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Thursday, October 4, 2012

Before & After: Black Cats

Hello!!!

Black cat, nine lives
Short days, long nights
Livin' on the edge
Not afraid to die...

Yes, you guessed it, the net installment of my CNT Halloween challenge is 'Black Cats'. You all know I love cats, so this is one I've been looking forward to doing. And right at the perfect moment, the perfect polish appeared to help me execute my vision: Color Club Port-Folio. If you haven't seen this polish, am I very proud to be the one to show it to you--it's one of the most stunning duochromes I've seen. It's a deep grape-purple with an dark grass-green color shift:


Color Club Port-Folio, indirect light

Color Club Port-Folio, indirect light

Color Club Port-Folio, direct sun

I love this polish in its own right, but I also love it for Halloween, since the duochrome has two of the canonical Halloween colors in it. I decided it would make the perfect Halloween night sky...

My concept for my 'black cats' manicure was to have three of my four nails show the black cat against a dark, moonless night sky, and on the accent nail show what happens to the cat when the moon comes out:


Black cats, indirect light

Slightly blurry to show the color shift and the glitter

To make stars in the sky, I did a very light sponging downward from the cuticle with China Glaze Fairy Dust.  On the ring finger, I free-handed a moon with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes. Then I stamped my kitties, regular with Shany plate SH02, and arched-back with SH08, using Konad black. I finished up with Seche Vite, of course. :) What do you think? I think it's meow-tastic.

However, there is a serious side to the topic of black cats on Halloween. Many people are superstitious about black cats and believe they're bad luck, a tragic side-effect of their association with 'witches' who supposedly used them as 'familiars' back in the days of the witch trials. To this day, this has two very sad consequences. Black cats are the least likely to be adopted, and accordingly, are the most likely to have to be put down in shelters; if you're considering adopting a cat, please consider adopting a black cat, since its less likely that someone else will. Second, if you have a black cat, please keep them inside the house around Halloween. Acts of violence toward black cats are heightened that week, and many black cats go missing during that time. Don't let yours be a victim to someone's bigoted stupidity.

Love all da kittehs, I say! And thanks for reading. :)

Xoxox,
M.

10 comments:

  1. Dumb superstition! Poor kitties. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I need that duo chrome now.

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    1. I know right!? How can you be afraid of a cute wittle kitteh!!?? And yes, imo, that duochrome is a must...:)

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  2. Just gorgeous! We have had 7 black cats and all of them have been good luck! My baby is 20 years old now :)and they all have picked us or were given to us sight unseen. My favorite time of year, black cats abound :)

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    1. Woo hoo! 3 of my 4 are black. We adopted three siblings, two were black, one silver. Then a kitten just adopted us recently--showed up in our yard half dead, and he's black, too. They are all the sweetest cats you could ever meet!

      M.

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  3. Wow, lady, this is an amazing mani. Love this! On a side note, my daughter adopted 3 cats, all 3 solid black! She keeps them in as soon as she can round them up in Oct, and for 2 weeks after Halloween.....we love all of our furr-babies

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    1. Thank you so much! :) Smart daughter you have there...It's so cool that I'm meeting so many awesome cat lovers via this mani. :)

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  4. Gorgeous.. i love that purple. so pretty

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