off to the races

Crank up your lana del rey and bring out the big hats--it's derby time. Ok, so the Kentucky Derby just ended, but I still wanted to show off my race ready nails. Though I know absolutely nothing about the Kentucky Derby (I could always give my equestrian loving cousin a ring), I do know that the fashions--particularly the hats--are absolutely fabulous. When I was perusing through photographs this morning I came across a number of fantastic examples of headwear, but one hat stood out above all the others. This became my inspiration for this derby design. 

 I loved the subdued neutral pattern on the ribboned part of the hat and the pop of color on the flowers. Because a pattern simply isn't enough, I added a racehorse as to my ring finger nail as an accent. To begin the design I painted a coat of butter LONDON's nail foundation flawless basecoat. Next I used butter's Crumpet on all nails but my accent and painted two coats. For the swirled detail on each of those fingers I used butter's Royal Ballet. Both Crumpet and Royal Ballet unfortunately are discontinued colors. Tea with the Queen does however make a good substitute for Crumpet if you are looking for a similar neutral polish. So after I painted the main pattern I added a stripe of Queen Vic on each nail and painted the entire accent nail with two coats. Next I painted a thin strip in the middle of the magenta stripe using butter's Minger. After that stripe was painted, I used China Glaze'sMahogany Magic to paint a race horse on the accent finger. In order to tie the accent finger in to the other ones, I used the mahogany polish to add a very thin stripe on either side of the orange stripe on the other nails. After I finished, I realized that the horse wasn't very visible against the dark magenta of Queen Vic. I decided to use Minger to outline the racehorse silhouette in orange. Lastly, I used SV topcoat for a glossy finish.

                        Crumpet                Royal Ballet                 Queen Vic                Minger               Mahogany Magic

I can't wait until next year when I can wake up at 4am and drive on down to the derby with all my friends. I should probably start making my hat now if I want to give that lady above a run for her money next year. Did you watch the races? Maybe someone should fill me in on the results... I was too distracted by the fashion to pay much attention to the horses themselves. Hope everyone had a fab Saturday!