#2 Finger Painted Contest- Dromedary Caravan

Hello everyone!

This is part 2 of my Finger Painted Contest series. We are now moving from the South Pole (entry #1) to Africa.  Now we have reached the Sahara desert, as you hopefully can see from the photos. Here is my entry #2:

Entry # 2 from Lani

Entry # 2 from Lani

On all nails there are dromedary camels walking (and carrying stuff on their hump), sand dunes, and date palm trees. On the thumb I painted a man who walks with a dromedary on a leash.

Entry # 2 from Lani

My inspiration: A photo cut out of a calendar that I got for Christmas, with photos from the desert of south Tunisia. You can see the photo below. Memories after riding dromedary a long time ago.










(I don't know the name of the photographer.)

Nail polish used:

Orlane: #91 (dark gold)
Missha: HGR #01 (green)
OPI: Lady in Black (black)
Deborah Lippmann: Boom Boom Pow (gold glitter)
IsaDora: #852 Metal Mystery (copper-brown magnetic) with wave pattern magnet

Cult Nails: Get It On (base coat)
Cult Nails: Wicked Fast (topcoat)

Entry # 2 from Lani

I had hoped to get some more manicures ready. I had tons of ideas, but it was more difficult than I had expected. I actually made four more manicures, but they didn't look good on the photos. And now there is no more time for the other animals I had been thinking about. So I hope Lexi will have the same theme in her next competition! It was such a fun theme.


Lani

#1 Finger Painted Contest- Emperor Penguins

Hello everyone!

Finger Painted is celebrating 400 followers with a nail art contest and a giveaway. What's very special about this contest is that we can enter as many times as we like! So this is my entry #1.

The theme is anything safari/ jungle/ animal inspired. I really liked the theme, and it has made me think and think. I've had very many ideas, but it was more difficult to paint on my nails than I had expected. So my first entry is one I made in April for Penguin Day:

Entry #1 from Lani

Entry #1 from Lani

These are emperor penguins. The ones with yellow on their necks are grown ups, the one swimming is a juvenile, and the grey ones are chicks.

In this competition we are asked to tell about our inspiration.

My inspiration: I have seen the movie "March of the Penguins", some YouTube videos like the one about Lola who lived in Japan, and the story about Happy Feet who was saved from a beach in New Zealand. To draw these penguins I looked at some photos.

Thank you Lexi for having this contest/ giveaway! Congratulations on getting 400 followers!


Lani

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

Hello everyone!

(If the photos appear to be too far to the right, please use Google Chrome!)

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

Today I just want to show you what I was wearing in a birthday on Friday. I had a very limited time to get ready, so please don't look at the scratches and the too quick clean- up. But I liked this "dark purple with flakies look" so much that I took some photos of it when I came home.

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

I was going to wear a pink top and white trousers. I had thought about wearing a pink nail polish, but not that eye catching, perhaps just a medium pink like GOSH Bubble Gum. But instead I decided to wear Cult Nails Seduction over Deborah Lippmann's Private Dancer, because I feel comfortable wearing purple, and thought the pink/ red flakies in Seduction would match the top.

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

I had prepared my nails with black, to try to make an animal themed nail art entry. But I didn't get time for that and the other things I had planned. And then I got a chance to meet my brother, whom I hadn't seen for a while. So to save time I just put one coat of Private Dancer over the black I was wearing, and ran out of the house to meet him. I realised that my right hand looked really bad, and that I would have to redo it before the birthday, but I didn't have time to change both hands. I also didn't have time to do 2 coats of black (OPI Lady in Black), but managed to make the right hand look quite similar to the left, using H&M Hello Kitty "I love Candy", Private Dancer and Seduction, although it didn't get as dark as the left hand. I was so stressed that I can't remember if I put an extra coat of Private Dancer on my left hand. But I layered Seduction over it, cleaned up around the nails as fast as I could, and slapped on Wicked Fast, and was luckily able to change cloths without ruining my manicure. I actually saw that the polish on one nail had moved a little, and looked wrinkly, but managed to drag it into place. Anyway, you 'll just see the left hand in this post.

Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer, Cult Nails Seduction (middle), OPI Lady in Black

OPI: "Lady in Black"
Deborah Lippmann: "Private Dancer"
Cult Nails: "Seduction"
and Cult Nails base- and top coat ("Get It On" and "Wicked Fast").

Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer, Cult Nails Seduction, OPI Lady in Black

For those of you who are not familiar with these polishes, I'll tell a bit about them:

OPI: Lady in Black: black cream. I used 2 coats to get it opaque, and a third to make the surface more even. In addition I had to use a top coat to make the surface look nice and even. I bought it on sale in January, and it's my only black cream nail polish. I use it as a base, if I need a black base for nail art or something.

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

Deborah Lippmann: Private Dancer: purple multichrome. It is sheer, so I have usually used 3 coats. But it's not as sheer as the Ozotic mulitchromes. But this time, when I tried it over black, one coat made a dark very beautiful purple. My nails look as if I have put purple aluminium foil on them. (Not that I've seen that anywhere.) You can use Private Dancer over black if you want to achieve a darker color, and over black or similar colors to use fewer coats of polish. But I also like Private Dancer on its own. I have used it some times, but struggle to capture the color with my camera. I have read many descriptions of the color shift, but on its own, I find that it changes from purple to purple- brown. And the color looks more toned down in the evening or inside. One of the times that I was wearing it on its own, I stopped to look at some polishes, and a manicurist who worked there said my nail polish looked like a chameleon, and asked what I was wearing, and asked all her colleagues to get up and look at my nails. I didn't expect to get that much attention... The green flakies in Seduction looks fantastic over private Dancer, so I think I will try a blue/ green flakie over it next time. Private Dancer was released this spring together with two other mirrored chromes, and you can see them together on a nail wheel in my post about what I bought in April. If you want to see comparison bottle- photos, you'll find them there too.

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

The most beautiful way to wear Seduction that I've seen so far, is as a base for butterfly- inspired nails. I would like to try that some time. Here you can see it done at Sincerely Stephanie. I also want to try to paint black tiger stripes over Private Dancer some time. That also looked very beautiful. Here you can see that done at Set In Lacquer.

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

I don't know if you've noticed, but my pinkie nail looks nearly broken. I had a little accident when I  put on new sheets. It hurt a lot then, and it felt as if the whole nail got bent.

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

Now I've written much more than I had planned to do... I think it's time to stop. Here are the photos I took yesterday:

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

It was harder to get the camera to photograph the purple color in daylight. The color looks more blue on these photos than in real life.

OPI Lady in Black+ Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer+ Cult Nails Seduction

Lani

Dark magnetic with pink or green shimmer: IsaDora #855 Northern Light

Hello everyone!

(If the photos appear to be too far to the right, please use Google Chrome)

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

After the solar storm about two weeks ago, they said on the news that it could be possible to see northern lights (aurora borealis) even further south than normal. So I painted my nails with IsaDora #855 "Northern Lights" on the 14th of July. I hoped to be able to photograph the nail polish with the sky full of northern lights as a background. Every night for some days I looked up at the sky, on both sides of the house, but there was nothing special to see...

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

The polish Northern Lights has the same colors as the sky with northern lights (or southern lights). It is very dark, with green and pink. Most of the time you can see the pink shimmer. Sometimes the pink shimmer shifts to green, especially in the shade or inside in low light. And then it isn't easy to photograph. And sometimes I couldn't see any shimmer. The sun really made the red shimmer visible.

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

As you can see on the photos, the darkness of the polish also varied a bit.

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

The two photos below showes the green shimmer. It's possible to click on the picture to make it bigger.

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

I wanted to try all the four IsaDora magnets. Both to see if they were equally strong, and to do something new (to me). So now you can see which one you like best, and which patterns make the nail look longer, wider, and so on.

IsaDora #855 Northern Light

As I have mentioned earlier, the IsaDora magnetics are supposed to be one- coaters. And this one is. Or maybe I've just learned how much polish to put on each nail... If you experience bold spots, try to put one more coat of polish on, and use the magnet again.




















If you want to see the magnets, there is a photo in my latest haul post. I have written about IsaDora's magnetic nail polishes and how they work in the post about the green one, IsaDora #854 Opposites Attract.

Lani