Spring Watercolor Nails

This weeks manicure is a mix of polish and Jamberry! I think Jams are going to become a staple in my polish looks.  My experience with them has been great and I can see using them all the time. For this nail look I will be reviewing a Jam sample, a nail polish I got in an Ipsy bag, and a nail polish I got for free.

My Jams from last week could have lasted a few more days but I was really itching to change things up so I took them off. I had a watercolor flower patterned Jam I really wanted to try out so I paired it with a hot pink and mint colored polish.  

The Jam is Faded Bouquet and while I think its a cool design I'm not sure I'd buy it.  I was a bit sad that with the sample I got the pink flower was in the middle of the strip, meaning it didn't make it onto my nail. that was supposed to help tie in the hot pink a bit.  The nail on my other hand doesn't have any pink showing at all. Oh well.  At least I don't have to worry about it chipping for the next week or so.

The pink polish I got in my April Ipsy glam bag and it was my absolute favorite product that month! I really like this nail polish.  I almost didn't even need two coats it goes on so opaque.  The formula is also not too thick and not too thin. Its a really nice polish overall.  Its by Julie G, a branch of Jesse's Girl cosmetics, and the color is Damsel.

The mint color is by Wet n Wild from their Spoiled collection.  The color is Mar-zi-panna. My opinion of this one is the opposite, I really don't like it.  The formula is thick and more gel like which I hate in a nail polish.  It was difficult to apply neatly as the brush is huge.  It also took forever to dry....the pink was good so I started doing things and ended up botching up my pinky because even though the pink was dry...the mint wasn't :/

They definitely make a statement but in a cute and spring themed way!

Overall, I think this mani is adorable and perfect for spring!

Art: Forest Pixie

Wow.  It has literally been months since I've picked up my Wacom tablet and finished a picture digitally.  The last few weeks I have been craving to do some digital work but my busy schedule made sure that didn't happen.  Finally now that the semester is over I was able to plug my tablet in, download the new driver, and get to drawing.  I decided to color a fairy that I had sketched about a week ago.

Here is the original sketch after being scanned into my computer.  I drew the upper body in like 10 minutes and then spent about 40 minutes on the legs.  I just suck so much at the lower half of bodies.  Ugh.  I also never add backgrounds to my pictures so this time I was determined to try something.  I really need to practice both legs and backgrounds more if I ever want to get any better.

And here is the finished picture, done on Photoshop 7.  I tried a different form of coloring this time.  I lined very thinly with black and then colored in the base colors.  From there I took a wet watercolor brush and did all the shading with that at varying opacities and sizes.  Overall I really like how it came out, especially considering I haven't touched my tablet in quite some time. I'm especially proud of that tree.  I literally never ever do backgrounds so I'm just really loving everything about this.  Hopefully this summer I can draw a lot more and keep improving. 

And here is the side by side sketch vs finished product comparison.  I love going back and looking at this to see just how much work I put into the picture.  

This was actually supposed to be a witch flying on a broomstick but as I started drawing the upper body I was getting more of a pixie vibe so I decided to completely scratch my initial idea and go with this.  That seems to always be how my pictures end up....completely different than what I had originally planned.

Haha oh well!

I hope you liked my first art post in a while.  I am definitely open to constructive criticism!