Day 22 and we are powering through the challenge. But ugh! My poor cuticles are starting to feel the pain haha. Anyhoo the theme for today was Inspired by A Song. I did more like ‘inspired by an album’…

I couldn’t decide what to do (too many choices) until I got Aphex Twin’s new album Syro and thought hell yeah! It’s his first album since Drukqs in 2001. Which was like forever ago. So at least he remedied that one finally and recently said it won’t be his last. Which is good news for those who care.

The man knows how to make mind-bending ambient & electronica that sounds good yet remains experimental. On first listen this album is layered and shifts a lot.  You can see why from the gear list used to make this album. Thus rather than any one tune, my nail art for the day is a bit of an abstract industrial snapshot that represents the dreamlike flow of data-bytes and inner workings of electrical and digital components of the album. Like those transferred during production or playback.

My camera refused to pick up the metallic gradient below the blue metal top colour.
Still need to get a replacement one that works.
THE GEAR LIST for Interested Music Gear Heads

Here’s an old Aphex video clip. I wonder if Chris Cunningham is on board to direct/make more bent visuals for his new material. This is Windowlicker. (You can skip the extended intro at 3:50 mins):

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 22: Inspired By A Song appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Day 23’s theme was Inspired by A Movie. I even decided to colour it a little more like an older film – the kind that were shot in Technicolor. This kind of film print often had boosted saturation with red tonalities so I think I captured that. Even if the movie I chose was from a different era and of a different style, I have double inspiration.

I chose Flowers In The Attic, which was an 80’s movie and also a 1979 novel by V.C. Andrews. (It was the first book in the Dollanganger Series, and was followed by Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows.) It was made into a movie in the mid-late 80’s but I heard there was a remake this year.

I chose this movie because I was having a total brainfart, and in asking for suggestions this came up. It’s about a family of 4 children who are hidden away in the attic of a decrepit old mansion, by their greedy mother and grandmother. The mother is sucking up to her father after some rift in order to get some inheritance, after the kids’ 35yo father dies. They are kept prisoner in this dingy attic and there is some other controversy that entails.

So here are rustic flowers that look more like overgrown weeds. The slight drag marks with the top coat only add to that effect of some forgotten isolation.

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 23: A Movie… Flowers In The Attic appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Day 24 and we are almost at the end of this EPIC challenge for another year! Wow.

Today’s theme is Inspired by A Book. I chose a sci-fi book by Philip K. Dick called Ubik. It is a classic of his that was written in 1969. The following is a summary of the book from Amazon:

Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business—deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in “half-life,” a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter’s face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all.

It was set in a future world, which in the book was actually the early ’90s. And believe me, if flying vehicles had truly existed in the 1990, international travel would be a piece of cake! Particularly for a self-confessed travel-whore like myself… It’s no secret that I love going to new places.

I chose a look inspired by the extremely garish fashions each of the characters wear. I guess being written in the 60’s was the primary reason for that, though everyone seems to wear the most gaudy pants, vests and furs. That part is hilariously outlandish by today’s standards. It’s more like the stuff you would wear to an overstated 60’s/70’s dress up party for instance.

Need some examples? How about the taxi driver whom “…wore fuchsia pedal pushers pink yak fur slippers, a snakeskin sleeveless blouse, and a ribbon in his waist-length dyed white hair.” or the character GG Ashwood who was “Square and puffy, like an overweight brick, wearing his usual mohair poncho, apricot-colored felt hat, argyle ski socks and carpet slippers.”

Given the above, I seriously considered adding ‘fur’ to my solid colour nails, but could not find chartreuse fur or fuzz anywhere so it remained as is. I did have a real snakeskin, but didn’t want to cut it up.

I’ve used OPI Toucan Do It Too over China Glaze Def Defying (the crème chartreuse / green).

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 24: A Book – Ubik appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Day 25 is ‘Inspired by Fashion’. Another one I find fun – I like these kinds of creative tasks.
I decided to find inspiration from a print. A fun, organic print.

To find my print I had a search and it wasn’t long til I had a few catch my eye. In the end I chose these Banana Republic x Marimekko shorts from the Summer collection. Here is the print courtesy of A Lacey Perspective with these shorts styled:

I could’ve used a thinner brush for the black outline since I chose to detail macro aspects of it, but it was still fun to wear. Maybe when get to wear a design for a little longer than 24 hours I will use finer lines and spend a little more time on it.

Actually it’s a bit hard for me to sit upright properly in a comfortable position at the moment anyway due to a few things I’ve been enduring; So tbh, it’s been kinda hard to paint neatly for the duration of this challenge as it is. Oh well, time heals all wounds – even if it happens glacially. Onward and upward!

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 25: Fashion – BR x Marimekko appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Moar Geometry, MOAR!!

Theme for Day 26 is A Pattern. So voila, here it is: A pattern.

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 26: A Pattern appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Being both an Art School / Design grad, I was quite looking forward to the theme of Day 27: Artwork. I pulled a few elements from my artwork of choice and translated them onto my nails.

Wassily Kandinsky

I have chosen to do Kandinsky.

