MOVIE REVIEW: “Maleficent”

OR, “Something’s wrong with Sleeping Beauty, you guys…”

 

So, three of us from TFP went to a Thursday evening showing of Disney’s newest live-action film, “Maleficent,” starring Angelina Jolie in the titular role.

You could cut glass with those cheekbones.

 

It was… Rather different than perhaps we had been expecting.

Spoilers after the jump.

TFP Manicure Mondays! – “Dragon Scales”

Happy Monday!

 

Game of Thrones Season 4 starts on April 6th, which is creeping up on us pretty fast (HOORAY!). So, what better way to celebrate than by…

Um…

Painting your nails like dragon skin? PAINTING YOUR NAILS LIKE DRAGON SKIN!

Enthusiasm!

No, but for realsies. It’s Manicure Monday and I felt like lighting some shit on FIRE this weekend, so I’m hoping these nails will give me dominion over fire and dragons and then the world of man!

Because that’s a completely realistic expectation.

So, let’s start. First, paint a base layer of a nail bed or flesh tone-ish colour. Something fairly light and natural-looking.

Or, really, whatever light colour you have on hand, because that’s what I did!

Then paint a nice dark green, dark brown, or deep red colour. Nothing with sparkles. Not yet.

Obviously, I went with green. Again, ’tis what I had already.

Now, this part takes a teensy bit of artistic ability… But really, the leat amount you could possibly ever need. While the second layer of polish is still wet, take a toothpick or bobby pin or a round-tiped tool of some kind and start drawing out your scales, one “V” shape at a time.Be sure to clean off whatever tool you used often to prevent unnecessary scratches and smearing.

That’s how I did this, no matter how much it looks like I just zigzagged this shit.

When you’re finished, it should look something like this…

Or hopefully better because I don’t know what happened to me towards the end here.

Now, we’re going to add some shimmery stuff here, so that it gives the nail a bit more depth and snazziness. I used a translucent polish that looks gray until it hits the sunlight; then it gives a purple colour, which is a pretty nifty effect. Use a fine brush to get it over the “scales” only, or you can just apply one thin layer over the whole nail if you’ve given up. if you want the nail shimmer to appear to be a bit more subtle.

You can’t prove that I gave up! …I’m so tired.

Now give it a top coat, and ignore the fact that I changed nails for this picture. On my thumb… I had applied the top coat while the shimmer was still a little bit not dry, and then it all kind of smushed together.

It actually gave a pretty cool effect on the other nail, but A.) I couldn’t repeat the results and B.) It was super duper NOT a fucking dragon-y nail. So, I present you with my middle finger! …Wait.

And then you clean up and that’s pretty much it. So, it is a little bit tricky, but once you get your first good nail, the rest become way easier. You can start drawing your scales from the tip or from the root of the nail. I found that scales drawn from the tip tended to become uneven towards the root, but nails started from the root would stay relatively even.

Let us know if you try it for yourselves, and feel free to post your results!

Enthusiasm!

See you next time!