of the Summer Fun challenges, though, because honestly I've been drawing a blank on the last couple of prompts.

But never fear, I've got other stuff planned.

P.S. Have you signed up for the Geek Challenge yet?