All #HailTheNail With a Twitter Party For the Premiere of Nail'd It!

As I'm sure you guys know, there's a new TV show on the horizon and it's all about nail art. Nail'd It! is premiering at 9pm EST, Tuesday October 7th, on Oxygen, and you KNOW I'm gonna be all over that.

But that's not all!

To celebrate the premiere, I'll be joining a fabulous group of influencers to host a Twitter party leading up to the first episode! Join the conversation by following and tweeting with #HailTheNail, Tuesday October 7th, beginning at 8pm EST.

I'll be cohosting alongside All Lacquered Up, Julie G. Beauty, From Head to Toe, and Wet Paint. Judges Jan Arnold, Elaine Watson, and Tom Bachik will be joining in as well! We'll have tutorials, Q&As, and giveaways.

Giveaways? Oh yeah.

Throughout the hourlong chat, you'll have opportunities to win a prize package that contains:

• The 5 Borough Package from Fingertip Fetish by Adrienne Bailon
• A CND hand care set including Almond Hydrating Lotion and Citrus Nail Soothing Creme
• Oxygen goodies like a nail mat, mirrored nail files, pens, and a noteboook

When the chat comes to an end, I invite you to stick around and live tweet the first episode with me! I hope we'll see you there for the party, don't forget to mark your calendars! And if you haven't watched it yet, be sure to check out an exclusive first look at one of the Quick Dry Challenges from the show.

Disclosure: This post and my participation as a cohost of #HailTheNail has been sponsored by reps for Oxygen.

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Raava and Vaatu - The Legend of Korra Nail Art

It's day two of my Avatar double feature! Yesterday I shared my flag nail art inspired by the nations in the Avatar universe, today I have some supernatural nail art inspired by Raava and Vaatu, the spirits of good and evil, from The Legend of Korra. I painted their markings on my middle nails, and then added their matching tail ribbons on the outer nails.

Nail polishes used:
Polish My Life Stripped
China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle
Michael Kors Impulse
American Apparel Hassid
Polish My Life Don't Snap My Dragon
Misa Peach Passion

These nails were painted freehand. The pattern was pretty fun to paint, actually! I'm not sure what it was, but I just really liked assembling the pieces of their markings.

When the story first introduces these ancient spirits, they are entangled in a battle of good vs. evil. I tangled their ribbons on my thumb to represent that.

On a related note, if you are a Korra fan and haven't seen the trailer for the final season yet -- WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? It's epic. Check it out! (Spoilers, obviously.)

Not (yet) a Legend of Korra fan? All of the episodes are available for watching on Nick.com!

See more of my supernatural nail art:

• Glow in the dark ghosties
• Glittering Edward nail art
• Phoenix feather nail art

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National Flags of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Today's 31 Day Challenge prompt is "inspired by a flag," a prompt that no one seems to really care for. It's not my favorite either, but it does often get me thinking outside of the box!

I chose to do nail art inspired by one of my favorite cartoons, Avatar: The Last Airbender. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, there are four nations in the Avatar world: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. I represented each nation's flag on my nails, and put the flag of the Order of the White Lotus on my thumb.

Nail polishes used:
Misa Blueberry Blast
JINsoon Cool Blue
OPI Jade is the New Black
LVX Midori
OPI All I Want for Christmas (Is OPI)
American Apparel Hassid
Misa Great Grape
Polish My Life Stripped

All elements of this manicure were painted freehand. I have the Water Tribes symbol on my pointer, the Earth Kingdom symbol on my middle finger, the Fire Nation flag on my ring, and the Air Nomad insignia on my pinky.

I needed a fifth finger design, and the Order of the White Lotus seemed like a perfect choice! They transcend the four nations, and are good guys in the series. And um, hello, who doesn't love Iroh?

If you are a fan of the Avatar universe, be sure to check back in tomorrow! I've done some Legend of Korra nail art for "inspired by the supernatural." Consider it a double feature!

Previous "inspired by a flag" manicures:

• Racing checkered flag
• Arizona state flag nail art
• Textured American flag nail art

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Nail'd It! Extended First Look - Watch a Full Quick Dry Challenge!

We are getting so very close to the premiere of Nail'd It, the nail art competition show! Can you feel my excitement? It combines two of my favorite things: nail art and television. If they could find a way to work my pup Chowder into it, I'd be set...

The premiere is less than two weeks away, but I know you just can't wait until then. Never fear - I've got nearly 15 minutes of an actual episode ready for your consumption!


Don't forget to set your alarms, DVRs, calendars, and post it notes to catch the premiere on October 7th at 9/8c, only on Oxygen!

