My first ever nail art contest!! It starts NOW and ends August 10th, 2012.
If you don't know, I am an archaeologist. An historical one. So I do like my history :) I also love legends and myths because they tell so much about the people who invent them. Some of my favorite legends and history lie in the countries of Britain and France (pictures above are Tristan and Iseult). However, these countries are not the only ones with chivalrous knights and monarchies!
Do you like dragons and dungeons?! Put some dragons in a dungeon!! Do you like shields, swords, and heraldry?! Put some of that on your nails! How about textile patterns and art of the period? Certainly!
I want you to use some of your stamps like you have never used them before. Brick motif for a castle wall or a dungeon floor can come from a full nail stamp. Silhouettes of casual people can be modified into knights and ladies. A "wallpaper" full nail design can be the backdrop to a tapestry.
Maybe you do not know much about this time period. That is okay! You probably know something about Avalon, Merlin, and Arthur or maybe you know a little about the Crusades. You may have read or watched a Robin Hood legend. These are all great!! I also encourage you to move out of Britain and France and explore other countries and cultures between the 11th and 17th centuries, particularly those with monarchies and elaborate customs/costumes.
ALL PRIZES PURCHASED BY ME!! No sponsors!! No free stuff!!
Just some of my favorite things :D
WINNERS:
There will be THREE stamping winners
First Place will be for
the best ADVANCED stamper
They will receive
Barielle Elle's Spell, One of the pictured fauxnad plates, Wet n Wild Cost Is No Issue (this is NOT the same as the Sally Hansen Gem Crush polish!), a bottle of Biotin, and "Casual" shimmer strips by Physician's Formula! (all items purchased by me)
Second Place will be for
the best INTERMEDIATE stamper
They will receive
Barielle Teaser, Julep Jodie, the remaining fauxnad plate from the First Place photo, and Physicians Formula pH color changing lip gloss!
Third Place will be for the best BEGINNER stamper
They will receive
Hard Candy Frenzy, CoverGirl Lip Perfection in Dazzle, and Nicole Save the Last Dance!
There will be ONE official freehand winner and ONE honorable mention (who will receive a surprise prize)
The official winner will receive
Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz, Wet n Wild Cost is No Issue, and a bottle of Biotin!
BIG BAD RULES:
STAMPING:
If you enter the stamping contest, you MUST use stamps as the dominant nail art on all 4 nails; NO stencils or decals. Stampers can use *some* freehanding but you must still use primarily stamps. I know it is hard if you don't have all the stamps you need to create your design but you should really stretch your creative use of the stamps you do have for this contest :)
FREEHAND:
*Only* use freehanding to create nail art. NO stamping, stencils, or decals.
You must create a unique and original design.
Allowable techniques to use in addition to stamping and freehanding:
GRADIENT BACKGROUND
DOTTING
STRIPING
TAPE (no tape/striping tape left on the nail)
other techniques that do not distract from the main nail art
PLEASE do not use religious or sacred imagery!
INCLUDE IN YOUR PHOTOS:
Paper with the words "NoHolos HML Contest" which cannot be photoshopped, must be in original photo
4 nails MUST be shown
Please try to take a clear and good quality photo. Taking a photo outside during the day (not in direct sunlight) is the easiest way of taking a clear photo. Blurry photos are *very* hard to judge and may end up being ignored, I don't want that to happen to you!!
Email photos to noholosblog@gmail.com
Open Internationally (but limited; please see the photo at the top)
Please follow the blog in some way before entering.
JUDGES:
Judges will be picked by me near the contest close.
I will definitely be using my mother, cousin, and artist husband as judges. I may ask some bloggers to help as well, so if you are not interested in participating, please email me to assist in judging :)
I have not included inspirational manis because I know all of you will have something in mind anyhow :))
If you have any questions, please ask!!
Question, Can the art be on a nail wheel? And, What is the purpose of the biotin? Too bad none of my stamping plates are deep enough to work. I had one plate that worked right and I lost it. Oh generics, this is why Sally's needs to sell stamping plates.
