Nerdtastic Tuesday: Fullmetal Alchemist

*Sorry for not posting yesterday, I was on my way back from a wedding and had convinced myself it was a Sunday not a Monday!* I have recently been on an anime binge. My favorite of late is Fullmetal Alchemist, so I (of course) did nails appropriate to the series. I’m going to talk a bit about the art, and then more about the anime. If you have ever seen the anime, keep reading for a chance to win some nail polish 😀

The anime is about a world where scientists can change one item into another that uses the same components. They draw circles with complicated patterns inside of them, and are able to ‘transmute’ as they like. This skill takes years of learning, and is akin to chemistry. The anime covers the lives of two young boys who tried to transmute their mother back to life, and in failing, lost parts of their own bodies. They want their bodies back, and in the process uncover terrible and wonderful things about their country.

My nails have 5 symbols on them, all of which should be familiar to people who watch the show (and completely bonkers to anyone else!) From thumb to pinky: the country-wide alkahestry anti-transmutation circle, the oroborous, the flame alchemy symbol, the teacher’s symbol, and Al’s blood seal. If you have only seen the 2003 anime, the one on my thumb will not be familiar…it is from the 2009 version (“Brotherhood”).

Colors

• Grey: Maybelline – Bare Escape
• Red: OPI – All I Want For Christmas (is OPI)
• Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
• Blue: Sinful Colors – Endless Blue
• Top Coat: Glisten&Glow – HK Girl

If you just want to see funky looking symbols, finish here. If you care about the anime (and a giveaway) read on…

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I watched the 2003 version of FMA before watching Brotherhood, and I have to say I think I made the right choice! I know the internet is full of arguments about this, but I really feel like the character development in 2003 was better…but the plot was better in Brotherhood. Which is to say, somewhere in there is an ideal matchup of the first 2/3 of 2003 (say, until the Laboratory 5 incident) at which point transfer over to Brotherhood for the rest of the series.

I have actually become so obsessed with this anime that I am reading fan fiction (gasp). I never do that! I think I just haven’t been reading enough, and this provides a quick fix. It’s also just a guilty pleasure 😀

And now, for the giveaway. Two characters from the anime (Brotherhood, in this case) stood out as my favorites. I have 10 polishes sitting in my giveaway box at the moment…the first person to correctly guess my two favorite characters from FMA wins any two polishes from that list of their choice. I have a huge range of colors (see above photo), and they are mostly from zoya, OPI, KBShimmer, P2, or Revlon. So have at it…who are my two favorite characters? (Hint: one is a girl, one is a guy).

Nerdtastic Tuesday: Psychic Pokemon

In honor of the somewhat recent release of the newest pokemon game, I am starting off my weekly “Nerdtastic Tuesdays” (where you guys get to see what nerdy concoctions I have come up with) with pokemon!

These nails were commissioned by my boyfriend for his birthday. He, predictably, wanted “pokemon!”.  When pressed for specific pokemon (rather than giving me his current team as I had anticipated) his answer was “psychic.” He then started listing specific psychic pokemon, with the instance that I have at least Abra. So…psychic pokemon!

As with my previous pokemon art, I wanted to stick to just faces. But I didn’t, mostly because I was unfamiliar with the pokemon I was using! Most of my fingers are just the faces…but my ring finger has the whole upper body. That being said, I am REALLY proud of my ring finger! Look at that detail!

From pointer to pinky, we have Natu (a small bird), Espion (cat-like), Gardevoir (ghost woman), and Abra (I have no idea. Rat?). My thumb has the ultimate in pokemon-catching, a master ball.

This nail art is 100% nail polish. Which is to say this took me close to two hours. Oops. I am not planning to list all the polish here, it would take too long. But if you are curious about a specific color let me know!

Ridiculously complicated nerdy nail art..I choose you!

Pokemon!

When I was in Boston, I yet again painted my (very patient) friend’s nails. Her nails have been featured very often on this blog, since she is the only one I know who is willing to sit still for hours! This time, she requested pokemon…and picked her own pokemon!

I have been wanting to do pokemon nails for a while (and probably will still do it on myself at some point in the future), so I asked her to paint a base coat of color on each nail and then direct me as to which pokemon she wanted.

She ended up with 8 different pokemon and two odd pokeballs. I’m not going to list all the colors here, but if you want to know what was used, let me know!

Pokemon: Pikachu, Charmander, Voltorb, Jigglypuff, Bulbasaur, Dratini, Mew, and Seel. Pikachu looks constipated and Mew does not belong on a nail. He just doesn’t.

We had no supplies for cleaning up, so the nails are more than a bit messy. But I’m still proud! What do you guys think?

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In other news, I’ve entered some of my nail art into the Rite Aid Nail Art Extravaganza. Seeing as how I get roughly 2/3 of my nail polish from Rite Aid, it seemed fitting! I would really appreciate if you guys would go vote for me…the submissions with the top 20 “likes” move on to the final round 😀

Thanks!!!

Totoro!

I love anime, but only some anime. My favorite anime artist is Hayao Miyazaki. He has made many movies, including my favorites (Howl’s Moving Castle and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind are my top two). Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do Howl or Nausicaa nail art, but I do know how to do My Neighbor Totoro nails! So, I have placed some of the major spirits from Totoro on my nails.

On my pinky are the dust spirits, ring finger has the big totoro, middle finger has the baby totoro, pointer has the middle totoro, and my thumb has the scary cat-bus! If you have never seen the movie this makes no sense, but it is an adorable movie and I recommend it!

So yes, I am a nerdy in more than one dimension. Anyway. The base for these nails was Sinful Colors – Mint Apple, which was just a dream to apply. All details were done with a thin nail art brush or an unbent hairpin.

Colors:

• Green: Sinful Colors – Mint Apple
• Blue: Nail Art – Blue
• Grey: NYC – Sidewalker
• White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
• Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
• Copper: Zoya – Penny
• Yellow: Revlon – Electric
• Brown: Maybelline – Downtown Brown
• Pink: Revlon – Poppy

Enjoy! And go watch some amazing anime 🙂