Carrot Skull

Micaela Schiavo of Italy is having fun making this vegetarian skull from a carrot.

My Mom always told me that eating carrots is good for my eyesight so it strikes me as comical that this bug eyed fellow can probably see his ultimate demise. Yet, he still keeps a grin on his face. Thanks for sharing this smile with us, Micaela!

Face Off Mashup: Natalie Zolkos & Nicole Hansen

As a part of our celebration for Skull Appreciation Day we're presenting you with the "Fan Submissions" part of our Face Off exhibit. We asked our readers to submit their own skulls using the template that was provided then we faced them off against each other, and we now proudly present for your viewing pleasure, the final results.

This Face Off mashup contains two submissions from students at Westfield Middle School, in Bloomingdale, IL. The students did these in their art class taught by Deyana Matt.

 FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy

May 31 - August 25, 2013

International Museum of Surgical Science

1524 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 6: Violet Nails

Oh boy, it is late! I'm a few hours past the Tuesday "deadline" for today's challenge, but I think it's worth the wait! I must say, I'm pretty proud of Meghan and I for keeping up with this so far...even if we've been a few hours late with some posts. 3 weeks into this adventure, and I am really enjoying this experience. Meghan is so talented so I doubt anyone can complain about having to look at her work :)

After trying out a completely different design and scratching it around 11 PM (3 hours ago!), a friend of my suggested a violet gradient with lace on top and I knew immediately I was going to do it. I feel like I say that a lot, but there is something that happens when you love a design - it just FEELS right. ;)

 I love how delicate and soft this look is and I am really pleased with how it turned out. I used Zoya's Julie (light purple) and Malia (dark purple) to create the gradient underneath the lace and though it's not a super prominent gradient, I like it. It's a little tough to see in the photos, but Julie has a very subtle and very pretty shimmer as it has some fine glitter mixed in with it. Very unique! With the help of my no. 10/0 brush from this kit, I painted the lace on with a generic white acrylic paint. 

 I wish I had some fancy tricks for painting patterns like this, but ultimately, it requires patience. If you try something intricate and delicate like this, don't sweat the small stuff! By that I mean, if you have a line out of place here or there, it's no biggie. You will drive yourself insane if you try and make everything completely symmetrical and the same! I also always recommend using a top coat over your base polish (especially in this situation since your base is also nail art) so that you can easily remove any mistakes you've made with the acrylic nail art on top of it.  

What do you think of this look? 

Happy Polishing! :)

Crystal "Clear" Skull

Bart DeKeyzer created this skull and image to remind us that hindsight is 20/20, as long as we have eyes to see that.

Okay, maybe that wasn't Bart's message in all of this, but I thought it sounded pretty good. It's always clearer at the end when you can reflect and hopefully learn from what you just experienced. If you would like to see this as a daily reminder then check this out. Thanks for sharing your skull's message with us, Bart!

Face Off Mashup: Ivaylo Paounov & Ian Renger

As a part of our celebration for Skull Appreciation Day we're presenting you with the "Fan Submissions" part of our Face Off exhibit. We asked our readers to submit their own skulls using the template that was provided then we faced them off against each other, and we now proudly present for your viewing pleasure, the final results.

This Face Off mashup contains two submissions from students at Westfield Middle School, in Bloomingdale, IL. The students did these in their art class taught by Deyana Matt.

 FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy

May 31 - August 25, 2013

International Museum of Surgical Science

1524 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

Sparkly Tribal Goodness

Hello, my dears! Tonight I've got another post inspired by something I came across on The Hunt! I am kind of obsessed with this site. I saw this fabulous tribal print sequin skirt and new immediately that it was meant to be on my nails. 

This was an all Zoya nail polish manicure, with 2 of the polishes coming from their latest Pixie Dust collection - he silver is Tomoko and the purple is Arabella. I never would have thought that these would be great nail art polishes, but they are so incredibly forgiving that it was incredibly easy to create sharp lines with them. Surprising, right?? The red is one of my favorites, Maura, and the base is a creamy yellow called Jacqueline. 

I freehanded this design and it was super easy to pull together with my no. 10/0 brush. This brush is great because it is long enough to do striping work with, but just thick enough that you can do detail work with no issues.

