Going Geeky

I already wrote about the nail contest currently running on dA, and I decided to enter it just as many times as I can — the deadline is the end of the month, yay! My today's nails are...

Natural light

...geeky, blingy and elegant — all at the same time! And there's a rebus on them, too!
And if you solve it as "Female", I won't say you're entirely wrong. ;D

I really wanted to do an Iron Man mani, but every idea I'd got so far would be rather complicated (i.e. involve painting 1.5x1cm portraits — although it doesn't mean I'm not gonna try it someday!) I was fiddling with the possible variants in my head when it all clicked, ticked and struck me — that's how I think inventing your own element feels like! And I was indeed going elemental!

Arc reactor light

I started with two careful coats of OPI Samoan Sand aka my perfect nude polish. Then I've used a small ball of cling film and stamped some OPI Your Royal Shine-ness on top of it — this is the first time I've tried the Saran Wrap technique, and I liked it!

I attempted to mute the sparkle by sponging more Samoan Sand on top of it, but it only worked until I applied top coat. I imagine this would look good matte, but I feared my matte top coat would smudge the design.

Speaking of which...

Flash

The outline for both Fe and ♂ were done with black and red acrylic paint respectively, which allowed me to easily correct any mistakes I'd have made. On top of them I added a mix of black and gold paint and OPI The Spy Who Loved Me. The details on the reactor are paint, and the figures are waterproof pen. Finally, there's SS5 Swarovski crystal which I simply glued onto wet top coat. Which is, by the way, Essence Better Than Gel Nails High Gloss.

My other hand didn't have any designs, and I definitely liked the as-is look. It's very soft and natural, yet refreshing because of the sparkles. I can totally see myself wearing this combo together again!

That's all for today. Please, someone take me to see Iron Man 3 again. ^^