Pentecost Flames

"Sunday, Sunday! Be there, be there!" Okay, it's not a monster truck rally, but this Sunday is pentecost, which means that the theme can be nothing other than fire. if you're not a Christian, you can very well ignore this and just have a fire theme for fun (why not?). I had the idea of playing Dragon Force "Through The Fire and Flames" over the sound system at the end of the service, but I decided against it. Not that it really makes a difference, but I doubt my priest would talk to me again. So, just the nails it is. If I still had my beloved acoustic drums at church, I would be more than excited to cover the front of the base with flames, perhaps attaching appropriately coloured tissue paper to my cymbals, but that's not easy to do with a tiny plastic kit that no one can see. Maybe I'll just clip bits of tissue paper to my hair and pretend it's a completely normal thing to do. I love being an individualist!

So, back to the subject of nails, which is they you're here, it's time for fire! I did have a few designs where I would draw flames on either the base or the tip on my nail with a clear or black background. I achieved this by using a striper brush, but when people think of fire, the common thing to think of are flames. Why be normal when you can be creative? So sorry if I tricked you with the above picture, but this is not the design I have on today. My thumbnail is a lot longer than that now. Although I am wearing those same jeans. I've started changing the shape of my thumbnails to match the others by making them more square and less rounded, with ultimately makes them stronger, because there is more surface area at the tip of the nail when they are square. To change the shape, this does take several weeks so I can allow my nails to grow as I file them between designs. Getting a manicure is great, but it is only really effective if you continue to have one once every week or two. I suggest if you are a nail biter trying to quit, get a manicure done at least twice a week.

Behold, fire nails! If you're interested in doing what I did and only painting the tips of your nails, I'm afraid this design doesn't work for short nails. If you do have shorter nails but would like to try this design, there is nothing stopping you from filling your entire nail with these colours. After a base coat, take a nice yellow (I used MigiNailArt's "Lemon") and paint a small amount on a clean foundation sponge. Once you do that, quickly dab it onto the whole tip of your nail before it dries, starting at the very tip and moving down the nail to create a gradient. This works better if you paint a pale pink coat over your entire nail first (I suggest Sally Hansen's "Nearly Nude 2"), but you don't have to. I didn't. Once you have the yellow on your tips, do the same thing with orange, I used MigiNailArt's "Neon Orange". Don't place the orange over your entire tip like you did with the yellow. Instead, dab it on about 2/3 of your tip, leaving some yellow by the base of your tip. Don't forget to start at the tip and work down. After the orange, do the same with a red. I used MigiNailArt's "Fire Red" (how appropriate for this design).. This time, only dab it on 1/3 of your tip. This method dries the polish very quickly, but double check to make sure your nails are completely dry in between applying these colours. You can either leave your nails with these 3 colours, or you can continue with my idea. I took OPI Nicole's Black Crackle polish and hand painted it on the very tip on my nail, as well as the free edge. The crackle effect makes the tips look charred and burnt, just like the coals of a fire. Finish off by covering your dry design with a top coat, including the free edge. If you're really adventurous, instead of painting your nails with a clear pink or leaving them clear before applying the yellow, take a light grey and your clean foundation sponge and apply that over the whole nail. When you have completed your design, they grey will look like smoke.

I hope you enjoy this design, whether it's looking at my pictures or trying it on yourself. I'd love to see what fire/pentecost designs you can come up with!