Llama Nail Holiday Challenge week 6: Thanksgiving

Hey y'all!

This has been a fairly exciting week for me.  I got a lot of things accomplished, including registering with the doctor, who in turn gets me registered with the NHS, so in essence, I have health care again! Yippee!  Also, I completed construction of my new light box!  Yippee again!  I also managed to do my first actual successful water marble design!  Yippee f'reals!  Also got some shopping done including a few new nail polishes, and I got some nail art done.  All in all, I'd say this week's one to mark in the black.

This week's theme in the LN challenge was Thanksgiving.  This of course is kind of a tough one for me this year, as I won't be home to spent the long weekend with family.  Although, the last few years I've been on obligatory puppy-sitting duty so that Mom could go spend the holiday with the rest of the fam.  This was okay with me, because it meant I could order pizza and watch all the crap television I wanted without guilt.  However, I do of course still struggle with a bit of homesickness here and there, and nothing drives that home like knowing people back home are enjoying a 4-day weekend while Britain carries on.  Because that's what they do:  carry on.

I wanted this mani to incorporate the feel of Thanksgiving in colors and have a touch of "back home" without being cliche or too out-there, so I opted for this:

You can see a very subtle water marble flower on my middle and ring fingers, which I accentuated with some orangey rhinestones.  On my index and pinky, I've done a sponge gradient (in opposing directions) using orange, tan, and oxblood, and topped with a gold glitter coat.  My thumb is a direct tribute to being from Texas, because everyone knows the best part of Thanksgiving day is college football.  Usually UT would be playing A&M, but this year we're battling Texas Tech.  Hook 'em Horns!

Here you can see the water marbling a bit better.  I am so pleased that I was able to get a bullseye started and actually make the "flower" design successfully, and on the first try, even!  I didn't want to risk it, so I went ahead and dipped both fingers at once.

In retrospect I perhaps should've given that outer red ring a second drop for opacity, or laid down a base coat first, but I kind of dig the transparency - it looks sort of like the diluted cranberry sauce that winds up on your plate after a great Thanksgiving meal.

Colors used:

OPI A-Piers to be Tan

OPI Chop-Sticking to My Story (the perfect Longhorn burnt orange!)

Unmarked oxblood red

elf Chocolate

elf Golden Goddess

Kiss White striping paint

I mentioned I got to do a little bit of shopping over the weekend.  Superdrug was having a 3-for-2 sale (not uncommon) so I snapped up a few beauties for my collection.

I'm very excited to try out those Rimmel Space Dusts.  I saw some other reviews on them and they look a lot like the OPI Liquid Sands, which I've recently just fallen in love with, but OPI is hard to get over here unless you order it online.  The Models Own colors are from the Beetlejuice collection and I've been eyeing them for a while, so I decided to bite the bullet and get em.  They're sooo shimmery and duochromey!

So, in my last post I talked a LOT about the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special.  Did you get a chance to watch it?  No spoilers, except to say that it was met with mixed reviews.  However, I did get to enjoy a lovely Whovian meal, fit for a king.  Or a 5-yr old.  Jury's still out.

For the uninitiated, clockwise from top left:  a cuppa (tea), custard, fish fingers, Jelly Babies, and Jammie Dodgers.  Yes, I dunked my fish into the custard (I served it hot which is totally different from how Americans eat "pudding") and it wasn't revolting.  I'm not gonna say it changed my life or anything, but it didn't make me throw up.  It was a special kind of occasion.  I've also decided I'm not very keen on Jammie Dodgers.  There are so many great cookies in the world that I just can't see myself repeatedly buying these.  Jelly Babies are okay, but I still prefer Haribo SuperMix, because I like the gummies even though the jelly babies are not as nice.  I probably should've added a stalk of celery and a banana to this meal to round it out, but... I did not, and without a TARDIS I cannot change the past.  Fixed point in time.  I'm so, so sorry.

This weekend will bring a different kind of collaboration post, when I link up with some of the other British Nail Bloggers for posts about the best polishes for rubbing out.  Ahem.  Come back Saturday if you want to see what I meant by that.

Until then!  Also remember to check out the other fantastic Llama Nails challenge artwork below!

Much love,
Ali