Hugs for Emily - Neon Blocked Ikat Nail Art

Today's nail art is inspired by the talented and kind Emily from Very Emily. Emily has been going through a tough time lately, so a few of her blogger friends got together to show our support by taking inspiration from one of her manicures. Though I wish I could do more from across the world, I wanted her to know that we all care about her and will be there for her.

For my look, I was inspired by Emily's Summer Ikat Nails. I added a twist to it, doing my neon blocking horizontally rather than vertically, and throwing in some black and white splatter studs.

Nail polishes and materials used:
OPI Angel With a Leadfoot
American Apparel Hassid
Floss Gloss Con Limon
Serum No. 5 Splatter Studs

The neon blocking was painted freehand over the white base, and then I added the ikat print, carefully lining it up with the white sections only. I used topcoat to adhere the studs, and sealed them in with an additional layer.

I enjoyed doing this look, and Sean was a huge fan of the finished effect. I think in the end, I prefer Emily's vertical blocking, though I certainly do like how mine turned out too.

If you'd like to check out the other bloggers sending hugs to Emily, they are Wondrously Polished, The Nail Polish Challenge, Love. Varnish, chocolate, and more..., One Nail To Rule Them All, Nail Polish Society, Paulina's Passions, The Lacquerologist, and The Nailasaurus.

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Undone (The Sweater Song) Nail Art

If you want to destroy my sweater, hold this thread as I walk away...

Today's 31 Day Challenge prompt is "inspired by a song." I had a lot of ideas knocking around in my brain, including stormclouds with male symbols raining out of them (It's Raining Men - get it?), but ended up going with a literal representation of the lyrics in Weezer's Undone - The Sweater Song. I did a minimal, sketchy style, and though I wasn't crazy about it at first, it's really started to grow on me!

Nail polishes used:
Contrary Polish Purple Egg
Floss Gloss Moon Baby
Essie Matte About You

I used two coats of Purple Egg as the base, and then freehanded on the sketchy sweater and thread with a small nail art brush and Moon Baby. I added a layer of topcoat to seal and protect, and then finished with a layer of matte topcoat. How freaking divine is Purple Egg mattified? I'm baaaasically obsessed.

See how I've been inspired by songs in the past:

• Tik Tok - Ke$ha
• Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
• Lose Yourself to Dance - Daft Punk

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Candied Orange Peel Nail Art

This candied orange peel nail art came out of a bit of freestyling. I was watching United States of Tara on Netflix and started painting orange swirls over an orange base. Since I found success putting glitter over nail art in my pastel stripe manicure, I decided to try it again. This time, I reached for a sugary iridescent glitter that gave the manicure a sweet finish.

This nail art uses:
Floss Gloss - Pony (base)
Floss Gloss - Bikini Coral
Floss Gloss - Fastlane
Floss Gloss - Selena Corpus Crystalina (glitter)

I don't often do orange nail art -- the 31 Day Challenge might be one of the few times during the year that I actually do. I think the tone on tone swirls are nice, but the glitter is what really sells this nail art, to me.

Here's what the manicure looked like before I added the glitter.

Which way do you prefer?

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Mod Half Moon and French

I've seen a lot of gorgeous half moon/French combination nail art lately, and was feeling inspired to try it for myself. I've been particularly loving these looks from Chelsea Queen and Madeline Poole, but was a bit concerned that I don't have quite the steady hand that those ladies do. Thankfully, it turned out better than I had expected!



The color combination I chose feels kind of mod. I love pairing neons with neutrals, and these polishes seem like they were made to be put together.

I used:
Floss Gloss Moon Baby (soft grey)
Floss Gloss Faded (stormy grey)
Floss Gloss Fastlane (neon red-orange)

The half moon and French details were painted freehand on top of the light grey base. It's simple enough in theory, but I did end up redoing a couple of nails to get them just right.

Next time I try a half moon/French combo, I'll have to try it with some negative space like the ladies linked up top!

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The Disney Diva - Ursula Nail Art

The Lacquer Legion's theme this month is "Fandom." Where do you even start with that one? There are SO MANY POSSIBILITIES! I've actually done quite a few fanicures in my day. Mythbusters, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Adventure Time...the list goes on. This time, I chose to do more Disney villain nail art. You may recall the Queen of Hearts mani I did recently, and here's another powerful baddie: Ursula from The Little Mermaid!

Here's a fun fact: did you know that Ursula's design was inspired by the drag queen Divine? Makes sense to me. Ursula is a pretty fabulous diva, despite being evil and all. There are some pretty diva-licious Disney characters, but for me, she takes the cake.

For my nail art, I've painted her tentacles on my four fingers and her *ahem* bust and necklace on my thumb.

Polishes used in this nail art include:
Floss Gloss Moon Baby (grey base)
LVX Aster (light purple)
OPI Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm? (dark purple)
Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights (yellow)
American Apparel Hassid (black)

I started each tentacle by painting a dark purple spiral and outlining it with black. Then, I filled the spirals with light purple dots, and stacked a smaller dark purple dot inside it.

Though the process for Ursula's tentacles seems simple enough, they took a while to complete. The hypnotizing spirals really demanded a lot of precision, so I tried to take it slow.

Follow The Lacquer Legion on Facebook or Instagram for once monthly nail art prompts aimed at bringing together the nail polish community!

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Lazy Maze and a Summer Gradient with Floss Gloss

Continuing my "black pattern over a neon gradient" obsession is today's manicure, featuring Floss Gloss polishes! I was stuck on a name for this post until Leslie from Work/Play/Polish suggested "lazy maze." I loved that name because it references the similarly patterned maze manicures that I've done before, and also describes what my lines look like: the easiest mazes ever.

I began with a white base to help the colors pop, and then used a triangle makeup wedge to sponge a gradient of Floss Gloss Con Limon and Floss Gloss Wet. Con Limon is really extraordinarily gorgeous. Super neon, perfect lime green.

The black lines are painted freehand with Floss Gloss Black Holy. I did each of the line patterns in pairs of two, which created an interesting "channel" effect down the nail. They feel tribal-inspired but I think they still stand on their own as something different.

This is my first experience with Floss Gloss and I was happy with it! The polishes are on the pricier side ($8 for what is essentially a mini), but the bottles are gorgeously antique-chic and the formula is nice. They would be really beautiful displayed on a vanity. Note to self: build a vanity just to display these polishes.

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