The Lacquer Legion: On Holiday - A Familiar View

It's another Lacquer Legion day! I get so excited for the end of the month now—I just love participating in this group.

The LL mods chose "On Holiday" as this month's theme, and I have to say, this one was equal parts fun and challenging for me. I knew early on what I wanted to do and was excited to try, but I also knew that it would be difficult, so I spent most of the month psyching myself up for it.

I'm not spending my vacation time on a big trip this year. I'm not exactly the world's best traveler (my lovely, patient husband can confirm this), so sometimes we just take time off and stick close to home, relaxing and enjoying our own amazing city in a way that we don't get to do when we're busy with the demands of work and day-to-day life. Our "vacation" isn't for a couple of months yet, but when it does roll around at the end of the summer, we're going to stay downtown, attend a convention, and enjoy everything Seattle has to offer. If you've never visited Seattle in the summer, you really should: summer here is short, but definitely sweet. Our small window of perfect sunny days late in the season always seems to make up for all the rain we get the rest of the year.

The challenging part of this manicure for me was definitely hand-painting the Seattle skyline. I'm really not a freehand painter, in spite of my desperate wishes to the contrary, so capturing such an iconic skyline—and actually making it recognizable—stretched my abilities to the limit! I feel like it turned out pretty well, though, so I'm pleased with it. And it was quite the ego boost when I showed my husband and he thought it was a stamp!

Here's the quick breakdown of what I used:

• I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (best easy, no-fuss white ever, by the way!).
• Then I sponged on the gradient of China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le, Butter London Jasper, and OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go?!.
• Finally, I painted on the skyline using black acrylic paint and a very small nail art brush from Stylish Nail Art Shop.

Thanks for looking, and thank again to the Lacquer Legion ladies for another great prompt. Don't forget to check out the #LLOnHoliday hashtag all across social media to see what everyone else created for today!