Monday, January 27, 2014

The Lacquer Legion, Reinvention: Steam Punk Nail Art!

Hello, readers! Have you heard of The Lacquer Legion? It's a monthly nail art challenge to connect the nail polish community and I am so excited I was able to find the time to join in for this month's theme! You can go check out The Lacquer Legion on Facebook for some more info. This month's theme was "Reinvention" and it took me a bit to decide what to do for that. It was so broad that it was troubling me but as soon as I asked the hubby, he told me Steampunk would be great because a big part of it is taking things and reinventing them.

I was really excited because I haven't done steampunk nails before and I had to figure out what aspect I wanted to bring to the nail art. Gears and clockwork are what I instantly thought of, as well as those neat blimp-looking air ships. I decided to go with a sketch of an "airship" for my accent nail and various gears on the other nails.


  • The base is the saran wrap technique with various browns for a some added depth. 
  • The gears were freehanded with OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby, Alter Ego Penny Pincher, and Essence Just In Case
  • I added some glitter accents around the cuticle area with Shimmer Polish Carmen
  • After a coat of Seche Vite to seal it all in, I wanted to make them matte which better fit the steampunk theme, so I added one coat of Butter London Matte Top Coat.

I really really love how these turned out! I'm kind of obsessed with steampunk now and can't wait to think of other nail art ideas for it! Thanks so much for reading. Don't forget to check out The Lacquer Legion so you can join in once a month, too!
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20 comments:

  1. Wow - I thought for sure you had stamped the gears! This is an awesome mani!

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  2. Very nice interpretation of the theme - go hubby! And your nails are great- your freehand skills rock! Very pretty and wearable steampunk design. :)

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  3. Gorgeous! I love it! Steampunk is a personal favorite of mine!

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  4. They look AMAZING. I love them!!!! Great colors!

    And what what what?? I didn't know you could use a top coat and then use a matte topper over THAT! I'm so trying that!

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    1. yep! It's actually a better idea if you have stamping or fine details. The matte topper can smudge these or make crisp lines look 'fuzzy', but if you seal it in with a regular topcoat first and let it compeltely dry, the matte won't mess up the design. :D

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    2. Thank you! Yes, What Amanda said above. i haven't found a matte top coat yet that won't smear my nail art so its just easier to do Seche or another shiny top coat good for nail art and then do the matte over it!

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  5. Steampunk is a great idea for this prompt! And you did a great job. I like the sketchy blimp. Nice work :D

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  6. I'm not a huge fan of stamping or nail 'art', but these are just gorgeous. I'd wear them in a heartbeat (and probably crash my car staring at them, lol).

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  7. What a great interpretation! Your nails look amazing!

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  8. What a great design you reinvented Jacki. I love the idea of using a matte top coat over a regular one, you just enlightened my day...hehehehehe
    I'm always flabbergasted by your freehand skills. My reinvention mani was also a freehanded design, I reinvented one of Romero Britto's patterns.
    Have a great day!
    GioNails | Facebook::Gio_Nails

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  9. i LOVE steam punk, this is so beautiful!

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  10. I've never seen Dr Who, but this reminds me of what I think of when I see Dr Who. Love this!

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  11. When I was first admiring this very creative mani, I wondered how you found that many gears on stamping patterns. Then my eyebrows about hit my hairline when I read you had freehanded the gears...not stamped at all! Amazing!

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  12. Good grief I love this so hard. Great interpretation and amazing execution. I would love to say I want to recreate it but there is just no way to recreate perfection.

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