Nail-job craving: I’m running my second marathon this Sunday (the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon) so you know what that means…a marathon manicure with Leeanne at Tips Nail Bar.
How I satisfied that craving: Leeanne proposed “mani a la mod,” a graphic 60s-ish look (you might recognize it as she did the look for the September issue of Fashion). She used Shellac in Blackpool and China Glaze in White on White.
It took nearly three hours to complete, and when Leeanne was going practically cross-eyed creating the intricate patterns, I asked her if it was any comfort that I’d be running for longer than the manicure took to create. She said that she couldn’t ever run a marathon (but she so could!) and so this is her way of running one.
How this nail colour make me feel: Focused on the race. When my mind wanders, I catch a glimpse of my nails and prepare mentally for running the looong race.
Love it or hate it: Love. And it’s fashion-y so it’s totes wearable post-marathon for, like, real life.
October 13, 2012
Nail-job craving: Something EPIC. I’m running my first marathon (that’s 42.2 kilometres, for you non-running folk) and I’ve had some pretty fantastic manicures for my half-marathons (remember the colour-block manicure for my personal best half-marathon last spring? Or the hot pink and yellow pointed pinkies? And how about the sleek, streamlined black and white v-gap number I sported for the Nike Women’s Half in San Fran?) so this nail job has to be at least twice as amazing. Something as amazing as me, the former non-runner, running a marathon.
How I satisfied that craving: When I saw this manicure on Paige from Fashion, the first words out of my mouth? “Holy sh*t.” And I couldn’t get it outta my mind. The chevron shape, but way hotter with the tiny dots of colour? So I asked Leeanne at Tips Nail Bar to do a similar look. The manicure took a long while (although not as long as it’ll take me to run the marathon!) and it was very busy at the salon so she started my manicure and Emi Schneider finished up most of the dotting. Here’s what they used:
Base coat: Entity in Spotlight (that’s the white). Colours: Nars Amchoor (that’s the yellow), Nars Ratin Jot (that’s the purple), YSL Bleu Majorelle (that’s the blue), China Glaze Japanese Koi (that’s the orange) and Revlon Knockout (that’s the black). Dots were created using a dotter tool from a craft shop.
How this nail colour make me feel: I think this is my favourite “race manicure” thus far. It makes me think of both pretty glassware from Anthropologie, but also the pixelated colours of an Archie comic book. It reminded a makeup artist at Tips who was getting her nails done next to me of an MIA video. Emi’s dubbed it the “heavy chev-y” mani (chev-y as in chevron).
Love it or hate it: Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. I’m gonna take this as a sign that my marathon is going to be fabulous.
May 4, 2012
