NOTD: Hanukkah nails! (2/?)

Hello again and happy ongoing holiday! Today I made dreidel inspired nails, I painted each of the letters of the dreidel in acrylic paint over a brown/beige watermarble that is meant to evoke the look of a wood grain.

For reference, here is a dreidel:

The letters on the dreidel are as follows:

• נ (nun)- this stands for the word נס (nes), which means "miracle"
• ג (gimmel)- this stands for the word גדול (gadol), which means "great" or "big"
• ה (heh/hey)- this stands for the word היה (hayah), which means "occured" or "happened"
• ש\פ (shin or pey) which either stand for שם (sham), which means "there" or פה (po), which means "here". The usage of ש vs פ depends on whether you are celebrating inside or outside Israel,

Together, they stand for the prase "A great miracle occured here/there"

NOTD: Coooooookkkkkkiiiiieeeeeee!!!

I think this might be the fastest turnaround I've ever done on a post, and that includes 31DC (I usually try to run a day or three early so that I have time to prepare posts). I painted my nails, photographed, and edited everything within a span of three hours for this post! I had originally done this design yesterday, but the photos were pretty terrible because of the overcast weather, and this morning I redid them because I had pretty bad tip wear.

I did these nails as part of a challenge posted in a Facebook nail art group I'm in, where the theme was "Matte + Glossy". I dunno what brought cookies to mind, but I decided to run with it! I made the base of the cookie matte, and then I added drops of glossy top coat over the chocolate chips, which also made them a little bit bumpy, adding even more realism! And then of course, I had to make a simple Cookie Monster accent :D

Polishes used:
Bourjois- In The Navy (blue base)
perfect Chic- Frost (cookie base)
Careline- Hot Chocolate (brown outline)
Superficially Colorful- Mud Slide (chocolate chips)
Ga-de- Whitest White
LeChat- Black Magic
Golden Rose matte top coat

#31DC2015 Day 25- Inspired by Fashion

You know, I think this is the third time in this challenge where I freehanded something that I really should have used a stamping plate for. 2015, the year I was a complete masochist and picked out really difficult (for me) ideas for every. single. nail art challenge.

Side note: I was surprised that I didn't see a single nail art for Inside Out on day 23!! To be honest, the only reason why I didn't do Inside Out was because I thought it would be the obvious choice! Well... I'll do it next year. And with my luck, next year like half of the entries will be Inside Out :3

The fashion I was inspired by was Steampunk. You can't really tell so well under the gears, but I did a saran wrap mani of two different browns as a base, to give it a more antique and worn look. The gears were done with acrylic paint and a paintbrush, except for the clock face, which was nail polish. I tried it glossy first, but I ended up liking it WAY better matte. I'm pretty happy with this mani, but I'm SUPER pleased with how my middle finger came out!

Polishes used:

Orly- Golden Maharaja (darker brown shimmer)

L'oreal Paris- Mysterious Icon (lighter brown shimmer)

il makiage- Pearl Jam (clock face)

An InLinkz Link-up

NOTD: Holo stamping over brown

You know, I didn't used to be a fan of brown nails (is that gramattically correct? I can't think of a better way to phrase it but it feels off for some reason). But then I discovered the world of brown shimmer. Take, for example, Mud Slide by Superficially colorful- a gorgeous, rich, earthy brown that I love having on my fingertips as often as possible. For this mani I stamped over it with some holos and added some rhinestones, to complete the jewel-like effect I get from this color.

Colors used:
Superficially Colorful- Mud Slide (brown)
Color Club Halo Hues- Cherubic (stamping)
Color Club Halo Hues- Cosmic Fate (accent dots)
Rhinestones from Ebay

NOTD: Subtle brown gradient

This is a quick little mani I created using Superficially Colorful's Mud Slide and  Ga-De Tangerine Garnet. I just the brush from the bottle to make the gradient. I got a whole bunch of Slacquer polishes lately, I've got some swatches waiting to be watermarked in my drafts folders so I'll put them up here soon! 

31DC2014 Day 26- Inspired by a pattern

I took today's inspiration from a very personal place. For my 20th birthday, my dad got me two strings of beautiful pearls- one freshwater and one saltwater- during a business trip he took to Beijing. I've worn both strands of pearls many times since. Today's art is inspired by the little satchel he brought me the pearls in- a beautiful burgundy color embroidered with elaborate gold and cushioned on the inside to keep the pearls safe. In the nearly  decade since the satchel has gotten a little frayed, but it still is very dear to me. Since I queued the posts for the high holidays in advance, I will no longer have this art on by the time this post propagates, but there's a high likelihood that I'm wearing one of the strings of pearls :)

(I couldn't find an exact match to the burgundy, so this is my closest  shade!)

