Sunday, June 23, 2013

Knock Your Socks Off! A sock-inspired mani

Say whaaa . . . ?!  YES, you heard me correctly (or rather, you read that correctly ;-).  As a dear blogger buddy of mine has said, inspiration can come from ANYWHERE!  So when Liesl (yes, the Liesl of  Liesl Loves Pretty Things) posted a photo of her ailing knee, our mutual friend Essie (a la iHeartPrettyPolish) zeroed in on no, not the knee, but the SOCKS, and suggested we do a mani based off of them. :-)  And such is the life of a nail polish addict . . .& her friends!

I'll spare you the XL-sized photo of this one! ;-)
A flurry of comments ensued as we chimed in and agreed that would be a nifty way for our three blogs to connect, (I'd like to take this moment to mention that I'm incredibly honored to have anything to do with their blogs, as they're totally amazing & have earned their place in the big leagues!) and for us to have fun with something, shall we say, unique & a tad off-the-wall? :-)

And then I imagine our minds separately set to work attempting to puzzle through what we were going to do with a sock and a knee injury and . . . nail polish.  Well, this is what my cogitation kicked out:





First of all, can I just say how unbelievably GLAD I am that someone from PAA (Polish-aholics Anonymous, a fab Facebook group) mentioned their copious research on bulbs & came up with "daylight" compact fluorescent bulbs (Wal-Mart brand, no less!), because it looks like it's going to be stormy 'til the end of time here.  I was rather despondent until I remembered the lightbulbs I just bought!  For having no light box & simply putting one into our resident living room floor lamp, I am stunned at the color accuracy and ease with which I was able to get quite satisfactory photos!  Ok, that digression got to be a lot longer than I anticipated!  My apologies, but I was/am quite excited about this.  :-)  I can take awesome photos in the middle of the night!  Boom bayyyby!

This is what I used:


L to R: Sally Hansen 4-in-1 Complete Care (used as base), L'Oreal Eiffel For You, Zoya Neely, Zoya Yara, NYC French White Tip, NYC Skyline Blue, China Glaze Rich & Famous, Venique Ga-loshes Glow, NYC Matte Top Coat.  Oh, and the tiny craft paintbrush!  Couldn't have done it without him!


I really couldn't think of anything to do but replicate the look of the sock!  So after my ever-present base coat, I started with two coats of Zoya Neely on all my nails, then used the saran/cling wrap technique on thumb, pointer, & middle to sorta sponge on L'Oreal Eiffel For You - a beautiful, warm greige - to mimic the heather look of the sock.  I also went back over that with some sponged-on Neely to soften the boldness of the greige.
Originally, I was just going to do stripes on the standard accent nail, but since this is a mani in honor of Liesl's injury & her awesome sock, I thought: "why not do the pinkie as an 'accent' as well, like she does?"  :-)

I was able to use Yana, Skyline Blue, and of course, French White Tip right out of the bottle, but I had to get a bit creative for the other stripes.  So the pink & yellow-green were products of Rich & Famous + white and Ga-loshes Glow + white. The heather stripes didn't quite come out as good as they first appeared (esp. with the matte coat), but I don't think it was too shabby! :-)  Especially in light of this being my first attempt with freehand stripes.  It would probably be fine for someone with a steady hand, but that's not me!  And I suppose the medium latte with an extra shot earlier in the day didn't help much. ;-) ...well, it did...it kept my head from hitting the keyboard at work!


Originally, I had not given any thought to my topcoat, but as I was gathering my polishes, it dawned on me that DUH, socks are not shiny, so MATTE is the obvious choice!!! :-D  I was quite pleased to have thought of that, and I think the matte is the perfect icing on the sock, so to speak. :-)

Well, I think that's all I have for you.  Please be sure to head over & check out Essie's & Liesl's posts - they're as stellar as always! :-)  And remember: inspiration can be found anywhere - have fun with it!

Thanks for reading!!




