Kansas State Game Day Manicure

Hi there, folks!  If you're fairly new to my blog, you may not know that I'm a football nut.  In particular, a Kansas State University Wildcat football nut.  Today is the first game of the year and I'm super excited to watch my 'Cats play again...it's been too long!  I know you're asking yourself what this has to do with nails or polish.  Well, just like any fan I like to display my team's colors and fortunately, nail polish comes in many colors including the regal purple and white of the Wildcats!  So without further ado, here's my game day mani to cheer on the 'Cats!

I used bunches of polishes to create this look (I'll include a list at the end of the post if you're interested) and some fun PowerCat (my team's icon) decals I found online.  I'm trepidatious about the decals, as my team seems to do better when I handpaint them.  Yes, I'm a crazy superstitious fan to boot lol  But, I'm chancing it because the decals are just so darn cute!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this manicure (even though I know not every one is into sports).  I know I can't be the only fan out there who paints her nails for game days. I'd love to see your team manicures as well!  Feel free to link them in the comments section!  Thanks so much for reading!

Polish list:
Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer~Donatello
Sinful Colors~Snow Me White
Zoya~Carter
China Glaze~Creative Fantasy
O.P.I.~Solitaire
Sally Hansen Striper~White & Purple
Wet 'n' Wild~2% Milk
 

Pigtails & Purple Nails

Howdy, everyone!  Happy Saturday!  Since I'm down to a single job, I'm so enjoying my weekends off.  This is how it should be!  And I even get a 3-day weekend this week!  Woot, woot!  It is Saturday so I'm due for another Pigtails & Purple Nails game day post!  Tonight, my KSU Wildcats take on the UMass Minutemen in the third game of the season.  It looks to be a tough one, so I hope my superstitious mani magic will work its wonders!

I did some taped chevrons and a fun zig-zaggy square pattern this time around.  And I got my Powercat decals in the mail yesterday so I didn't have to spend hours handcrafting one.  Hopefully that won't throw off the game, but frankly, a girl has got to sleep sometime!
 

Here's a close up of the decal.  I'm pretty happy with them, especially since I had a credit and was able to take advantage of a free shipping sale so they cost me nothing!  The color is good and the quality seems decent, especially since I'll only wear them for 24 hours at most usually.  I got them on fanatics.com, regularly priced at $1.95 for a set of 16 decals.  It's a pretty good deal, and they have just about every team you can think of!

I know not everyone digs these game day posts, but I really enjoy showing support for my team with my nails.  So I hope I'm not boring you all to tears lol  I appreciate every one who takes the time to look at any of my posts, so if you've made it this far, thanks so much :)

Game Day Manicure

8-0! 8-0! My Wildcats are 8-0!  Sorry, just had to get that out from the start here lol  It was Game Day today and that means pigtails and purple nails from me.  I'll have to post a photo of the pigtails as well sometime, but let's concentrate on the purple nails for now, shall we?  I almost didn't finish this manicure in time today.  Kickoff was at 2:30 and I finished cleaning up at 2:15.  Disaster was narrowly avoided!  Anyway, here's what I've got for you today:

Aren't they fun?  Glitter, sparkle and a PowerCat to top it off.  I started with 2 coats of French White Creme from Wet 'n' Wild.  Someone asked me recently why I use that particular polish so often.  White is a staple in my manicure repertoire and FWC is $0.99 a bottle at Walgreen's.  It covers well and it's cheap ;)  All the purple is Purple Pulse from Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure line.  I found this on clearance at Walgreen's last week, a gorgeously perfect KSU purple frost, love it!  Diamonds Are Forever from Revlon rounds out this manicure as the silver component.

...more after the jump...

Game Day Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  I know I've been slacking on the posts lately, but I have a good excuse, I promise.  It's just been a hectic few days and I haven't had time to polish my nails. *gasp* The horror!  I've been wearing this manicure since Wednesday night, I had to plan ahead for game day this week because I had plans every night until tonight.  Having a social life is tough!  lol  Anyway, these game day manicures have become a ritual and, as my Wildcats are still undefeated, I'm pretty sure they give that little extra oomph they need to win!  Yes, I'm aware that it has more to do with Collin Klein's arm than with my nails, but superstitions are only weird if they don't work!  So here's what I have:

I started with 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Megalast in On a Trip, a dusky purple creme.  My camera never really captures purple very well, this is actually much less blue than it shows up here, but you get the idea. On top of that, I applied 2 coats of Barielle's Purple Hearts, multi-sized purple and holographic hex glitters.  Using Nailside's Explosion tutorial, I taped off a design.  I painted on a clear base coat and then dipped my finger into a pot of Wet 'n' Wild's Fantasy Makers Confetti in Glitz.  I've got to hit Walgreen's and get another bottle of that stuff; gorgeous holographic silver glitter!  It's in their seasonal Halloween makeup aisle and I believe it retails for around $5.  Good stuff!