I'd also like to note that this post officially means that I've gotten further in 31DC than last year, woo!

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC2013 catch up- 22, 23, and 24

Welp. There's not much I can say about this. My cat and the geek convention and the holiday have really done a number on my ability to keep up with this challenge. I still managed to make nail art for the last three days though! Without much commentary, here they are:

Inspired by a song- Baba Yetu, from the soundtrack of Civilization 4- a computer game that I haven't played, but my god is the soundtrack incredible. Baba Yetu is the first track on the soundtrack. The lyrics themselves are actually the Lord's Prayer translated into Swahili, but the song represents dawn.

These are fun, but they are actually my least favorite of this entry. The next two are some of my favorite art ever, which is more the pity since this is so late, and no one will see them in the inlinkz widget.

Inspired by a movie: Wall-E. My favorite movie of all time! I tried it glossy at first, but it was hard to see the designs through the glare of the lamp light so I tried matteifying it. I like it both ways, so I added photos of both.

Inspired by a book- Fox in Socks. I've been looking for an excuse to use flocking powder for some time, and this was the perfect opening. I have this book practically memorized- I adored listening to the tongue twisters as a child, and at this point I can recite it extremely quickly.

I'm including the Inlinkz for day 24, but be sure to check out others too!

31DC2013 Day 13- Animal print

I have a confession to make- I don't like animal print. Not leopard, not zebra, not anything. Hanna, on the other hand, had a field day and ended up doing skittles with a different animal print on each nail, so she goes first!

From left to right: Tree frog, turtle shell, Nemo (her pet dog, and she actually used fur he shed as flocking powder. Hannah is kind of nuts), and peacock feather. All freehanded.

I decided to forgo the traditional style of animal print and made myself calico claws.

I started with an off-white base, and then sponged random combinations of calico-like colors onto my nails, and then I went over it with a paintbrush dipped in acetone to achieve a fur-like look. Topped off with a matte top coat and viola! Calico nails.

These were inspired by my family's calico cats:

This was Chanla- our first cat. Unfortunately she passed away, but she left us with her daughter.

This is Tipsy. Who got her name from being a very cross-eyed and clumsy kitten, even more so than most kittens. She used to trip over her own feet regularly. Now she is a grown up and much more sedate lady, she's about middle-aged by cat lifespans. Still as gorgeous as ever, though!

For links to other blogs participating in today's challenge, click the jump!

NOTD: So it turns out you can stamp with acrylic paint...

Weird, huh? Depending on the paint the result will usually be a little sheer, but it's good for when you're going for a subtler effect, like here.

מסתבר שאפשר להשתמש בצבעי אקריל לחותמות ציפורנים- מוזר, לא? זה בד"כ יוצא קצת שקוף, תלוי לפי הצבע, אבל זה טוב כשרוצים ללכת על מראה יותר עדין, כמו כאן.

צבעים ששומשו Colors used:
L'oreal Color Riche- Mysterious Icon
Gold acrylic paint

I rarely indulge in the L'oreal Color Riche nail polish, since the bottles are tiny, but I saw this beauty on the shelf and I couldn't just leave it there! I love that this color is almost indescribable- is it a super tarnished copper? Is it brown with a serious gold shimmer? It's hard to pin down exactly, but it looks both antique and edgy and I may have to buy a second bottle because I could go through this very easily.

אני כמעת ולא קונה מלקים לוריאל קולור ריש בגלל גודל המאכזב של הבקבוקים שלהם, אבל ראיתי את הצבע המדהים הזה ולא הייתי מסוגלת להשאיר אותו במדף! אני מתה על זה שאי אפשר ממש לתאר את הצבע- הוא נחושת מוכתם? חום עם נצנוץ זהב? קשה לדייק איתו, אבל זה איכשהו גם מראה עתיק וגם מאוד מודרני בו זמנית. יש מצב שאני אפילו אקנה בקבוק שני, כי אני לא רוצה שזה יגמר לי.

I used a BundleMonster plate for this- BM201 (yes, I got a BundleMonster set! I haven't posted about that, have I?)

Reeeeeally quick update

Just checking in to let y'all know that texture polish is apparently something I can tolerate on my fingers. I got myself OPI What Wizardry Is This as a paycheck reward, although I was leery of trying out texture polishes because I couldn't cope with rhinestones. Apparently this I can deal with!

And it's pretty, to boot. I don't have my camera with me, but for good swatch photos I'm always going to recommend Swatch And Learn because she is my favorite polish blogger.

See ya!