Today marks the 12-year anniversary of the debut of Firefly on televisions 'cross the 'verse, which is a reason to celebrate all on its own, but it has also been cited (by Nathan himself, no less) as the corresponding Earth-That-Was date of Unification Day, when peace was negotiated between the Independents and the Alliance. To commemorate this, and in honor of those fallen at the Battle of Serenity Valley, I've created (yes, another) Browncoat nail art. What's that? You're not with me on this? Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
"Earth that was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new solar system, dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. Each one terraformed, a process taking decades, to support human life, to be new Earths. The Central Planets formed the Alliance. Ruled by an interplanetary parliament, the Alliance was a beacon of civilization. The savage outer planets were not so enlightened and refused Alliance control. The war was devastating, but the Alliance's victory over the Independents ensured a safer universe. And now everyone can enjoy the comfort and enlightenment of true civilization."
-the teacher, Serenity
So, technically Unification Day isn't something a Browncoat (Independent) should celebrate, having been on the wrong side of the war. Well, to that I say, it may have been the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one. And yes, technically speaking, "U" Day should fall somewhere in May, but that's based on the celestial rotations of a totally different galaxy. Also, "day" is a vestigial mode of time measurement based on solar cycles. It's not applicable...
What IS applicable is that us Browncoats will take any excuse to talk about the 'Verse (seriously, try asking a Browncoat what's so important about a primary buffer panel) and the anniversary of the first air date of the show is just such an excuse.
I created this look with a palette of 5 gorgeous colors (but let me do the math here).
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| L-R: OPI First Date at the Golden Gate and A-Piers to be Tan, George Gel Pro Celebration, Barry M Blackberry, MoYou Nails Yellow |
If you think this is a new theme for me, it's possible you're not recalling some of my previous plans. I've done Firefly/Serenity nail art a couple times in the past, on a Tri-Polish Tuesday and on Nathan's birthday, so I didn't want to reinvent the wheel. I also wanted to pay homage to the Independents field uniform for the first time.
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| Source: The Firefly and Serenity Database |
For the field uniform, I started with two coats of A-Piers To Be Tan on all but my thumb nail to get that gorgeous deep caramel color which reminds me of brown leather. With the bottle brush, I then covered the center 2/3s of my middle and ring fingers with First Date At The Golden Gate, which has a rich brick red tone layered over the Tan. I was then able to freehand the center stripes across the nails with a striping brush in Tan, and did my best to clean up the lines with First Date where necessary. After going back and forth between the two colors a few times, I was finally satisfied with my line-work and could switch focus to my flag nail.
Now, I also tried to do the Independents' flag back in March, but I was really, truly unsatisfied with the results, so I decided this was the time to try again.
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| Source: The Firefly and Serenity Database |
This time around, I started with two coats of Celebration because I knew that my Yellow was opaque enough to show up over top of the darker green. I used striping tape to delineate my yellow stripes and painted them on, then topcoated it. When my TC was dry, I drew the star on using my Sally Hansen blue nail art pen, and then went over it in Blackberry with a detail brush. I probably could have skipped the pen work, but I was really scared of freehanding a decent star in polish with the brush.
Oh, Grandpa! Overall, I'm just so much happier with this look than I have been with previous attempts. The camera definitely shows some rough spots on my line work, but that's practically invisible to the naked eye. It's not much, but it's enough.
All in all, I reckon I could wear these for an evenin' out. Maybe pop in for a quiet drink tonight, unless of course some purple-belly wants to start trouble on account of my nails bein' a kinda... brownish color. After all, I have done the impossible, and that makes me mighty.
Funny, sir, how you always seem to find yourself in an Alliance-friendly bar come "U" day... looking for a quiet drink.
-Zoë, Firefly, "The Train Job"
Your turn to sound off. Is this look shiny or gos se? Let me know down in the comments!
Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend, and I'll see ya soon!