Sochi Olympics 2014

Hello everyone!  Happy last day of Olympics!  Some people won.  Some people didn't win.  Life goes on as usual.

Today's nail art is inspired by the costumes worn by the women figure skaters - specifically, from the short program.  Here is a shot of my nails:

I'm not gonna lie - these nails were so fun to paint!  It's one of those rare times that I get to be creative.  Also, because each nail is different, this post is going to a tad bit longer than usual, so please bear with me!

More on the nails after the jump :)

There were way too many competitors, and unfortunately, I only had the time to do five different designs (I can't paint my right hand because then I have to wait for those nails to dry so that I can do homework...I don't want to fall behind on my homework).  So, for each nail, I'll tell you who inspired the nail, and the polishes and techniques employed by said nail :)

For this manicure:

All my nails were prepped with a coat of Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen.

Thumb - inspired by Zijun Li (14th place overall; click here to see her dress).  I painted two coats of Zora by Julep as my base color.  I sponged Dream On by Sinful Colors onto the tips, and then taped off the tops and the bottoms of my nails.  I painted one coat of Black Out by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear onto the untaped areas, and then peeled off the tape.  The rest of the floral design was done using a striper brush with Tribeca Silver by NYC and What a Broad by Sephora by OPI.  I finished with a coat of Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen.

Pointer/Index - inspired by Carolina Kostner (3rd place overall; click here to see her dress).  I painted two coats of Zora by Julep as my base color.  After that dried, I taped off a middle section, and sponged on a gradient of Lacey Lilac by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Bess by Julep, and Snow Me White by Sinful Colors.  I removed the tape, did some clean up around my nails, and added a silver glitter from Shades of the Season near the cuticle.  Afterwards, I applied one coat of a sheer white topper from Shades of the Season to the entire nail, and then finished with a coat of Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen.

Middle - inspired by Yuna Kim (2nd place overall; click here to see her dress).  I painted two coats of Nadia by Julep as my base color.  I painted one coat of Matte Me Crazy by NYC to mattify the color, and after that dried, I painted on the silver glitter from Shades of the Season using a square brush to get the exact placement I wanted.  I applied Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen over just the silver glitter, not the entire nail.

Ring - inspired by Kanako Murakami (12th place overall; click here to see her dress).  I painted two coats of Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam by Sephora by OPI, and then added the stripes using a striper brush and What a Broad by Sephora by OPI, Black Out by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, and Snow Me White by Sinful Colors.  The silver dots were added using a dotting tool and Tribeca Silver by NYC.  I finished with a coat of Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen.

Pinky - inspired by Mao Asada (6th place overall; click here to see her dress).  I painted two coats of Lacey Lilac by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.  I mixed together a bit of What a Broad by Sephora by OPI with Snow Me White by Sinful Colors to get a medium-tone purple, and I sponged on a gradient of the medium-tone purple, Lacey Lilac by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, and Snow Me White by Sinful Colors.  I cleaned up around my nails, and then I finished with a coat of Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen.

You might be wondering why I chose more Asian figure skaters than non-Asian figure skaters.  Let me just say it was a coincidence, but also, a lot of the non-Asian figure skaters wore pretty dresses (I mean they all did), but they didn't have the same exciting inspiration energy that the dresses worn by the Asian figure skaters had.  Unfortunately, I did not get to see a lot of the figure skaters perform as NBC is doing a poor job of correctly broadcasting the Olympic events; I don't want to see just the popular skaters perform - I want to see all of them perform!  Same goes for other sports.  I WANT TO SEE THEM ALL, NOT JUST A SELECT FEW (can I get an amen?).

Anyways, I understand that there is a lot of controversy and unrest in the skating community right now, in terms of the scoring and qualification.  Whatever.  This happens every single Olympics.  I'm not saying we should brush it off so nonchalantly, but we also shouldn't be overreacting.

I'm very satisfied with my nails though!  It's a shame they don't really mix well together.  But that's okay.  I have to take them off soon so that I can paint another design (this next one will be for a competition of sorts!), but I hope you enjoyed these nails as much as I did!

Let me know which nail(s) is/(are) your favorite of the five, and which other dresses you liked! :)