Since I knew I’d be devoting my weekend to working at the Open House & Train Show for the San Leandro Historical Railway Society (see A Fun Weekend Doing Photography), I wanted to make my nails as festive and eye-catching as possible. Dealing with small children, colorful items to catch their attention when looking at a camera always helps. Most kids have the tendency to look at the person taking their picture, and since I was not going to be actually standing behind the camera, but instead beside it with a remote trigger, I felt like having super bright yellow nails would help when pointing to the camera and telling them to look at it!
Well, it did help! The only yellow polish I had was the shimmery Orly Hook Up, which I used before in my Oakland Athletics Manicure 2014 Edition style. I wasn’t 100% happy with it, and looking at my newly purchased Railroad Crossing Sign earrings, I knew the mustard-colored shimmer wasn’t really what I wanted. Since I had to run to the store anyway, I picked up the bold Pure Ice Show Stopper to have a really strong, opaque yellow base for my railroad inspired manicure. Initially, my plan was to use striping tape to block off the X shape, but I ran out of time for that, so I decided to use the Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Striper #310 Black instead.
I made sure to try long, even strokes and rolled my finger that I was applying the striper to, rather than trying to drag the striper. It created relatively straight and even lines most of the time, but since this was the first time I’d used the striper since buying it, there were some hiccups. I was expecting a longer, thinner striping brush inside, more like the L.A. Colors Art Deco polishes I’ve used in the past. I did attempt to use the brush to add the R R to the design, but after trying it just on my left thumb (I’m right handed), I didn’t like the way it looked and decided that being AT the train depot, people would understand where the inspiration came from.
I have a feeling I’ll be reprising this nail art for future Open House & Train Shows since there’s at least 2 more this year that I’ll be running the photo souvenir station at. Also, because Dominic is such a train enthusiast, I’m sure there will be other uses for this manicure too.
Oh, honey? Give me your hand….
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