results of a rainy day

I was a little bored and the weather outside was terrible so I decided to paint a few nail wheels--a first for me. As you can see, I used my usual butter LONDON polishes for all the designs. The first wheel I did I actually started as a collection of quick and easy design options for a Mani and Merlot event I did with a friend and decided to just keep going from there. The following are some close ups and brief descriptions of each wheel. Enjoy! 

This is the one of easy designs I did for my friend's party. They are mostly just bright, fun patterns. A few are ones I have done in previous posts (the daisies, ikat) and some are inspired by things I found online. I love the way the yellow chevron turned out...subtle and cheery. The paisley and hearts are a few other favorites. I also love how you could wear a collection of them together like the yellow/gold gradient, pink/white/rose glitter dots, and the white/grey/pink/rose glitter pinstripes even though they are a little different.  

This wheel was more themed...hello florals. It actually ended up getting difficult to think up unique floral patterns by the time I got to nail 14 and on. Once again, a few are replicas of previous designs, some pretty old favorites actually (calypso flowers, garden party pop art, roses, sunflower, daisies). I loved the way the groovy 70's inspired daisy turned out..possibly a future design could come out of that. I tried to do as many different flower types as I could think of (that could translate to nails well) and hopefully you can identify the dozens of daisies, roses, cherry blossoms, calla lily, tulips, sunflowers, poppies, hibiscus, and lilacs.  

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a grade A anglophile...this nail wheel and the next pretty much sums it up. The Union Jack il is one I did in my very very early years of nail art...I would like to think I have improved. The black and white profile of my favorite Queen Elizabeth II was inspired by the cover of the script for the play The Audience--I saw it in London and met Dame Helen Mirren after and she signed my copy...I don't think anyone else should be allowed to play HRH--she's brilliant. There's a lot of official HRH ER II styled nails in the set, classic uniform of British foot guards is pretty recognizable on the bottom, as well as England's flag (St. George's Cross--not to be confused with the UK's flag the Union Jack). Some popular English landmarks like Big Ben, the classic red phone booth, Underground sign, and the London Eye are included. English memorabilia like red white and blue patterned jubilee bunting, crown jewels, and the Keep Calm and Carry On war phrase. To fill up the rest of the nails I did various red, white, blue, and gold patterns. 

Based on the last nail wheel...I LOVE the UK...I'm sure you all have got that by now. The Union Jack is such a fun design to paint and relatively easy so I thought it would be fun to do a pop art spin on it and paint it in as many different color combinations as possible. I absolutely loved the result of this one and actually wouldn't mind some wall art like this...perhaps my next project. 

I hope you enjoyed these...a little different from the usual post, but definitely a lot more actually designs to look at. Cheers!