Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Hugs for Emily - Houndstooth and Abstract Floral Nail Art

Nothing to Disclose

Hello all! Today is a very special post for a very special lady. Emily over at Very Emily has been going through some tough times lately and myself and a few other bloggers/friends want to show her just how special she is to us by each recreating one of her manicures.

Those of you in the nail polish world probably know Emily for her stunning swatches, nail art and photography. But if you've ever interacted with her, even briefly, you also know her kindness, humor and all around awesomeness. I'm lucky enough to have gotten to know Emily well in the last few months, and if anyone deserves an outpouring of love like this, it's Emily <3

For my mani, I decided to recreate one of my favorite manis by Emily (and maybe one of my favorites ever!). She did this amazing houndstooth look with Cath Kidson inspired flowers over them and as soon as I saw them I was obsessed. OBSESSED.


I considered mixing things up and changing the color scheme for this, but Emily's version is just too perfect. I loved the color palette so I ended up trying to copy it as best I could.

I didn't have the stunning Dance Legend base that she used, but I did have a similar grey in Julep's Erin. Since I can't stamp my way out of a paper bag, I freehanded the houndstooth background, which was actually much easier than I expected and I got to try something new :)


Fortunately, for the stunning flowers Em painted, I was able to use the same China Glaze polishes that she did. I did the general outlines of the flowers with Mimosas before Manis and then added the darker defining pink with Passion for Petals. The green is Def Defying (I think I need a new bottle of this! I love this shade and it's almost empty!) and the black and white accents were done with acrylic paint.


Overall, I'm so in love with this look (I even did a polka dot instead of houndstooth version on my other hand!), though it doesn't hold a candle to the amazingness that is Emily's mani. I love how she managed to make the flowers look so random yet so deliberate and perfect. She's pretty amazing, eh?

Throughout the day, some of my fellow bloggers will also be sharing Hugs for Emily:

Alice from One Nail to Rule Them All
Deborah from Love Varnish
Emiline from The Nail Polish Society 
Emily from The Lacquerologist
Kelli from The Nail Polish Challenge
Paulina from Paulina's Passions
Sammy from The Nailasaurus
Sarah from Chalkboard Nails

Feel free to stop by the Very Emily blog (or Instagram!) and let her know just how awesome she is and that we're all thinking of her during this trying time. Let's bombard this lady with hugs and love! <3

Happy Polishing! :)