I hope to have some swatches of all my new Zoya babies up soon. I've been wearing Tomoko by itself nonstop for the past few days and am truly in love with it. Hope everyone had a great Monday! 

Happy Polishing :)

Crocheted Skulls and Flowers

Coco Flowers, from Paris, France, created these crocheted skulls and flowers.

I grabbed this animation from her blog, because the skulls look like they're dancing.

I've been talking about crochet a lot recently, with various crocheters. It's probably because Fall is soon, and I'm pondering new designs...mostly a skull design. Seeing great crocheted skulls like these, really is fantastic inspiration. I love the use of flowers as the eyes. This could help solve a design issue I've been having. Check out Coco Dollz Shop to purchase her creations.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 7.9

This week's simulacra were found on the ground.

Danette Pratt works with Marie Graham at Ohio University. Danette explained that "Marie routinely walks her creek beds and washes on her property here in southeastern Ohio. Then she brings her finds into the office to show and tell...usually flint arrow heads and spear points, interesting rocks and tumbled glass pieces." In June Marie brought in this "pebble skull", and granted Danette permission to photograph it and submit it us.

Tamela Nagy found this skull shell on Grandview Beach, in Carlsbad, CA.

Denis Fontaine received this skull rock from a friend. They found it in their yard.

Keep sending those pictures in, we always love seeing what our skull hunters find. Anyone is welcomed to participate, it's fun and it's easy. If you see a simulacra skull, photograph it and send those pictures in to our submissions address with a little something about what it is really and maybe a little about you.

Collaboration with Cocktails & Joints!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday! The boyfriend, dog and I are having a lazy day and I'm enjoying it...I also got a TON of Zoya nail mail today and oh boy! I am giddy! I can't wait to share some beautiful swatches with you all :) 

Today I have a tutorial post that I put together for a newer site, Cocktailsandjoints.com. I put this together for their Overindulgence Saturday posts and I think it's such a bright and easy look to put together. I love the classic simple dotted flower, but I think I put my own little spin on it as well. Be sure to check out the full tutorial in their article :)

Happy Polishing! :) 

Airbrush Paint Skull

Neil McIrvine of Melbourne, Australia created this skull from the airbrush paint bottles he used to create this airbrushed skull painting.

Neil also submitted this to a competition for Createx Paints so we'll wish him the best of luck with that. The painting is truly beautiful and I'm sure it will garner a lot of attention. Thanks for sharing it with us as well, Neil!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 5: Blue Nails

So, I have this terrible habit of writing up a big long post that I spend a good amount of time carefully pondering and thinking about, making sure the wording is just right and exactly what I want to say...and then I'll delete it. And I don't know why on earth I do that! Haha today I was trying to write the intro of this post and began talking about how I felt nail art had helped me figure out what I do and don't like when it comes to designs and taste...but when I tried explaining it, I realized I don't have as great a grasp on that as I thought I did! Go figure ;) 

Anyway, the whole point of writing that scratched intro was to express my love of funky and different designs in nail art while attempting to maintain a good taste level that isn't too outrageous and in your face...which is how I am in real life anyway. At the same time, I really do love doing art that pushes me outside of my comfort zone and is sometimes just weird and different. Maybe you all won't agree, but I think tonight's mani is funky and different but still keeps with my style for the most part. 

Now that we've gotten through my long winded ramblings, onto the actual nails! Tonight is the latest in the 31 Day Challenge and it's Blue Nails for tonight. And I'm actually on time today!

I painted weird...fans? triangles? arrow?...in an outward gradient of varying blues. I had originally intended to fill out the entire nail, but I ran out of room and wasn't able to implement that concept. 

The pattern sort of reminds me of a mix of almost mod and 70's styles? I don't know if that's possible, but that's what I'm going with! 

This was an all Zoya mani, with a base color of Jacqueline. 

The blues (from light to dark) are: 

-- Kristen --

-- Yummy --

-- Breezi --

-- Natty --

What do you see in these nails?

