Hallelujah, it's Friday! This week was so incredibly long! But, we've made it to the end of the Digital Dozen Brands week! For my final day, I've done some REI nail art!
So what is REI? REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc) is one of my favorite stores and brands for when I'm off on a new outdoor adventure! They sell all manner of camping and outdoor equipment and supplies and I can easily spend hundreds of dollars there in no time flat. I love to camp, so I can get lost in stores like this for hours. I also appreciate that REI is a sustainable company and have a great rewards program. It's pretty easy to love them.
REI seems to always promote being outdoors and active and just enjoying nature - far and above some of my favorite things to do. When looking at their logo online, I found a fantastic advertisement that really summed up my thoughts on REI. The majority of the image is beautiful scenery and shows people being active in nature, and then in the corner, subtly, there is the REI logo. Kind of like REI is just there to help you out if you need them. Does that make sense? Haha
I think this might be my favorite mani from this week! I really like that the majority of the nail art is the mountain landscape and that they REI logo is a bit more subtle. I think I'm just picturing myself in this scene and wishing I was there!
The process of creating these was a bit odd. I don't think I went about them in the most efficient manner, but they came out nonetheless. I started with a base of Essie's Cashmere Bathrobe but I think it might have been easier to start with the sky polish first. Once CB was dry, I took OPI's Dont' Mess with OPI and paint the lower third of my nail. Using a dry brushing method of sorts with a spotting brush, I dabbed on Zoya's Josie and China Glaze's Def Defying to add some dimension to the grass. For good measure, I added a few spots of OPI's I Just Can't Cope-acabana.
With Barielle's My City Apartment and Zoya's Boy Toi, I added in the clouds, leaving the shape of the mountains in the negative space. This where it probably would have been better to do the sky first, then paint the mountains, but this still worked. I used watered down white acrylic paint to add the snow capped mountains and finished it off with the REI logo in the corner.
While I'm obsessed with how these look matte, I also took some photos of this with a glossy top coat, as well as prior to adding in the logo and no top coat (so still textured). I think it's interesting to see how the finish used can affect the overall look of the mani.
Overall, I think this was a pretty successful Digital Dozen week! I thought brands was going to be more tough, but I'm so pleased with what I managed and it was fantastic seeing everything that my fellow DD rockstars put together. Do you have a favorite mani from this week? How about a favorite finish for this mani?
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Happy Polishing :)
