Patriotic Brushstrokes: What I Painted on Memorial Day

Good afternoon, all. Even though I wasn't able to share this post with you on Monday, when we celebrated Memorial Day in the US; I still wanted to put it out in the 'verse to commemorate all of those brave people who serve(d) on behalf of our country.

 

As a bonus: I summoned the discipline to *stop and take pictures* in between each step and used them for a little slideshow included in this post. I owe my design inspiration to two top nail-art bloggers' looks, links included at the end of my post. Hope you enjoy!

This is likely one of the simplest nail-art methods, yet it is quite eye-catching. And, there are no tools needed - the only brushes used are those that come with the polish bottles themselves. This look could be done with any three or four polishes for any season or holiday.

Keeping my design simple and quick to execute; I chose to use three colors and one layer of a sparkle effect top-coat. My design attempt isn't quite as unique or striking as those done by my Inspiration Sources, but they were fun to make and wear just the same.

Starting with a white base on each nail, I applied random dry-brush strokes of blue, red and white, in that order, three times (nine layers in total). Lastly, to give it a cohesive and festive look, I applied a thick coat of Fairy Dust. 

So, do you want to see the step-by-step? Yes? Then you're in luck. Here's a little slideshow for you. [Warning: you're about to see nail-art on fingers without clean-up or moisture... LOL]

Music Info:

"Somewhere Sunny" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

And a couple more pictures for you...

 Both hands...

(Filtered effect applied in Photoshop Lightroom)

 Polish Palette:

Polishes (L to R):
*  Red Shimmer: Spoiled by Wet n Wild - Pick Your Poison
*  White Creme: OPI - Alpine Snow
*  Blue Shimmer: OPI - Yoga-ta Get This Blue!
*  Sparkle Effect Top-Coat: China Glaze - Fairy Dust
 
 Inspiration Source(s):

•  Sarah from Chalkboard Nails, arguably a nail-art master, popularized her Distressed Nail-Art with Tutorial; often incorporating black for an edgy grunge look.

• Emma of Manicurity, who's creativity is top shelf, posted these Patriotic Brushstroke Nails for the 4th of July last year, and they have been on my mind ever since.

Thank you to all of those persons and their families who spent time defending our nation, and those serving now too!

Till next time,
Kimett