Still want more Nail'd It? Be sure to check out the the recap of my on-set visit for thoughts from judges Jan Arnold and Terrance Terry, and the host, Adrienne Bailon.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by reps for Oxygen.

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Stylized Goldfish Scales Nail Art

It's animal print day of the 31 Day Challenge! This is always one of my favorite days. I do a lot of animal print in my regular nail art work, so I like to take the challenge as an opportunity to get inspired by some unusual animals. This year, I've gone with a freehand stylized goldfish scale print, inspired by Queen Otohime from the One Piece anime. Does anyone else watch?

Nail polishes used:
OPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
American Apparel Hassid

Without giving too much about the story away, Otohime wears a kimono with this stylized fish scale print on it. I tried to directly mimic the way it looks in the anime, and I think I did a nice job! I painted my nails with the red-orange first, then added the yellow detailing, and finally finished it off with the black lines.

I'm pretty enamored with this pattern. It definitely looks like fish scales, though I can also see phoenix feathers or dragon scales. Very bold and cool.

Animal print from years past:

• Blue poison dart frog nail art
• Manta ray patterned nail art
• Nudibranch sea slug nail art

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Visit Lumpy Space: Whatevers2009

This month's Lacquer Legion theme is "On Holiday." As it is summer and not December, this is obviously referring to the British (read: fancy) definition of holiday, commonly called vacation. Now, I could have done something a little more summery, but I decided to stretch the theme a bit and do a manicure I've wanted to do for a while now: a lumpy space landscape! Given the choice, this is where I would go on vacation if I could.

Confused? Don't be! This is another Adventure Time nail art manicure, inspired by the crazy Cartoon Network show. You may recall my character manicure or my Lady Rainicorn nails; these are the third addition to the group.

My favorite Adventure Time character, Lumpy Space Princess, is from Lumpy Space (go figure), a spacey world with pastel clouds and soft stars. I chose to paint a landscape spanning over my four nails with some additional clouds on my thumb.

Polishes used:
OPI Push and Pur-pull
OPI Vant to Bite My Neck?
Sally Hansen Pacific Blue (old version)
LVX Aster & Misa Loveliest of Lilacs (mixed)
Misa Ripe Raspberry
China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle
Finger Paints Lemon Sour
Nicole by OPI Matte Topcoat

While I didn't do a full tutorial, I did take some informal phone snaps of the nails along the way! You can see how you have to build up the clouds in layers: first blue, then purple, then aqua. The final steps include adding some soft yellow stars and a matte topcoat for that cartoon effect.

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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Coming Soon: Nail'd It!, a Nail Art Competition Show!

Something big is on the horizon guys, and I think you are going to be very excited about it. Coming to the Oxygen Network in October is Nail'd It!, a nail art competition show! I was recently invited to LA to tour the set, meet the host and a few of the judges, and get the scoop on the upcoming show.

Read on for all the details!

First things first: what I wore

Obviously, one of the first things I had to figure out when I found out I would be touring the set of a nail art show was what I was going to wear on my own nails! I chose to go with the bright, bold approach and created this look with Orly Feel the Vibe neons.

Arriving on set

I wasn't the only one lucky enough to take this behind the scenes tour! As we all began to arrive on set, I was ecstatic to get to meet some of my favorite nail artists in person: @stephstonenails, @chelseaqueen, @nail_swag, @juliegbeauty, and @modnails. We got to sit in the judges chairs, watch the contestants do their thing for a bit, and had the opportunity to speak with the host and judges. There was a lot of fangirling involved in every part of the experience.

Adrienne Bailon: From nail art fan to host
You may be familiar with Adrienne Bailon from 3LW, The Cheetah Girls, her daytime talk show The Real, or her line of vegan nail polish, but did you know she is a huge fan of bold nail art herself? She was rocking some great 3D nails when we met up with her on set. Her enthusiasm for the art form really came across as she talked about what it was like to host Nail'd It.

I asked Adrienne what surprised her most about being a part of the show. She answered, "How much you could do [with nail art]. It shocked me and surprised me every time. Every episode I'd get a script and I'd be like 'No way. That's so dope.'" She added, "It is very much self expressive. [Nail art] says so much about the person."

When asked about what the competitors were like, she said, "It's surprising. Nail artists have a great network between them. They know a lot about each other, now with social media and Instagram... There's a network of them and they're just like nice people. We'll ask the competitors to tell us what they think of their competitor's nails and the girls will be like 'She did an amazing job, her lines are so clean.' It's very rare that we'll get one that's catty. ... It's all about the art for them."

