Thursday, July 11, 2013

Before & After: Abstract Ocean (Or, now I get the point of crellies)

Hello!

I recently went on a trip to one of my favorite places in the world, Carmel-by-the-sea. I've been going to Carmel for years because it has many things I love: possibly the world's most beautiful beach; fun boutiques; quaint, quirky, fun houses and architecture; excellent restaurants; art galleries. Layered over all of that, Carmel is a dog-loving town in the most beautiful of ways, and I've always loved that even though I didn't have a dog. Once I was adopted by my puppy-baby this past October, I knew I had to take her for a visit so she could run along the gorgeous off-leash beach...I had one of the best afternoons of my life watching her discover the water--at first scared, slowly testing it out, learning to love it, and then impossible to separate from it. That night, I knew I wanted to create a polish inspired by that beautiful beach and that wonderful day...and when I got home, I did exactly that.

Here are swatches of the polish, which I've named Carmel. It's supposed to be an abstract representation of the beach, with a beige base for the sand, blue glitters for the ocean, green glitters for the seaweed, and brown glitters for the rocks. There are also a few pearl white glitters for shells:

Lacquer Or Leave Her! Carmel, artificial light

Unfortunately, when I put this on in a full manicure, the base is too opaque and covers the glitters too much (I guess maybe this is the beach at low tide?), so I need to tweak it a bit more, but here's what it looks like for the moment; I want it to look more like the swatch above, so I will add more clear suspension base.

Lacquer Or Leave Her! Carmel, indirect sunlight


Lacquer Or Leave Her! Carmel, direct sunlight


Lacquer Or Leave Her! Carmel, artificial light

I wanted to do a little nail art on this, particularly because the glitters weren't doing quite what I wanted them to. So I stamped with Pueen45, using Zoya Breezi; I picked a flourish image that is sort of wave-like, to make it ocean-y and flourish-y at the same time. Then I added some glitter on top of the stamping and the glitter circles to give it more pop; I used Wet n Wild Fergie's Mermaid Curves:







What do you think? I know it's not perfect yet, but do you think it has potential? Or should I just give it up and start over on a different polish, lol?

Thanks for looking, and big hugs. :)
M.

8 comments:

  1. It definitely has potential! I love that it has circle glitters in it too :)

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    1. Circle glitters are da bestest ever!! I put in some suspension and I'll test it again...one of these days maybe I'll get it. :)

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  2. Definite potential! It reminds me of the Ontario beaches I grew up with, although the green would be trees, not seaweed. The nail art really 'fixed' the current version. The glitters shine through the Zoya Breezi, making it look even more water-like.

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    1. Thank you so much--I think your description makes it sound prettier than it is, lol. :) Well, maybe if I turn out to have no talent for frankening, at least I can use it as an inspiration for nail art, rofl!

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  3. It got potential, thats for sure. I love the nail art you did with it. :) Adorable.

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  4. I really like it!! I have never seen a color similar to this. Very pretty!

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    1. Thank you so much! When I was at the beach, I was thinking how I would have loved to wear a polish that captured the colors of the ocean, but one that was sand-colored at the base. I thought and thought, but couldn't think of one like that...so I decided to make mah own! :)

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