A close up of my accent nail and you can also see Purple Hearts a bit better:

And one more shot for good measure:
 

I hope you enjoy my Game Day Manicures as much as I do!  Tomorrow I'll have another Nail-aween Challenge mani for you, so be sure to drop by.  Thanks so much for reading!

Game Day Manicure: Gradients and Polka Dots

Howdy, everyone!  I have yet another K-State manicure to share with you guys.  I know you're not all interested in football, but hopefully you're all interested in colorful nails!  In case you were wondering, my Wildcats won today, 27-21 over Iowa State.  It was a nail-biter (not literally, cuz I don't do that any more)!  

Anyway, it's become a ritual for me to paint my nails purple and white to honor my school's colors. Yesterday, I was lamenting the fact that I was going to be up late to finish my nails and my boss said something to the effect of "Well, then don't do them."  I told her that I HAD to paint my nails because, if I didn't and they lost, it would be all my fault!  I also wear my lucky braided pigtails and a specific t-shirt.  Yes, I know it's all superstition, but it's only weird if it doesn't work!  Ok, how about some photos of my manicure already?

...more after the jump...

Game Day Manicure

Howdy everyone!  Another weekend is drawing to a close.  Because I know you're all terribly interested in my sports teams, my Wildcats pulled off a big win against the KU Jayhawks on Saturday.  It was a tough first half but they pulled away in the second and won 56-16 to become the #5/6 team in the nation!  EMAW!

I wanted to show you guys my game day manicure because I got so many compliments on it.   It was super simple to do and has a great visual impact.  I used 2 colors (K-State's colors are purple and white which if you've read my blog at all you've figured out by now) but this could be done with as many as 4 colors.  Too much more than that and you run the risk of getting a little muddy.  So here's the manicure:

...more after the jump...

22 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Song

Howdy, everyone!!  I'm sorry, I'm just so excited so please forgive any excess exclamation points :)  My Kansas State University Wildcats have beaten the Oklahoma University Sooners tonight in a magnificent football game!  I know that 95% of you really don't care, but it's kind of a big deal and I just had to mention it here.  Congrats, 'Cats!

On to the manicure, today we're inspired by a song.  Because of the aforementioned game, I had to do purple nails, so I chose Wabash Cannonball as my song of choice.  Wabash is the second fight song of the Wildcats and a personal favorite of mine.  I did a little research into the song and found out it was written about a mythical train that, in hobo culture (yes, I said hobo culture), symbolized that last great ride, death.  Yes, I know, a little morbid.  You'd never know it from the song, I'll post a link to it at the end of the post.  Additionally, the sheet music for Wabash was the only saved from a fire in the KSU music department in 1968, so it's come to stand for the fight and triumph of the underdog which is exactly what happened tonight!  Here's what I came up with:

I know it doesn't look like much, but I was knackered when I was painting my nails last night so my creativity level was a bit low.  I started with 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Fast Dry in Buffy the Violet Slayer, a rich purple metallic, over a coat of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme for undies.  On my ring finger, I painted railroad tracks using French White Creme, Sinful Colors Smokin', Revlon's Diamonds Are Forever and black striping polish.  I also used DAF for the french tips on my other nails.  My pinkie is supposed to look like a train coming down the tracks toward you.  I've included a closer image of both accent nails so you can see it a bit better.

Not my best work, but it was a fun idea anyway!  Tomorrow's challenge is to be inspired by a movie, so stop by to check out what I come up with.  Thanks for reading!

Almost forgot the links!
http://youtu.be/aZiQ89_s67Q : This is Johnny Cash's version of the song
http://youtu.be/cUjQ39eTQbk : And this is how we do it at K-State!

K-S-U Wildcats! Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  In case you didn't know or aren't sports oriented, today is the college football opening day.  Thanks goodness!  I love football.  In particular, I love Kansas State University Wildcats football, and since we're currently winning our game 51-9  we just won our game 51-9 over Missouri State,  I'm thrilled to post my football inspired mani here!

Isn't it cute?!  I started with 2 coats of Sonia Kashuk's Rock Star and added a layer of Purple-xing by Nina Ultra Pro.   Then, I made stencils with blue painter's tape for the "Power Cats" on my thumb and ring fingers.   Power Cats are KSU's mascot symbol.  To make the stencils, I put the tape directly on my computer monitor over the design I wanted to trace.  I traced them with a pen and then moved the tape to a hard surface and used an X acto knife to cut out the stencil.  I waited until the base color was completely dry and then used the stencils to apply some white acrylic paint.  Using a dotting tool and a striping brush, I created the designs on my other nails.

Here's a closer look at the Power Cat design:

I'm so glad we won today!  It was a shaky start but hopefully we'll finish the season like the second half of that game!

As always, thanks for reading!