Monday, January 23, 2012

OPI Designer De Better


The second polish from The Muppets collection by OPI that I want to share with you is Designer De Better.  OPI calls it a metallic bronze, but it's more like pewter with tiny pink micro glitter in it.  Like Warm & Fozzie, it's a bit thin, so in order to get full coverage you'll need two or three coats.  I like that it's not a pure silver foil.  In fact it really looks like silver leaf and it's very pretty in sunlight.



click to enlarge 

Again, I used Essie's Matte About You on top to change it up.  It's a little difficult to see the difference in the photo but trust me, it's amazing in person.  With the matte top coat, Designer De Better has a dull satiny finish.  I actually think I prefer it this way!




So, there you go!  Two easy ways to wear OPI's Designer De Better.  Just one more reason I'm Matte About You, Essie.

Monday, January 16, 2012

OPI Warm & Fozzie


You know how I won the entire OPI Muppet Collection of polishes?  Well, it took a bunch of votes from my chickadees to help me win.  So, I thought it would only be fair to share with you some ideas on how you can wear OPI's cutest new polishes.  Not nail art, just different ways of layering that can give you a variety of looks.

The first polish is Warm & Fozzie.  Don't you love the name?  It's a beautiful brown with copper, gold and pinkish micro glitter-- almost like a gritty foil.  It really is a chameleon.  It can look totally different inside, outside, at night, basically in all kinds of light.  It's a bit thin, so it took three coats to be truly opaque.



click to enlarge
 
I love layering matte top coat on my glittery nail polishes.  It gives them a suede-looking finish which is really pretty.  Layering Essie's Matte About You over Fozzie makes it look like tarnished bronze with a slight patina.  Very elegant.


So, grab a bottle of matte top coat (OPI has a version, too) and layer away!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Jan's Memory Tree


I thought I would share this cool project with you that I've been working on for the last week.  A really neat lady is retiring this month who has worked at United Way for 40 years.  We wanted to give her something she could display in her home to remind her of the lives she has touched over the years.  One of my coworkers suggested something akin to a guest book tree (you know the ones with the blank branches that people put their fingerprints on to look like leaves).

I feel like the guest book tree is over-done, so I adapted the idea into an actual piece of artwork.  We were going to be "collecting" thumbprints at Jan's retirement party and I was concerned that without a formal headcount, I wouldn't know how big to make the tree and may end up with too many branches and not enough thumbprints to make it look full and pretty.  Painting an entire tree, leaves and all seemed like the best solution.  That way, it didn't matter how many people showed up.





First, I painted a tree on a 24"x30" canvas in acrylics.  You'll see that during the entire process, I continued to mess with the tree and the background, so it looks a lot different from the beginning to the end.





We wanted to add a sentiment to the painting, so I decoupaged a piece of tissue paper on the canvas and used washes of brown and pink paint to blend it in to the painting and add texture.  If I ever do another memory tree, as I've named it, I will probably just paint the words across the bottom under the tree.  But, this is how everyone liked it.





I added some white areas on the tree because we were going to use purple, Jan's favorite color, for the thumbprints and I wanted to make sure they would stand out against the green.  So the white paint served as a primer to make the thumbprints pop.





Once everyone had added their imprint on the painting, I went back and painted over the white areas, messing with the tree some more, and it was complete!

I'm very pleased with how it turned out and Jan loved it.  I call that a success!

Friday, January 6, 2012

I Won! I Won!


I finally won the last week of the OPI Muppet Madness contest! The final character was Animal and I knew I had to pull out all the stops in order to have a fighting chance. And it worked!



So, I decided to do the entire Dr. Teeth and Electric Mayhem band. It wasn't easy, but I pulled out my magnifying glasses, my acrylics and my paint brush with only three hairs left, and got to work.

I was so excited when my prize pack arrived! I got the entire line of OPI Muppets collection polishes, four tickets to see The Muppets and the movie soundtrack.

I'll be sharing some tutorials in the next few months, so keep an eye out. Thanks to everyone who voted for my Muppet manis over the last five weeks. It's been a blast!



P.S. The Electric Mayhem background polish is French Quarter for Your Thoughts.