Heroes in a half shell and long lost loves - TMNT

When I saw there was another incarnation of one of my favourite cartoons of my (relative) youth, I knew I HAD to do some nail art to celebrate!  I can still name all four of them too, can you? (No googling!)
Although I'm a bit old school and much prefer the cuter version of the late '80's than the more 'realistic' looking ones of 2014.
I mean let's face it, there's nothing 'realistic' about four turtles living in a sewer, eating pizza and taking instruction from a rat!!?! lol Even so, it's still one of my favourite old cartoons and although I always enjoy doing my cartoon nails, this is definitely one of my favourite mani's I've done to date.


Polishes used:
OPI - 'Alpine Snow'
Orly - 'Iron Butterfly'
Glisten and Glow - 'HK Girl top coat'

There's method in my madness .... somewhere

On my white nails I started with their  heads, simply because I'm impatient and wanted to see how they would look and I still hadn't entirely decided what I was doing in the background - Pizza?Sewer bricks?Pizza?Sewer bricks?Ooh maybe a star burst?
Happy with my turtles I started experimenting (turned out I liked the sewer bricks best) and ended up entirely covering my base polish with my acrylic paints lol talk about doing things the hard way ;)

On the Orly nails I very carefully painted the new TMNT logo with acrylic paint. Considering how much my hands shake, I'm really pleased with how it turned out :D
I sealed everything in with two coats of My HK Girl top coat to help extend wear - especially where there's a lot of paint at the tips.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

(heroes in a half shell)

 Thanks so much for stopping by, have a wonderful day wherever you are :)

When all else fails ... Nail Art!

So I mentioned a while ago I was in the middle of trying to buy my house. It's all very complicated and stressful and it's getting very drawn out and I'm really not a very patient person, nor am I very good with not knowing what's happening where, when, why and how. Basically I don't handle stress very well or stress doesn't handle me very well, either way I've been a bit of a wreck. I've tried all sorts of different ways to relax and de-stress but my mind seems to want to ping back to catastrophising - that is totally a word by the way
Anyway, the only thing I have found that really seems to settle me down is ...






wait for it...







Nail Art! Well yeah, you kinda knew that was coming didn't you? I just get transported to another place when I'm painting. My breathing slows down, my jaw un-clenches and my mind clears of everything but what I'm doing right now. There's no sense of urgency to it, just slow careful strokes and then waiting for each layer to dry before moving on to the next. A forced stillness. Careful consideration of each line or dot, the concentration of painting with my non dominant hand so they both match. and the satisfaction when the final top coat glides on. The best kind of 'Therapy'

Here's what this week's therapy produced:

Inspired by Kimiko7878 on Instagram

 

The base polishes used in this design were Orly 'Iron Butterfly' and OPI 'A Grape Fit' with the details being added with my acrylic craft paints and my pure color 10 nail art brush. It was all finished with two coats of Glisten and Glow HK Girl top coat.

I really enjoyed painting this one, maybe I should do more florals?

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day wherever you are! :D

Me and you and a dog named Chester

At the moment I'm in the middle of applying for a mortgage to buy the house I live in. Well...... I already own the house I live in but it's a long story :/ Anyhoo  the bank are taking their sweet time making a decision, or at least letting me know what's going on with the process.
About the only thing that's been keeping me sane during this whole thing (and it may sound silly to some) has been my nail art.
The simple repetitive process of applying the polish, the forced calm while you wait for each coat to dry. Then the drowning out of the rest of the world as you concentrate on those tiny strokes that will (hopefully) become something beautiful and worthy of being grabbed and exclaimed about.
When I'm not painting my own nails I'm practicing on false nails, testing out new and different designs and techniques.
It's still Winter here in New Zealand, so during the day it's just me and my dog Chester

 inside by the fire having in depth conversations (he's more of a listener than a talker) solving the world's problems as I paint.
He usually gets the best spot in front of the fire, but I don't mind, my paints dry too fast there anyway ;)

This is what today's efforts have produced:

Over a white base I sponged a gradient of Essie 'Where's my chauffeur?' and 'Absolutely Shore' then added a coat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl top coat to blend. With my fine detail brush and acrylic paints I added my daisies first, then my swirled 'roses' and some little dots of babies breath to fill in the gaps. Two last coats  of Glisten and Glow HK Girl top coat to give it a smooth finish and a gorgeous shine!

I hope you're having a lovely day wherever you are! ♥