18 comments:

  1. What an awesome job you did:) So cute and I love the thought you put into it. I have enjoyed getting to know you and I love that Liesl's socks brought us even closer together:)

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    1. Awwww, thank you Essie dear!!! :-D I tried hard to do my best, I'm glad you of all people (with your perfect manis) think it looks good. :-)
      Double AWWWWW, I've enjoyed getting to know you too - like, a TON, and it IS great that we've been brought together by -- SOCKS! lolol ;-)

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  2. Hi! I found you through Liesl's blog. I really love the stripes in your mani and I'm your newest follower! :D

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    1. Hello Clare!! :-D Thank you SO MUCH for checking out (and following) my blog!! Thank you for the compliment, however, once I saw the SUPER MACRO photos, I could pick out a hundred issues with the stripes that I didn't notice 'til then. I just won't expound on them here 'cuz if you guys didn't notice them, well, I don't wanna be like, HEY, look how crappy of a job I actually did! :-P
      Welcome, I hope you enjoy visiting from time to time. :-D

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    2. Ahh, the macro shot... I showed my DH my own photos (in my own quasi-despondent state) and he validated my feelings by saying it looked so much cooler in real life. rofl.

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    3. Egads - I ALMOST DELETED YOUR COMMENT BY ACCIDENT, LIESL! :O I meant to click "reply," not delete... I've done that more than once now. :-/ Good think Blogger makes you confirm the delete rather than just getting rid of it!
      Anyhoo! "...quasi-despondent state..." LOL! Good thing you have such a wonderful husband who knows just what to say in times of blogger crises! :-D

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  3. You did a great job with this . Fantastic story to be inspiring to a manicure. :P

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    1. Thank you, Dina! :-D I appreciate your kind words & the fact you took the time to read one of my HUGE posts. ;-P And welcome to my 'lil group of readers!
      Yes, it is a pretty interesting, definitely unique story. :-)

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  4. You did my double accent thing!! ♥♥♥♥♥ This seriopusly looks so cool and mattifying the whole thing was genius, as was using those colors for a saran wrap mani to mimic the mottled look of the grey... You've got it goin' on, girlie :) And big leagues?! *blush* **blush** ****blushhhh**** **kicks ground with toe** Shucks. You give me too much credit, dude. And I'm by no means big league but you shore are a sweetheart ;D

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    1. YUP, SHORE DID!! :-P I wanted to get as many stripes as I could on mah fingerzz so, I was like hey why not?! Hehe, thanks!! I was pretty impressed with myself (not gonna lie), thinking of my wicked awesome and CHEAP NYC matte topcoat. :-D I also love the satin feel of my nails with it on - I kept rubbing them. Awwww shucks, I can't believe YOU think I'VE got it goin' on!! :-D And I'd like to know what you consider big league, if you're not it!
      Btw, that's alotta blushing...you didn't even need to put any on today then. ;-)

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  5. Wow...you did a super job, Emily! The thumb, pointer and middle nail are so sock-ish! I just love this whole story! :)

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    1. Thank you, Melissa!! :-D I think the saran wrap mani thingie was the first "liiightbulb!" (name that movie!) that came on once we decided to do the triplet post. It's definitely perfect for the "heather" look (esp. with the matte TC), so I was really excited about that!
      Hahaha, YUP, 'tis interesting what a collaboration of minds can generate! ;-) I was glad that Liesl thought to put in the comment thread.

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  6. Hi Emily! Your nail art is really looking good. I was wondering if you would be interested in doing a guest post for me? I'm going to be away from the 12th to the 19th of July, and I need some awesome guest posters! Email me at guiltyaschargedblog@blogspot.com if you're interested. Thanks so much!

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    1. Oops that's guiltyaschargedblog@gmail.com

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    2. Hi Haleigh! Wow, thank you for the kind comment & the amazing invitation! :-D Of course I'd love the opportunity, so I will email you about that, pronto. :-)
      Thanks again for stopping by & checking out my humble 'lil blog!

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  7. i like the idea of matte because, you're right, socks are not shiny. nice job!

    the painted ninja

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    1. Hahaha, thank you!! :-) NOPE, no shiny socks, thanks to matte TC - and thank you for reading!!! It's an honor to have you on Uña, Dos, Tres! :-D

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