Oinkers!

It's Monday and raining. I will now show you happy things in an attempt to counteract the blah. I love most Sanrio or San-X stuff, but my all time favorite is Monokuro Boo. Something about monochrome pigs just makes me ridiculously happy. Also they make great neutral decorations, I have a pair of fairly large stuffed versions that hang out on my bed as little piggy pillows. One day while browsing nail art online I came across this glorious piece of adorable by Polish Art Addiction and I knew I would end up trying it but wasn't sure when.

This past weekend our city held it's annual Pork In The Park barbecue celebration. Local businesses set up booths for shopping, there are small carnival rides, live music and local food places hold a barbecue competition.  It's kind of like a tiny county fair in the local park. I happen to have a ridiculous amount of acrylic artist paints so I figured what the heck, what better time to try this out. Really, there was no way I could resist piggies on a pig themed weekend, I tried for like an hour and failed miserably. I was already wearing the base for a few days so I could jump right into pig territory. (There are a few things in life you don't ever expect to write, "jump right into pig territory" was one of those.) There was quite a bit of trial and error and I'm not exactly happy with my end result. I do however view it as a learning experience and I feel like with some practice I could have a new weapon in my nail art arsenal.

This is the base I started with.

Pardon the tip wear, had this on for a few days already.

Dramatic pig shot. (Best caption ever?)

Really it was just cloudy and I had to jump on whatever sun beams I found.

Polishes used:

• Sinful Colors base coat / Seche Vite top coat
• Sally Hansen I Pink I Can
• China Glaze Rainbow to lighten up the pink
• Orly Fifty-Four for some peachy pink sparkles
• Kiss Nail Art striper in white for the dots
• Black and white acrylic paint

Overall I've learned quite a bit from this experiment. Just like with any form of art you really need to find what works best for you. I tried following the tutorial and blocking shapes out with black first but it just didn't work as well for me as going straight for the color. For me personally it was easier to outline in black rather than go over a whole bunch of black with white. Mine came out way more lumpy than the tutorial but hey, first time. I really enjoyed the process though and I have to say it was nice to paint with actual paint again for the first time in a while even if it was only on my nails. I will definitely be trying more of this in the future, consider yourselves warned. How do you guys like working with acrylic paints?