Hey there, fellow lacqueristas! Last week, I was trying to take off a piece of nail that was peeling at the tip, and wouldn't you know, ended up tearing the entire nail off :( Needless to say, I had to cut down that nail to a nub. Now my nails aren't the same length and in no way, shape, or form to photograph since this happened on my swatching/photo hand :(
I reached out on here and in a group I'm in on FB for guest posters and the response has been amazing! :)
Today's guest post is from Brethil Ebontree from
Druid Nails!
Hello readers!
I'm Brethil Ebontree from
Druid Nails. Patricia asked for guest posters to fill her blog while her poor torn nail grows back. I jumped at the chance, I let her pick a theme and because we both play online games she chose games as the theme for my manicure. Personally I have been playing the online roleplaying fantasy game
EverQuest 2 for 6 years and because I still enjoy it, I haven't tried any other games. Though I will probably try EverQuest Next when it launches in the future *winks*. My blog name was inspired by my main play character in EQ2, she is a Dwarven druid in the game. It was only natural to do a manicure inspired by EQ2 and my main play character.
I've never been very gifted at drawing and my nail art brushes have been sitting unused in a drawer of my Helmer for a while. I needed a good excuse to try free handing nail art. This guest post was the push I needed *chuckles*. The two brushes I used were a flat broad one and a small brush I clipped even thinner to get finer lines. I got these brushes in a set on eBay, very cheaply.
I started out with a nude base. In my area Catrice (German brand) is easily available, most polishes I own are from Catrice. You could use whichever polishes you have for this of course. I used Catrice's My Café Au Lait At Nôtre-Dame. I needed 3 coats for an even opacity. I let it dry completely. Next came the scary part, dipping the nail art brush in a polish and start. Best to just dive ahead *winks*.
On my thumb I recreated the EQ2 logo. I started with a blue base with Catrice's Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! that I applied with the wide nail art brush. When this was dry I mixed a drop of the blue with a white to lighten it. The logo goes from darker blue at the top to lighter at the bottom. When this was dry I took my very thin nail art brush and started on the lettering. For the lettering I used Essence INTI INKA, which is a warm yellow, not too bright. The lettering is not perfect, but I am pretty happy with the result anyway. I used a white polish for the edge.
On my index finger I made a stein of ale. A bare necessity for a Dwarf obviously. I painted the body of the stein with the wide nail art brush and NYC Prey of Grey. I did the handle with the thin brush. When this was dry I attempted a swirly pattern with a darker grey (super cheapo polish brand Max in the colour Metal). I ended with a foamy head with a white polish.
On my middle and ring finger I made druid rings. In EQ2 one of the things the druid classes can do is cast portals to the druid rings that are all over Norrath, which is the world of EQ2. These look like Stonehenge, each area is slightly different in colour of stone, if they have vines growing along them, but otherwise they're all similar. Using the wide nail art brush and NYC Prey of Grey I painted the stones. When this was dry I added very small blobs of a mossy green shimmery polish, which is very sheer, to make it look like the stone was covered in algae. The polish I used is by P2, colour 171. I have had this bottle for years and years, but it has been neglected for the most part. I used my fine nail art brush and Catrice's Dulce & Havanna to paint the vines growing around the stones. I added leaves with Catrice Hugo Moss.
On my pinky I decided to make a quest feather. The game is called EverQuest for a reason of course. In EQ2 you can pick up quests from NPC's (Non-Player Characters) that will earn you coin, rewards or faction. You can recognise which NPC has a quest for you by the quest feather that hovers above their head. I used NYC Prey of Grey for the stalk and KIKO 378 Light Plum for the main body of the feather. I did some darker purple shading with Catrice How I Matt Your Mother, which is a dark matte purple. Don't you love the polish names Catrice comes up with?
I was too afraid to smudge this by the time I was done late at night, so I waited until morning to top coat this. I used Glisten & Glow's HK Girl top coat. No smudging! I've had top coats that would still smudge after hours of drying, which is highly annoying. HK Girl top coat is thick, dries fast and leaves a glossy shine.
That's it readers, my EQ2 Dwarven druid inspired manicure. I hope those of you who were just as hesitant to do free handing nail art as I was will try it themselves. You do not have to be good at drawing for this to try it! There will always be extremely talented people who will be better at free handing, but that does not matter. It will still feel good to look at something you did yourself and remember that most people will think you did something amazing!
Love, Brethil
Thank you so much, Brethil!! I love these! I'm a big gamer myself, although I haven't played in awhile. My favorites are WoW, Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, and Rift, plus I'm really excited about The Elder Scrolls Online :D
Are any of you fellow gamers, as well?
Have a great Sunday and be on the lookout for more guest posts!
