End of an Era

For me, the Harry Potter series ended when the last book came out. The movies have never been a huge deal for me, mostly because while it's wonderful to see the story on-screen, I get really mad at what they change and leave out. But with the last movie out, it's really over, and when I see it tonight, that particular landmark will have passed. However, I'm looking forward to Pottermore (hopefully I can get in on the beta!) much more than the last film, so I still don't really see the last movie as an end.

Anyway, today's mani is the one I had specifically planned on wearing the night I saw the movie. Though it's not the last Harry Potter mani you'll be seeing - far from it - I thought it would be particularly appropriate. The first picture shows my left hand, and the second shows my right.

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

I used Finger Paints Curator's Crimson, Orly Luxe, Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta, Orly Enchanted Forest with Nina Ultra Pro Salsa on top, China Glaze First Mate with two coats of Icing Electric Feeling on top, Nina Ultra Pro Brassi Bronze, Wet n Wild Black Creme, and Nubar nail art pens in black and white. I also used Nailene toe tip guides to tape off the stripes.

All in all, I'm quite happy with this manicure. It could've been much neater, as the macro setting on my camera clearly reveals, but the mistakes are much less obvious in person. I will say, though, I thought it was going to take me forever to get that "P" right, even with the book propped up in front of me!

If you've seen Deathly Hallows Part 2, what did you think? No spoilers, please!

I received the Nailene tip guides for review. For more information, see my disclosure policy.

We Are the D.A.

If you know what the title of this post refers to, you are pretty freaking awesome. Just saying. Anyway, for my second Harry Potter nail art of the week, I decided to do one dedicated to the D.A. - that is, Dumbledore's Army. When I think of the D.A., for some reason I always think of blue and silver, maybe because the Room of Requirement in the movie has kind of blue lighting. For whatever reason, though, those are the main colors in my D.A. mani. My thumbnail is to the right, and my other four fingernails are shown below.

Both pictures were taken indoors under artificial lighting. I used Wet n Wild White Creme for the base on the thumb and China Glaze First Mate to write "D.A.." On my other fingers, I used First Mate with two coats of Icing Electric Feeling on top for the base, and on all the fingers I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City for the splatter.

The writing didn't turn out nearly as well as I would've liked, but I must say that the splatter looks much better than I'd hoped. This was only my second splatter mani (you'll probably see the first sometime next week), so I was very happy with how it turned out. Since SLU's colors are blue and white, I may do something similar for Welcome Week...

Fawkes the Phoenix

I know I told you I was going to show you the nail art I did over Green with Envy today...but then I changed my mind. With the last Harry Potter movie coming up, I've been re-reading the books like mad, so of course I had to do a correlating manicure. I've been making a list of ideas as I've read the books, and one that I couldn't wait to try was a Fawkes manicure. If you don't know who Fawkes is, well, Google "Fawkes the phoenix," and also, really?! Anyway, I knew that painting a non-cartoon bird on my nails would be pretty much hopeless, so I just did a feather on each nail. I used one coat of Wet n Wild Black Creme for the base (over base coat, naturally), then my red Nubar nail art pen, OPI Red My Fortune Cookie, China Glaze White Cap, and Nubar 2010 (sparingly) for the feathers.

 indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, sunlight

 outdoors, shade

Honestly, this manicure did not turn out as well as I would've liked, which I think is partly due to the fact that the reds I used are not perfectly opaque in one stroke over black. This meant I had to go over and over the lines I made to make sure that the red showed up vividly, and that compromised the cleanness of the design. I kind of saw this coming and would've tried it over white, but I knew that black would set the red and gold off so much better that I had to try it anyway.

That said, I cannot wait to do more Harry Potter manicures, and you'll probably be seeing them past the 15th, so be warned. :)