Take Two, Day 1 - Inspired by a band: Pink Floyd's The Wall nail art

Don't forget to check out my nail art contest!

The 50 first participants get a prize!

Today is the first day of the Take Two nail art challenge! If you'd like to see the list of themes, you can always check out the "Challenges" tab at the top of this page or click here. Day 1's theme is "Inspired by a band". I found it difficult to make a manicure inspired by a band as a whole... so I chose a graphically inspiring album instead.

Today's nail art is inspired by Pink Floyd's The Wall. The album even inspired a truly visually compelling film, titled Pink Foyd--The Wall and released in 1982, directed by Alan Parker and with Bob Geldof in the main role.

Here is the album and movie art I was inspired by to create this mani. First is the album cover, second is a famous scene in the movie which evokes the rise of a totalitarian military state.

I love this album, and I love the movie, too. I have the DVD to the film, plus the DVD of Roger Waters' The Wall concert, in Berlin, in 1990, right after the Berlin wall came down. An epic, historical moment caught on tape.

Here are the other people who have participated in today's theme. Check them out, they're all doing awesome work!


The polishes:

• Base coat: Essie - All In One Base
• White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On (my favourite white ever!)
• Grey: Revlon - Timeless
• Black: Essence - Black is Black
• Red: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - All Fired Up
• Silver (hammer head): Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep
• Top coat: Essie - Good To Go

The technique:

I applied a base coat, then two coats of White On. I did whatever cleanup I had to do on the white with pure acetone and an angled brush before applying any other colours, which may have run and stained the white if I had waited after. I then applied a top coat to protect the white if ever I was to make mistakes - that way it's always possible to use a cotton swab and "erase" what colour you added without making a dent in the white base.

I used a striper brush and drew the outline of the bricks in grey. Then, still using the striper brush, I wrote "The Wall" on my thumbs, trying to mimic the writing on the album art. Then I painted the hammer heads in silver, followed by the handles in black. I then added the red part over the black and painted the outline of the hammer heads in black, because the silver looked dull over the grey of the bricks.

I topcoated everything, trying not to drag the colour over the white base - I basically used a big drop of top coat which I glooped over my thumbs and rings fingers, trying not to touch the polish with the strands of my brush. And all was done!