Thaw Your Heart: A Spring Madness (and Friendship) Manicure!

Greetings from the crisp, cold edges of the spring thaw, fellow rogues!

OK, full disclosure: technically, we’re going into autumn in these parts of the world, but I received an email from Julep inviting me to try my hand at their spring-inspired manicure contest! No strings attached, no Julep polishes need be used (fortunately for us, as Julep is, sadly, not a thing in these parts). Although, as I said, spring is quite a while away here, I seized the opportunity to have some more nail-art practice. I also seized Ooly, as I thought it might be nice to try what I think of as a ‘friendship manicure’ – looks good on its own, but if you put two peoples’ hands together, it makes a bigger picture.

(Tip: if you’re going to seize a ranger, warn them first. You can only take a crossbow bolt to the neck *once*, folks!)

The ‘madness’ part of the name of this manicure comes from the fact that we pooled our polish collections and used (in total) about 33 different polishes! They range from bottom of the apothecary’s bargain barrel (Miki) to idols from the Temple of Luxury (Chanel), and all the way across the rainbow! Obviously, of you would like to have a go at this crazy, springtime mani, you can use whatever colours and brands your little adventuring heart desires. 🙂

Most of the polishes used in this manicure. This is what happens when two PhD students try to do a manicure. Things get…complicated.

So: the ‘picture’ we wanted to get across was the thaw of winter into spring, all the way from sparkling frozen wasteland to a riot of colourful spring blooms and green shoots. Ooly has much experience of what this looks like from her travels through the mountains, and I needed a bright, fun antidote for the grim, dark catacomb I’d just finished clearing out. The broad concept entails a story from thumb to pinky finger:

Thumb: Icy, swirling, frozen winter. Red berries and bare branches, stark against the snow.

Index Finger: The first blooms of spring, breaking through the snow: daffodils and crocus.

Middle Finger: The snow receding slowly, to reveal hardy little flowers in soft spring colours.

Ring Finger: The snow is gone! Flowers bloom in full and more green shoots start to peep through.

Pinky Finger: Spring in full swing! A riot of brightly coloured flowers and green shoots, with extra glitter, because duh.

The highly sphosticated tools required for this look: a yoghurt pot lid, one dotting tool to share and about a zillion toothpicks (not all pictured).

By now I expect you’re wondering exactly what the actual manicure looks like! So here we go:

Ooly’s Nails…

Syl’s Nails!

Details from Syl’s manicure, with the main ‘themes’ of the story. Please excuse the hideous dry cuticles >_<…

Now, where does the friendship part come in? As you can see, the individual hands tell their own spring thaw story, but if you put your hands together in friendship (your choice of ‘awww’ or ‘pass the bucket!’ at this juncture), you can see a larger picture. It turns out that putting your hands together in friendship to show a large story manicure is actually quite difficult, but with the assistance of a further PhD student (a wizard) and an engineer, we managed to get some photos!

*phew* Spring Friendship (and Madness) Manicure Ahoy!

How we did it (take a deep breath):

ICY THUMBS
Base = OPI Bond Girls “Solitaire” + Orly Mini “Winter Wonderland”
Snowdrift = China Glaze “Lorelei’s Tiara” + OPI Katy Perry “Last Friday Night” + OPI NYC Ballet “Pirouette My Whistle”
Berry Branches = OPI Oz Collection “What Wizardry Is This?” + OPI Russian “An Affair in Red Square”

INDEX THAW
Base = as for thumbs
Leaves = Butter London “British Racing Green”
Crocus = Petals(Orly Mini “Velvet Rope” + Chanel “Coco Blue” + OPI NYC Ballet “Care to Danse?” + OPI San Francisco “Alcatraz… Rocks”) + Stamens(Sinful Colors “Let’s Meet” + MIKI No.15 “Orange”)
Daffodil = Petals(Sinful Colors “Let’s Meet” + CoverGirl Glosstinis “Bahama Mama”) + Middle Part(MIKI No.15 “Orange” + OPI Russian “An Affair in Red Square”)

MIDDLE WEISS
Base = Dior Trianon “Perlé”
Snowdrift = OPI Bond Girls “Solitaire” + OPI NYC Ballet “Pirouette My Whistle”
Flowers = Chanel “Rose Insolent” + Chanel “Coco Blue” + Dior Gel Shine “Mirage” + Mix(OPI Mariah Carey Holiday “Ski Slope Sweetie” + OPI Skyfall “Goldeneye”)
Stalks = Butter London “British Racing Green” + MIKI No.2 “Green”

RING SPRING
Base = Dior Trianon “Perlé”
Gradient = OPI Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
Flowers = Chanel “Tentation” + OPI Brazil Beach Sandies “Samba-dy Loves Purple” + OPI Euro Centrale “OPI… Eurso Euro” + Chanel “Gold Fiction”
Green Buds = MIKI No.2 “Green”

PINKY FLING
Base = Picture Polish “Douceur” + Etude House “Pyjama Party” + OPI Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
Flowers = OPI Brazil Beach Sandies “I’m Brazil Nuts Over You”, “What’s A Little Rain Forest?” & “You’re So Flippy Floppy” + OPI Russian “An Affair in Red Square” + Butter London “Come To Bed Red” + MIKI No.15 “Orange” + MIKI No.2 “Green” + Chanel “Gold Fiction” + Butter London “British Racing Green” + OPI Euro Centrale “OPI… Eurso Euro”

 

Well! So that was Ooly and my spring friendship manicure adventure…quest…marathon 😀 Are you rocking a spring (or autumn!) inspired manicure at the moment?

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images on this blog, are the property of the author of this blog (unless otherwise stated) and may not be reproduced without permission. If you do, I’ll send minotaurs after you. Crazed ones.