Chatting with the judges
One of the best parts of the set visit, for me, was getting to meet some of the judges. Speaking with them about the show and the industry was incredible. These are people that I've looked up to for quite some time now, and I have the highest respect for what they do.

Jan Arnold, co-founder of CND, spoke about the current state of the nail industry. "We're now in this major need where we now need nailpros to satisfy the demand of the consumers. It's not just that they love color, they love nail art. Every age."

When asked about her participation in Nail'd It, Jan said, "The reason I agreed to be a judge on this show is the executive producer said, 'Our three goals: 1. We want this to be really fun. 2. We want to cast a spotlight on these amazing artists that are doing these miniature masterpieces. 3. We really want to showcase nails as a rich career.' So I was like, 'Done. Done done done.'"

Industry veteran and Essie educator Terrance Terry teared up a little as he added, "To just be a part of something that is very positive and that brings out a lot of energy... I'm happy to be a part of this."

Tune in to Nail'd It!
Nail'd It! will air on Oxygen Network in early October. Each episode will feature three competitors vying for the win and the opportunity to compete in the two episode, "battle royale" season finale (and $100,000!). I encourage you all to watch it. From what I've seen, it's going to be fantastic!

Disclosure: Travel for the set visit was provided to me by Oxygen. I was compensated to promote the show via social media, but all opinions are my own. I'd want you guys to know about this anyway! 

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31DC2013 Day 27: Inspired by Artwork (KAWS Spongebob)

I struggled a little bit with this prompt today... I swear I almost did Duchamp's "Fountain," which I threatened to do last year. But again, I wanted to do something a little more interesting and a little less related to urinals.

In the end, I arrived at doing a KAWS piece. KAWS is an artist that deals a lot with very recognizable cultural icons, cartoons in particular, and one of his subjects is Spongebob Squarepants. I already like Spongebob is a non-ironic way so I thought it would be fun to recreate him in KAWS's style.

I combined elements from two pieces for my finished manicure. I used the background from this first one...

via Lost In a Supermarket

...and Spongebob's face from this second one.

via Hello Rathy

Unfortunately, my Spongebob's face ended up a little bit longer than the one in the piece, so he is less "on the money," if you will, but after having redone him three times I figured it would work well enough!

The base of the wiggly spiral nails is COVERGIRL Ever Reddy, while the actual wiggly spirals were painted with China Glaze For Audrey.

Spongebob's base color is China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, while his eyes are painted with Zoya Rocky and the Xs painted with OPI...Eurso Euro. The sponge holes are China Glaze Budding Romance. The black I used is American Apparel Hassid and the white is Zoya Purity.

I love the extreme contrast between the two different nail styles here. They look like they don't go together at all, but in a wonderful way.

via Lost In a Supermarket, Hello Rathy

More 31 Day Challenge
View upcoming prompts!
My artwork nails from 2012!
My artwork nails from 2011!

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31DC2013 Day 09: Lady Rainicorn Rainbow Nails

I enlisted my boyfriend to help me brainstorm for the "rainbow" prompt, and he immediately suggested Lady Rainicorn from the cartoon Adventure Time. GENIUS!

As you may recall, I love the show. I've even done Adventure Time nail art once before! It seemed pretty obvious that for this design, I would have Lady stretched over my four nails. It's the only way to accurately represent her long rainbow body, and I love multi-nail designs anyway.

The entire design was freehanded with my smallest nail art brush. The toughest part of the whole thing was the black outlining. Other than that, Lady was pretty easy to paint!

Here's a long list of the shades I used and where I used them. I tried my best to match her colors as closely as I could!

China Glaze Are You Jelly? - Purple stripe on body
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky - Yellow stripe on body
China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard - Green stripe on body
China Glaze Man Hunt - Blue stripe on body
Duri Into the Further - Black
Lime Crime Crema De Limon - Mane and tail
Milani White On the Spot - White
Misa Blueberry Blast - Sky background
Misa Ripe Raspberry - Pink on head
OPI The Color of Minnie - Red stripe on body

So, what do you think? Mathematical?

More 31 Day Challenge
View upcoming prompts!
My rainbow nails from 2012!
My rainbow nails from 2011!

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Jamie Wants Big Boom: Mythbusters Nail Art

Now that I've done Adventure Time, Futurama, and Parks & Recreation manicures, I thought I'd add another one of my favorite shows into my nail art portfolio -- Mythbusters! I think Mythbusters is one of those shows that is universally well-liked. The team of people on the show is so likable, they perform awesome and informative experiments, and there are lots of explosions. If you're unfamiliar with the show, you can watch some clips and get a feel for it on the Discovery website.

