the girl who was on fire

As promised, here is my second tribute (pun intended) to the Hunger Games. If you have read the first book of Suzanne Collins' trilogy, you know that Katniss is the female tribute from District 12, the coal mining district. For her pre-Hunger Games interview, her stylist Cinna styles her as the girl who was on fire, "painting flame designs on [her] twenty perfect nails."What better way for me to prep for the Hunger Games film premiere than to style my nails like Cinna did Katniss'.


If you read my previous post,--yes I know it was long...but really--you may recognize a few of the polishes I used for this design. To start off, I used Butter London nail foundation. I know I typically don't go into detail about this particular product, but i absolutely swear by it. This formula really creates a smooth base for the polish. And because it is Butter, it is non-toxic and free of otherwise harmful chemicals that are often found in nail polish--YAY!

For the base color of the design I applied a coat of China Glaze's Smoke & Ashes, which is the color designed to represent District 12. It really does have a smoke effect with the little flecks of green and blue glitter in it. Next I painted the flames freehand with Butter London's Cheeky Chops. Using China Glaze's Riveting (also from their Hunger Games Collection), I added the glittering orange to accent the flames and add dimension. To make use of another one of China Glaze's Hunger Games themed polishes I used Electrify and added a little sparkle to each flame. To finish the look I applied a coat of SV topcoat. After a few hours of looking at the finished design, I had the brilliant (modest, yeah?) idea to paint the black over with Essie's Matte About You matte topcoat. My thought was that it would give it a smokier look and make the flames stand out and catch the light more noticeably. Personally I love the look of the matte mixed with the gloss, What do you think--matte or gloss final design? Perhaps you could try this for the premiere if you are a hunger games fan? If so, may the odds be ever in your favor.