Aquarium Manicure

I went to the Shedd Aquarium. Again. I love the aquarium. I've been a member for something like six years. This time, I got to see the new baby dolphin.

For the occasion of aquarium-going, I did my nails as waves. First I painted them OPI's "Teal the Cows Come Home" and let them dry overnight.

Then I cut out pieces of blue painter's tape with my wavy scissors. I covered all but the tips of each nail with the tape and painted the visible portion NYC's "Cashmere Creme" (I like using one top-of-the-line and one bottom-of-the-barrel polish just for poops and giggles).

When that dried and I removed the tape, voila! I had wavy awesome aquarium nails.

I then used a dotting tool in orange polish (Revlon's "Siren") to draw fish on my thumbs. I finished up with OPI top coat and cleaned up the edges and all the escaped polish on my fingers. Unfortunately, I still don't have a basic tripod (I know, they're not that expensive) so I couldn't get a shot of my thumbs. Stupidly, I didn't even get a picture of the final pretty manicure, so you'll just have to make do with the last sloppy one.

Painter's Tape Manicure

I've discovered something wonderful: painter's tape. The blue stuff is much more expensive than regular old Scotch tape, but it is a miracle product for manicures.

I was recently at Walgreens and picked up Wet n Wild's "Through the Grapevine," which is a fabulous cheap magenta. I love Wet n Wild's new fat brushes and their colors really pop. It was a great hue, but I was getting nail-art restless after a few days. I'd also recently found my zigzag scissors in my car (welcome to the disorganization of my life) and was itching to use them. When I bought "Through the Grapevine," it was sitting next to "I Need a Refersh-Mint"--a color I already owned and loved. I liked the combination (reminded me of the 80s), so I knew what I had to do.

I'd heard about painter's tape on a few nail blogs, but actually using the stuff was amazing. It cuts much more cleanly and easily than Scotch tape and makes cleaner lines. Here is a photo of my nails all taped up and the "I Need a Refersh-Mint" painted over them:

And when I took the tape off, voila! Gorgeousness! This manicure made me happy until it chipped and peeled a horrible death a few days later (I never got a chance to put on a topcoat and, after all, it was Wet n Wild).

Note: I touched up the areas around the cuticles a bit with Photoshop because they looked like crap when I took the picture and I didn't take another photo after I retouched my actual nails.