Break it down!

On my thumb is a depiction of a blueprint, much like the ones that the show uses to explain their experiments.
My pointer finger is a representation of Jamie Hyneman, through his iconic mustache and beret combo.
My middle finger is Adam Savage with his thick glasses and ginger hair.
My ring finger is Buster! Buster, if you are unfamiliar, is their stunt dummy. I've shown his head in profile over an asphalt-y base.
Finally, my pinky is an explosion. Because what is Mythbusters nail art without an explosion.

There are a bunch of colors in this, and I'll type them out for you guys since I love you.

Thumb: American Apparel Mount Royal, Cult Nails Tempest
Pointer: OPI Berlin There Done That, American Apparel Hassid, China Glaze Kalahari Kiss
Middle: OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, American Apparel Hassid, OPI In My Back Pocket
Ring: Zoya Storm, Cult Nails Tempest, Sally Hansen Lightening, American Apparel Hassid
Pinky: American Apparel Hassid, Sally Hansen Rapid Red, OPI In My Back Pocket, Sally Hansen Lightening

The entire manicure was freehanded using a medium length striper brush.

I had some trouble with the host representations. I had to redo Adam at least three times before I was happy with him, and even then I took off his facial hair an additional time to try to refine that a bit more. Jamie was easier, only requiring one mustache re-do.

A spotlight on our two handsome hosts...

I think my favorite nail out of all of these would be the Buster on my ring finger. I am really pleased with the way all of these came out, though, and hope Mythbusters fans think I did the show justice!

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LaBarbara Conrad's Pants Print Nail Art

Sometimes, nail art inspiration can come from the weirdest of places.

I have mentioned here before that I love cartoons. Along with Adventure Time, Futurama is one of my favorite animated shows. I was idly watching a few episodes the other afternoon and saw this awesome pattern that was just screaming to be turned into nail art! I'd ask if you can guess where it's from but I'm afraid I've already revealed it in the post title. The pattern was on LaBarbara Conrad's (Hermes' wife) pants!

Here is the best shot I could find of the pants.

source

I didn't get the colors quite dead-on, but I really love the way these look together nonetheless. I used American Apparel Malibu Green, American Apparel Crescent Heights, and Lime Crime Lavendairy painted freehand over one coat of Cult Nails Tempest (a white creme).

This flowy, wavelike camo pattern was a lot of fun to paint and not too difficult! I think I'll be trying this again in the future in different color combinations.

Have you ever been inspired by something unusual like this? How do you think I did replicating the pattern?

Thanks for reading!

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Give me all of the bacon and eggs you have.

"Just give me all the bacon and eggs you have. Wait, wait. I'm worried what you just heard was, 'Give me a lot of bacon and eggs.' What I said was, 'Give me all the bacon and eggs you have.' Do you understand?"

If you aren't familiar with the quote above, you may not understand this manicure. It was spoken by the amazing Ron Swanson, one of the greatest characters on television, now or ever. Ron is known by many for his deadpan and masculine nature. He works in the city government of Pawnee, Indiana, on the comedy show Parks and Recreation. If you don't watch Parks, you are really missing out.

Ron has a deep love for breakfast food, so I tried to do him proud in this manicure by painting bacon and eggs all over my nails. The base for these nails is OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons. The bacon is made using China Glaze Desert Sun and China Glaze Brownstone. The eggs are OPI Alpine Snow, China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, and a few mixes of Happy Go Lucky with other colors for the shading.

I also made a silhouette of Ron's hair and mustache out of bacon. I like to think he would approve of this.

Ron's mustache is the stuff of legend, so I have also decided to make this my Movember manicure.

If you're unfamiliar with Movember, it's a men's health initiative where men grow out their mustaches for all of November. Their mustaches help to spark conversations and raise funds for the often ignored issues of men's health. Here's a blurb from the Movember website.

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo's, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

They also have a men's health page that is worth checking out and sharing with the important men in your life (or reading, if you are an important man).

If you'd like to do a Movember manicure, you can also choose to associate your nails with a certain type of awareness by using a specific color. Testicular cancer's awareness color is orchid, while prostate cancer's awareness color is light blue.

I'm pretty tickled by the breakfast print that I have going on with these nails. Bacon is one of my favorite foods and I do love fried eggs (especially on burgers, mmmmm).

I hope I've done all you Ron Swanson lovers proud. I also hope you will take a moment this month to discuss men's health issues with all of the important dudes in your life.

Thanks for reading! :)

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