French Fairy Tales

   In addition to loving calligraphy, I also love fairy tales! I might have mentioned this once or twice before... This week's mani was inspired by a fairy tale in one of my old fairy tale books, simply titled, French Fairy Tales. It has three or four longer tales, more like a chapter book.

   The first story, called Blondine, Bonne-Biche, and Beau-Minon, is about a princess who tricked into wondering into the enchanted forest by a boy who was overcome with a love for bonbons. There's a lot more to the story than that, but it would take a while to tell. You can read the story here.

   I took my inspiration from her carriage and the forbidden lilac woods. This passage: "
The garden in which Blondine drove in her little carriage, drawn by ostriches and guided by her little coachman, Gourmandinet, was separated by a grating from an immense and magnificent forest, called the Forest of Lilacs because during the whole year these lilacs were always covered with superb flowers. No one, however, entered these woods. It was well known that it was enchanted ground and that if you once entered there you could never hope to escape."
  I thought an ostrich-pulled carriage was just too funny!

   I also really liked the idea of lilac woods, it sounded really pretty. After doing some research, it seemed a little hard to draw, so I went with some wisteria instead. It's still purple, right? Besides, wisteria is just so darn pretty! I love how it hangs down. If I could ever grow some, I would! I'm not too thrilled about how the ostrich came out, but I'm pleased with the rest of it.

   To make the lilac/wisteria woods, I started with a cream base. Then I drew on some trunks using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out. For the purple I used three different shades of purple; China Glaze Sweet Hook, Nina Ultra Pro Lilac-ing Discipline, and OPI I Vant to Bite Your Neck. For the grass, two greens; Revlon Colorstay Spainsh Moss and L'Oreal New Money. To get the dappled look in the grass and wisteria, I thinned out the polishes and dabbed them on somewhat haphazardly.
   The carriage was made with white, black, and Maybelline Color Show Bold Gold. The ostrich with China Glaze Pelican Grey, Maybelline Color Show Neutral Statement, white, and black.

   I think I wold have loved this design if it looked more like my left hand - all wisteria woods and no carriage! The carriage and ostrich aren't bad, but (as always) it looked a bit different in my head. Not too terrible though for my first real attempt at an full animal. I didn't know what to expect!

   I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! 

Review: Chameleon Polish!

   I received some really cool polish in the mail last week! Born Pretty sent me a bottle of their new chameleon polish. It's a holo polish that changes color in different lights. I received a blue-purple-orange color, #201, and it's so pretty!
   As always, you can use this coupon code, AIBW10, to get 10% off your order at Born Pretty!

    I've taken lots of photos for this one, so you can see it in many different lights. It essentially looks the same all the time, but different lights can create some slight changes in how it looks and changes color.
   Here it is under a yellowish light:

   You see the orange-gold color very well in the yellow light, and the purple is brighter, almost a little pink.
   Under a more blueish light:

   In the blue light, the blue really pops. You don't see the orange-gold at all, and the purple requires a lot of effort to completely "cover" the nail. It's such a pretty deep shade of blue under the blue light!
   In natural light:

   I think the purple looks prettiest (to me) in the natural light. The orange-gold has turned an interesting shade too, it's a little redder, I think.

   I think this is such a neat and pretty polish. I love how it changes colors. The whole time I was wearing it, I was constantly wiggling my fingers back and forth so I could watch the colors change!
   With this polish, you have to wear one coat of black polish to really help the color pop and look right. In the photos I had on one layer of black and two coats of the chameleon.
    There are lots of pretty colors in the collection; there are a couple that I think I'm going to need to try out soon....

   As usual, I did have to paint some sort of design on; you can't have plain polish! (Unless you're busy, of course!)

   I never quite know what to paint on shiny and holographic polishes... For some reason they kind of freak me out with designs! So for this one I went kind of simple. I glued a black rhinestone on to my middle fingers, and then painted some swirls coming out of it with some black acrylic paint.
   (This last set of pictures were taken in natural light, if you were wondering.)

   I've been working on a new design tonight! I'm trying my hand at a scene. I don't think it's too terrible for a first attempt, but then I am sometimes slightly biased....

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!