nails & whales

A manicure that's actually still on my nails as I type this post! Imagine that.

Anyways, we had regionals for Ocean Science Bowl – or Osci, because OSB is too long – last Saturday. Osci is an awesome ocean-flavored quiz-style competition that I've been participating in my entire high school career; it's probably the only activity I've actively pursued all four years. Textbook cramming and team practices aside, I knew I wouldn't be fully ready without a similarly ocean-flavored manicure. And so I designed one.



To be honest, I wasn't all that happy with it, and I'm still not. But, luckily, the actual competition went far better. We have nationals coming up in roughly one and a half months – a second chance! I've already got a far sicker idea down for that. ;) I was experiencing massive manicurist's block while trying to come up with these designs, so I just slapped on five random patterns and called it a day.

• Thumb: Aqua-teal metallic with randomly sponged-on glitter polishes + mermaid scale design
• Index: A beach scene!
• Middle: Decided to let the gorgeous Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe pull most of the work here. Added on a few stars. Ugh.
• Ring: A generous dusting of loose craft holographic glitter, and a billion coats of topcoat.
• Pinky: The Mt. Fuji portion of The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. Considering a full Great Wave mani...

I definitely wasn't feeling the color composition/general extreme randomness of this manicure, but oh well! Bigger, better things to look forward to in the future. Have a poorly taken car sunlight pic anyways. (Taken one week after manicure creation... Hence the growth. :( )



And a grainy progress pic, because why not. The pinky nail originally started out as a champagne metallic nail with brushed on metallic aqua and teal – I just kind of took my nail art brush and ran with it.

• Thumb:
• GAP Mermaid - metallic teal (shown on thumb in picture above)
• Wet 'N Wild Black Creme
• Mermaid glitters:
• Bon Bons [unnamed] - iridescent glitter in sheer aqua base
• China Glaze Dorothy Who? - blue jelly base with silver microglitter
• Color Club Beyond The Mistletoe - dense mint and holographic glitter in clear base
• Del Sol VIP - holographic + silver glitter in clear -> red base
• F21 Multi Glitter - green & aqua hex + holographic glitter in clear base
• OPI Get Your Number - sky blue glitter Liquid Sand
• Orly Rococo-A-Go-Go - burgundy with gold glass fleck
• Pure Ice Rio - sheer pink with blue shimmer

• Index:
• Essie Bouncer, It's Me - sheer blue neon
• Essie Go Overboard - dark teal creme
• Essie Mint Candy Apple - pale mint/aqua creme
• Julep Hope - satin-finish white creme
• Orly Viridian Vinyl - leather/matte finish teal creme
• Sinful Colors Rise and Shine - matte teal neon
• Zoya Charlotte - greige creme
• Zoya Severine - champagne/gold metallic

• Middle:
• Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe - navy jelly with turquoise & green hex, turquoise microglitter
• Scherer Petites Sapphire - dark navy with faint silver shimmer

• Ring: 
• Essie Beach Bum Blu - light blue metallic/frost
• Loose turquoise holographic hex craft glitter

• Pinky:
• Color Club [unnamed] - sheer turquoise neon
• Essie Beach Bum Blu
• Forever 21 Overcast - sheer grey with subtle silver shimmer
• Julep Char - dark ultramarine/navy creme
• Julep Hope
• Zoya Severine

• Right hand:
• Essie Lots of Lux - textured cobalt with rainbow shimmer (mica?)