For those of you interested, here’s a brief art history lesson:

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (16 December 1866 – 13 December 1944) was an influential Russian-born painter and art theorist. He spent time in Munich, Germany and is credited with painting the first purely abstract works. He taught at the influential Bauhaus school, but relocated to France after the Nazi fun-police shut it down.

This at a time when Realism (think Courbet, Daumier) and Impressionism (think Monet, Manet, Renoir et al) had been a huge deal. Kandinsky was a big part of the emerging Expressionist movement. This art movement was dictated by a lot of emotion distorting form. Color and ‘movement’, painting by feeling rather than to portray something as it looked realistically. Other artists at the time include Frenchman Henri Matisse, famous for his use of harsher colors and flat surfaced paintings, who was part of the short-lived Fauvist movement.

I chose two of his works to draw inspiration from.

Composition VIII
1923 – Oil on canvas, 140 x 201 cm (55 1/8 x 79 1/8 in); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Blue Painting, 1924 – Oil on canvas

And a final close up, different angle deal. I tried to dry brush the ‘canvas’ like painters do and imitate some texture in there, but it might be a little hard to see in these shots. Click to enlarge the top one. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with for this challenge.

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 27: Artwork – Kandinsky appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Ahoy me Hearties! We are nearing the end of the 31 Day Challenge for 2014 with Day 28: Inspired by A Flag. I considered doing the Scottish flag initially but the referendum has passed and it’s not as interesting in terms of nail art as some of the other ideas I had. Soo… I did A PIRATE FLAG!

I was inspired by cleaning out a box when I uncovered some ‘pirate party birthday flags’ from years ago. I bought them to use in a photo shoot but never did, however it got my brain juice working. Cue an epiphany that hit me like a ton of feathers.

I used China Glaze’s Liquid Leather black for the base, along with Ruby Pumps (glittery red jelly) which is completely covered by other red polish and tattered material, so probably not worth mentioning.

The skull was free-handed, albeit at an awkward angle (still can’t sit comfortably). I stuck on ripped and fringed material to make it look like a weathered, element-beaten flag where ‘X’ marks the spot. And added an anchor and gold stud to make it more treasure-y.

So a Pirate walks into a bar and the barman noticing the parrot quickly looks at the pirate and says,
“Hey Buddy, why have you got a steering wheel in your pants?”
The pirate shakes his head and says “Arrr, I have no idea, but it’s driving me nuts!?”

BOOM-Tish…

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 28: A Flag – Arr Pirate! appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Day 29 and only two more to go! Wowee! Today is Inspired by the Supernatural. I could have done so many things, and went for a more alien subject – alien skin or an alien substance.

I took the easy way out today. I did this mani not long ago and liked it, but I was feeling sore so this was a quick answer for today. I simply used Dance Legend’s beautiful Chameleon and went for a liquid drop look. It just looks cool with the refracted quality of the multichrome beneath. I shall see you all tomorrow with something fresh and new.

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 29: The Supernatural appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Geometric Triangles is what I chose for the  second last day’s theme: Inspired by a Tutorial. I wanted something simple and geometric, so i found a tutorial that matched my desired look.

I wasn’t sure how close I should stick to the tutorial before it wasn’t really the tutorial, so I slightly changed tack and just did the same thing with different colours. Oh god, my poor, dry fingers have definitely been caned by all this challenge.

Here is the version of what I ended up with as a static image (you know, in case the flashy things are doing your head in):

And the original tutorial:

You can also click on the above image to go to Sophie’s original post on her My Awesome Beauty blog.

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 30: A Tutorial appeared first on Buff & Polish.

Woohoo! I just passed a man wearing an A-board and shouting “The End is nigh! The End is nigh!”
Wait, whaaat? He’s right, it is already here. In the form of this final challenge day installment for Day 31: Honor Nails You Love. I had a bunch of ideas, cos’ who can pick just one, right? So many talented artists out there.

Annoyingly my intermittent internet connection has been giving me grief all week, so it curtailed my plans (thus the late posting). In the end I had to go with the flow and based it on elements from a couple of Japanese style nails (Tokyo artist), but more colour-rich. And interpretive. And I didn’t use all gel polish. But I did opt for pointed tips now that I get to keep it all on for more than 24 hours. I’ll aim to do this challenge again soon when I’ve sorted out my interwebs, gah.

I ended up with a bit of a mash-up of doodled DNA-esque strands, a splash of gradient and a range of accented detail spanning the blingy, the metallic and the pearlescent. Et voilà !

Oh and excuse the state of my poor, dried out hands.
Like I was saying yesterday, right now my perionychium, eponychium and finger-skin be all like:

And right about now, my prunish hands have booked a week in Maui and are going on a bit of an acetone-free vaycay.

So anyhoo, I think that it was a fairly good, epic effort. As time consuming as it was (and particularly whilst I’m recovering). Thanks to all for visiting, commenting, participating and making it extra fun. (Also to Cathy @ More Nail Polish for the InLinkz for all those playing at home). What have been your favourite manis from this year’s challenge? Your own or others’.

Feel free to add me to your feed on BlogLovin‘ and connect / follow me here:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Instagram

 Loading InLinkz ...

The post 31DC2014 Day 31: Honor Nails You Love appeared first on Buff & Polish.