Twin Post with Stephanie of Sincerely Stephanie Nails using MASH plate #47: Ninja (Assassin) Nails

After having fun with Stephanie's picks, it's my turn! There were a whole bunch of full nail images that caught my eye but this particular one was a no-brainer. See, a few weekends ago (or maybe it was a late week night back when Mr. J & I were both battling insomnia thanks to copious amounts of Tims Espresso Iced Capp), we caught Ninja Assassin while flipping channels and said, "why not?". I probably saw it before then as the plot seemed eerily familiar. Anyway, it had the same awesome visuals and over the top action sequences that the Wachowskis are known for. (You know, those guys who did The Matrix.) Not to mention Kill Bill-esque blood fountains. The plot isn't quite the best out there, though I doubt whoever actually saw this in the theatre cared about the plot. So when I saw those flying shuriken while I was flipping through the plates, I knew I had a keeper.

Haiiiiii yaaaahh!!!

What I Used:
Beige creme base: Color Club Nomadic In Nude
Accent nail base: Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Lava Red
Blood red creme: Cult Nails Quench
Silver stamping polish: Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Pure Silver
Cremes used for ninja on thumb: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out and Orly Decades of Dysfunction (for the face)

How I Did It:

Step 1: After applying your favorite base coat and letting it dry, apply an opaque coat of your base color. For the main nails, I used a pale beige. For the accent nail, I went with a blackened red shimmer. Feel free to do more than one accent nail.

Step 2: When the base is dry, take a piece of foil and place a dot of the blood red polish on it. Using a small detail brush, start smearing it in random streaks and dots on each of the main nails.

Step 3: Stamp on the full nail shuriken design on to the accent nail(s) using your silver stamping polish.

Step 4: To paint the ninja on one of the nails, I started with an oval shape using some black nail polish and a detail brush. This will serve as the head and body. Add the limbs and then let dry. Taking my flesh toned polish, I painted on a half circle and filled it in. Wait a few minutes to let it dry and then add two black dots with a dotting tool for the eyes. Allow for the final layer to dry before finishing everything with top coat. Now go out and earn your ninja street cred!

I had a whole lot of fun doing this design. If the design for the ninja looks familiar, it's because I based it off these Wee Ninja plushies. Smearing on the "blood" was added fun, knowing that the messier it was, the better. I will be honest though, and say I initially wanted to do a splatter design for the bloody nails. I huffed and I puffed enough to blow a house down but not a single drop of splatter could be seen on my nails. So I gave up and used my trusty detail paintbrush instead. If you have any tips for me, please do leave them in the comments. I just can't seem to get splatter to work for me, help! I'd also like to point out that I really liked working with Cult Nails Quench as the consistency made it easy to paint with. Plus, it didn't thicken as fast as your average polish. I'll definitely be reaching for it more if I need any reds for future nail art. Oh, and one more thing: I probably should have done the shuriken nails more. I kind of got carried away with the blood but I think that to better balance out the elements, two shuriken nails would have been best.

 Here's a look at the entire hand.

 The smearing doesn't look so bad. I like the index the best.

 Ninjas are hard to track down (duh), but I did see these two square off. Looks like the blonde guy won.

 That explains why my wee ninja over here was being all chummy with him.

"Weakness compels strength. Betrayal begets blood. This is the law of the Nine Clans."

Happy Weekend! The forecast right now is rain and gloom but hopefully that doesn't dampen your plans. (Get it, dampen? *ba dum tsssshhh*) I'll probably head out to Sally's and get my Club card renewed while I have this weekend free. Looks like they have China Glaze on sale for $4.99, too. Sure sucks to have a no buy this month! But enough about me and more about you: Have you seen Ninja Assassin? Do recent movies/tv shows that you've seen influence your choices in nail art? Where do you usually get your inspiration from? Now head over to see what awesomeness Stephanie created using this same plate! :D