Day 9: Rainbow - Nyan Cat!

Since y'all don't know me in real life, you probably aren't aware that there are two things I really enjoy: random internet stuff and kitty cats. So when I happened upon Nyan Cat, it was a match made in heaven!

I knew I had to do a Nyan Cat design for the first rainbow challenge, but I had no idea it would be as difficult as it was. The final manicure ended up being a hot mess, which was a shame because I really wanted to wear this for a few days. Instead, the stupid thing ended up peeling off my nails the very next day.

Here's what I did. First, I used my Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in white to dot out the areas for the rainbow to make sure I had enough room for all the colors. I also drew in an area for the cat, but instead of drawing him like Cute Polish or Professional DQ and others have, I turned the kitty on its head. ;)

Unfortunately, I kept messing up the Pop Tart so I ended up removing the outline. I moved on to the rainbows. I used the following colors:

• Red ~ OPI: Color So Hot It Berns
• Orange ~ Wet n Wild: Everybody Loves Redmond
• Yellow ~ Fake OPI I got from an eBay seller
• Green ~ Another fake OPI I got from that same crappy eBay seller
• Blue ~ L.A. Colors Color Craze: Static Electricity
• Purple ~ Ulta Mini no-name from a Halloween 2010 mini collection
• I added two coats of Wet n Wild: Hallucinate for some sparkle.

I wish I would have had some acrylic paints instead of nail polish because the colors went on too thickly and messily. I got so mad working on this design that I had to take a smoke break! But then I thought, "Holy crap, my nails are still wet so how am I going to light a cigarette? My hands will explode!" Grrrr. Anyway, that's what my rainbow mess looked like. I should have used a different orange since the two colors look too similar, making the yellow and green too bright; the whole thing looks more Rasta than rainbow.

What a mess. Like I said, the whole thing made me mad. After I (messily) painted in the rainbow, I mixed up some colors for the Pop Tart and for the cat. Here's what the final version looked like:

I used my Kiss Nail Art Pen in black to outline Nyan Cat. I used dots instead of solid lines to give it the 8-bit appearance of the original online graphic.

Anyway, what do you think? I love the way the cat looks, and I'm ok with the Pop Tart, but the overall effect is just blech. Blech, blech, blech, blech, BLECH. Working on this design reminded me why I prefer nail art stickers and stamping to freehand designs. I suck at it. 

Day 8: Metallic - L.A. Colors: Copper

Day 8 brings with it a metallic nail polish. This one is from L.A. Colors, and like the name says, it's a "Copper" metallic polish.

I bought this L.A. Colors polish from the Dollar Tree. I've been on a hunt for more than a decade now for a dupe for OPI's "Down to My Last Penny," which was the first OPI polish I ever wore, but alas, this color is still not what I'm looking for. It is a nice metallic, and for only $1, I don't feel like I made a mistake in buying it.

I printed off the name of the polish and it's ID using my handy-dandy Dymo label printer since most of the L.A. Colors polishes (especially the Color Craze ones) don't have a name tag on the bottom of the bottle. Luckily, this one does. See?

"Copper" applied nicely and was opaque in just one coat, but I could still see where the tips of my nails peel so I put a second coat on. It still didn't cover up the problems I have with my tips, though. 

Here's another shot of L.A. Colors "Copper" outside on an overcast late December afternoon.

Finally, here's a photo I took inside using a flash so you can see the shimmer better. It's really a lovely polish for just a buck, even though this last picture makes the copper color look more orange than it is in real life.

So, dear readers, do you have this L.A. Colors polish, or do you have OPI's "Down to My Last Penny"? It's such a VHTF polish, but I can't help wanting it, just because it was the first OPI I'd ever worn. Also, do you have any suggestions for products I can use to stop my stupid nails from peeling? They've always done this, regardless of what basecoat or strengthener I use. =(