Happy Polishing! :) 

The Hunt for fun new patterns

I've mentioned this before, but I often turn to fabric patterns when I'm lacking inspiration for my nail art. I was recently introduced to a website called "The Hunt," where people can post images of things they can't find on their own, and ask the community to help them hunt it down. It's a really fun and unique concept and I ended up browsing their site for awhile. 

I ended up finding this super chic outfit on the site and became obsessed. I found the actual product and I just love everything about it. I could never in a million years pull of leather pants, but I can't get enough of this look. 

The shirt pattern was so amazing that I decided to give recreating it a go. While the site claims this is a "plaid" pattern, I think it looks more kaleidoscope-esque than anything. I would love to come up with a way to create this look easily, but for today, I ended up hand painting and blending this pattern. 

 I think I was so enamored with the fabric because of those amazing colors - even though I didn't have the right turquoise to match that in the shirt. This was a China Glaze heavy mani, with 4 of my 5 polishes coming from them. 

Turquoise - CG For Audrey

Blue - CG First Mate

Purple - CG Purr-fect Plum

Tan - CG Kalahari Kiss

Orange - Zoya Arizona

These are definitely kind of funky, but I'm really how with how they turned out. Happy Polishing! :)

Face Off Mashup: Rebecca Prominski and Riley Goodwin

As a part of our celebration for Skull Appreciation Day we're presenting you with the "Fan Submissions" part of our Face Off exhibit. We asked our readers to submit their own skulls using the template that was provided, then we faced them off against each other, and we now proudly present for your viewing pleasure, the final results.

This Face Off mashup contains two submissions from Westfield Middle School, in Bloomingdale, IL. The students did these in their art class taught by Deyana Matt.

This skull is by Rebecca Prominski.

This skull is by Riley Goodwin.

FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy 

 May 31 - August 25, 2013 

 International Museum of Surgical Science 

 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 4: Green Nails

Evening, everyone! I am so so sorry that I'm posting this a day late! I am still trying to figure out how to manage all my time with my new work schedule. I've got a lot on my plate but fingers crossed I'll have a handle on everyone very soon! 

Yesterday's post was supposed to be Green inspired nails for the next day of the challenge. I really love doing green nails when the fancy strikes me, but I feel like I can never think of anything to do when I HAVE to do green nails. When I'm not sure which direction to go with a mani, I'll often sift through my polishes and see which ones speak to me that day. 

Well, China Glaze's Def Defying was the glaring winner today. I've used this polish many times before, but it's such a fabulous chartreuse-y color that I can never resist it. Seeing this color ended up jogging my memory of one of my sister's old bed comforters. It was black, white, and bright green with a simple yet pretty floral print and I knew immediately I wanted to try that. I love when patterns just speak to me like that! 

 I ended up using my white and black acrylic paint for these, along with Def Defying and OPI's Skull and Glossbones as the base color. The bright green flower on my ring finger is actually what happens when you put white over Def Defying...and I love it! That was the last nail I completed and it made me want to redo everything because I loved how much this new color popped. 

I ended up adding a matte top coat to these in an attempt to show more detail, but I think I might like the high gloss look of Seche Vite better this time around. What do you think?

I know these are simple, but I really love how they turned out. I really like the look of the overlapping colors and I will definitely try more ideas using this technique in the future. 

Happy Polishing! :)

Face Off Mashup: Nick Stancil and Grace Kelly

As a part of our celebration for Skull Appreciation Day we're presenting you with the "Fan Submissions" part of our Face Off exhibit. We asked our readers to submit their own skulls using the template that was provided, then we faced them off against each other, and we now proudly present for your viewing pleasure, the final results.

This Face Off mashup contains two submissions from Westfield Middle School, in Bloomingdale, IL. The students did these in their art class taught by Deyana Matt.

This skull is by Nick Stancil.

This skull is by Grace Kelly.

FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy 

 May 31 - August 25, 2013 

 International Museum of Surgical Science 

 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

Lulu*s Floral Tutorial

Hello my dears! I've put together another tutorial for the Lulu*s Blog and I love how these turned out! I was inspired by one of their many adorable dresses and these are fairly simple to recreate. I think you could definitely mix and match whatever colors you'd like and these would still be fun. Be sure to check out the blog post about them! :) 

Happy Polishing! :)