Wednesday, September 19, 2012

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" Inspired Nails

I am extremely excited to write about today's nail post. I recently witnessed the horror and embarrassment that is The Legend of Korra, and as such, felt a stinging loyalty to Avatar: The Last Airbender. I've been having a fun time with nail art, so I thought I would combine the two!

(photograph taken from hollywood.com)

My original idea for the nail art concept came when I was looking at Aang's arrow. When I made the connection that I could paint his arrow on one finger, I thought it would be fun to do something to represent each of the four nations on each remaining finger.

One of my favorite parts of doing nail art is digging into my nail collection and finding colors I haven't used in a while.

(photographed: nail polishes I used)

For each nation there were some variations on what symbol I could use, but I ultimately decided to use the symbols that I remember being represented as an insignia of the kingdoms as Aang visited them.

(photographed: Avatar Inspired Nail Art)

I will go through each finger, going from pinky finger to thumb.

Pinky Finger: Fire

For the fire nation, it was easy to pick what symbol I wanted to paint. This symbol is commonly used on their flags. I'm tempted to do another manicure dedicated to the fire nation simply because I enjoyed the evil combination of red and dark.

I used Zoya's "Elisa," a vibrant red with micro-shimmers as the base with Essie's "Licorice" as the flame.

(photographed [L to R]: Zoya "Elisa," Essie "Licorice")

Ring Finger: Earth

For the ring finger, I debated on whether or not I wanted the gold or green as the base since you can find both variations in the show. I ultimately decided on the gold as the base since I figured layering green over gold would be easier.

I chose two polishes I picked up from China Glaze's 2011 holiday collection, "Champagne Bubbles," a gold with specks of silver, and "Glittering Garland," a deep sparkly green. After I finished I regret my decision to use gold as the base, but that's something that can be easily swapped.

(photographed [L to R]: China Glaze "Champagne Bubbles," "Glittering Garland")

Middle Finger: Water

My middle finger is probably the finger I am the least happy with despite the fact that it's the finger I redid the most. The symbol is supposed to be a crescent moon with water flowing on the right.

For the base I used Essie's "Borrowed and Blue" (which you can find my full review here) and China Glaze's "Man Hunt" for the details.

(photographed [L to R]: Essie "Borrowed and Blue," China Glaze "Man Hunt")

Index Finger: Air

The index finger is the one I found most difficult. The symbols I found at the air temples were a swirl of grey blue and pale grey carved into the ground. I decided to use Zoya's "Kristen" as the blue, and Essie's "Master Plan." Unfortunately, "Master Plan" isn't light enough to create the contrast I would have liked (the downside of trying to stay resourceful for nail art). However, I didn't think the turnout was too horrible. If I had redone it it probably would have turned out better. But you get the idea!

(photographed [L to R]: Zoya "Kristen," Essie "Master Plan")

Thumb

The thumb was probably the most fun finger for me to do and the finger that in my opinion turned out the best.

I debated between using MAC's "Abalone Shell" or Essie's "Sand Tropez" for the base, but decided on "Abalone Shell" since it is a better flesh-toned color. (I have more photos and a review of MAC's "Abalone Shell" here). For the arrow I used the same blue I used for my index finger, Zoya's "Kristen."

(photographed [L to R]: MAC "Abalone Shell," Zoya "Kristen")

Well, I guess that ends this nail post. I thought I would include one last photo of the result of my attempts.

(photographed: Avatar inspired nails)

I have come to realize that I am only motivated to do nail art when it involves something I am passionate about such as the Olympics (you can find my Missy Franklin inspired nails here) or a book I truly love (TFIOS nail art here).  I've been recently able to get my sister's into watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, and as I watch it with them I get to relive everything I loved about this show (and everything I hate about The Legend of Korra).

If you enjoyed this post then look out for a potential fire nation nail post. Until then, thanks for reading! (:

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