refuse to be nailed into just one color!

Image from Funky Trend.

One of my favorite ways to funk up a look is to be a bit creative with nail polish. The days of getting to choose only one color to suit your mood are over, and now we see trendtastic ladies donning all kinds of shades and variations on their nails.

I first started doing the accent ring finger last year, having seen it on some of my more fashionable classmates and fellow campus rats, and always considered it a kind of hiphop glam Atlanta thing. (Being from here, I have a soft spot for hiphop culture fashion and like to incorporate it into my looks). My boy and I have a photobooth photo diary thing we like to do, so I happen to have some shots capturing a few of my past nail designs. Blue and orange was just for fun, but mostly I like to do a somber color on the majority of the nails and one bright pop on the ring finger like in the last picture.

Yikes, please ignore the greasy, hungover, rolled-straight-outta-bed faces and focus on the glorious nail polish in the foreground!

When considering the origins of this trend, I think it's inspired in part by wacky nail variations in the 80's, which explains why 80's glam lover and fab nail pioneer, Rihanna, started switching up her colors as early as 2007 (in the picture on the left). Since then, she's taken her nail beds to even more dizzyingly eye-catching heights. Here she is earlier this year with leopard print and stick-on bling. And check out the pure sparkle middle finger accent. Swoon!

Images from All Lacquered Up and glamour.com

With my conception of this trend as a hiphop glam thing with ATL roots, imagine my surprise to stumble across the glorious hands of Molly from Chimerically Yours all the way in Scotland!! I like how she just went with the one fingernail on the left hand. I'm dying to know where she first saw this done or if it came out of her imagination!

The lovely paint job on Molly's hands from her blog, Chimerically Yours.

With a little searching, I also found the amazing nail polish blog, Kawaii Nails by Zahra all the way in Bermuda. Way back in May of '09 she sported the incredible design on the left. More recently, she posted a picture from a Japanese fashion magazine featuring a delightful combo of glue-on bling and accent nails.

Images from Zahra's blog, Kawaii Nails.

Now my theory of this as a hiphop culture, Atlanta based trend is even more questionable. It seems like the crazy accent nails are scratching up notice all over the place! Once again, my faith in the fashion collective unconscious is renewed.

I've also seen accent toes, particularly the big toe (though I don't really like that on my own feet). I am planning to get tiny little rhinestones or pearls to glue to my own big toe for a little sparkle in the summer heat without the added weight of jewelry! Here are my current accent toes, a more subtle hue change to suit my taste.

Do excuse my not so cute feet and not so neat paint job...

Having been inspired by the nail freedom and creativity of others, I decided to dig through my nail polish collection and try a new combo. I had some pastels that remind me of the American Apparel shades going around, and went with a pinkie accent.

Side note: my polish is years, we are talking YEARS (maybe 5?) old and is thus very thick and goopy. I tried adding a bit of nailpolish remover to the bottles and shaking them up, but does anyone else know any remedies for over-the-hill polish?

So, has anyone else seen these nail styles around their city, and if so, where do you think they originate?

Other fun nail sites: Nail Gal, All Lacquered Up.

shirt swallow me whole

This shirt was kind of an impulse buy at H&M... I don't know if any of you remember my resolution about not buying mass-produced clothing anymore, but I kind of fell off the wagon. It started earlier this Summer when I entered a store called Love Culture in Cincinatti (an even cheaper even trendier Forever 21 type deal), and my resolution was burried under a pile of cute blouses and accessories. Also, it's where I got these sweet biker shorts that have been serving me well all summer. I've tried to be good after that binge, and have been up until the H&M incident, for which I do feel a twinge of guilt. But luckily that guilt is drowned in the sea of fabric making up this hilariously gigantic shirt.

Shirt: H&M

Biker shorts: Love Culture

Shoes, bag, necklace: Thrifted

Glasses: Costume Shop

Pretty people I SCENE in the A

Yeah yeah yeah, I know people give "scenes" a hard time, and the well known Cabbage Town dive bar 97 Estoria may be a breeding ground for this criticized demographic, but you have to admit that "scenes" can be the best place to run into the most attractive, interesting people!

Just check out these adorable fellow Estoriafest attendees:

(this photo stolen from Myss Bond on flickr)

I am always impressed with how we ATLiens find ways to cope with the heat and still look cute. I saw lots of adorable rompers and lightweight 80s dresses converted into minis. I hope this girl in the yellow flats didn't notice what a stalker I was standing behind her.

It also seems pretty typical for creative types and artists to have some of the best looks, like local musician Brittany Bosco (above), looking perfectly effortlessly delectable in her summer cutoffs and kitschy cat-eye glasses. Her friend there doesn't look half bad either with his black Buddy Holly thing goin on.

And then of course as soon as the Coathangers came on stage, I developed an instant obsession. These girls are bad ass. Not only do they scream and stomp like dirty punks with extreme daddy issues, they dress cute while doing it. I dig the monochromatic thing. And notice that they switch up instruments throughout their sets! So awesome.

Sharing the elixir of life and beverage of choice for Estoriafest, Pabst Blue Ribbon

Before the night was through, I had a belly full of PBR, ears full of good noises, and eyes full of pretty people. In other words, I was beyond satisfied.

Your humble narrator.