ReplyDeleteOh and could you email me the original image of triston and isuelt? I'm going to replicate it.
DeleteHello,
DeleteThe nail art should be on the nail (I don't mind if you do it on something else then transfer to your hands).
Here is the original image at it's original source: http://tinyurl.com/bounljy
Oh that's to bad. I do my best art on nail tips:( my hand shakes really bad and I just can't paint well on it. That and the fact I can spread the work across a few days with a nail tip. May have to try the Baggie method. But I'd punt it will work for me.
DeleteI am sorry Ashley, it just makes it a level playing field to do nail designs. Have you tried using the kind of nails you can stick onto your real ones?
DeleteThe sizes of those I've seen just wouldn't fit on my nail. But last night I tried the Baggie method and it's working out fine. We'll see what it ends up looking like.
DeleteYay!!! The baggie method is my favorite way of doing detailed nail art. :))
DeleteHi, can you enter more then one creation? Not that I have that many ideas yet but I am just doing some research ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Diana!
DeleteSure, you can enter more than one. You would probably end up in the same ability category anyhow :))
I will do my best for the beginner category :) love those polishes (or maybe I am an intermediate) The bottle of pills in both other catogories scare me...lol. I am just kidding (tho I really am not a fan of taking pills)I probably don't even stand a change anyhow since this theme is hard (at least it is for me ;)). But I do have some ideas and want to enter, just for the fun and I love a challenge...testing how creative I can get because I really don't have stamps for this theme. I did tested some ideas on paper probably do it on my nails next week.
DeleteNo back to beeing serieus ;) how do you decide in what category someone ends up?
And are we allowed to show our entry online before the ending date?
If anyone wins and doesn't want something, they are free to ask for it not to be included :)) More Biotin for me, bwahahaha!! ;)
DeleteOnce all the entries are in, I will decide the grouping based on the complexity of the stamped design, the execution of the design, and the originality. Not to say a beginner cannot have an original work but there will be some hard choices made. In other words, a simple stamp design may go to beginner but if there is a lot of ingenuity and creative use of the stamps, it may be placed higher. I figured most people didnt want to know about that boring stuff or I would have described it :D
Sure, you are allowed to show the design anywhere. What I had imagined is people would only take the photo with the paper in it to send to me and they could blog about it or post it without that paper in the photo elsewhere.
Hahaha lol like I said I was just goofing ;) I don't expect to win anything at all. I just never heard of biontin untill I saw the document from pamela on AIS.
DeleteDon't even know if I can get my idea on my nails and if it is correct for this theme but I will give it a try. I already had fun making something on paper. My BF also laughed about it haha.
And thought maybe you placed them in a catogory based on how long people are stamping I was like but how can she know that....lol. Sorry I was just curious. I actually like that stuff (maybe because I also held several contests and also thought about different categories but had no idea how to do that ;))
Sorry I am spamming your blog with all my babbling. I was in a crazy mood today ;) Wouldn't do it anymore from now on I will be serieus :)
You aren't spamming my blog :D You asked good questions, perfectly fine with me :)
DeleteI love this! I am such a history nerd and this appeals to me in so many ways!! Can't wait to decide what I'm going to do!!
ReplyDeleteYayyy!! I am excited to see the entries :D
DeleteFirst of all I have to say fantastic contest! Thank you :D My question (complicated though it may be) is can we mix and match? For instance a dragon, mermaid, nymph, knight and lady? Just random examples there!
ReplyDeleteThank you, and feel free to share it ^_^
DeleteYou can do anything you want within the theme. I think a different character on each finger would be wonderful!
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DeleteI just finished my nails! Will photograph in the morning....with some light...and email them to you. I love them! I hope you do too.
ReplyDeleteDid you get my entry?:)
ReplyDeletemyths and legends are religious and scared to some. I think that is kind of a dumb rule in there. Zeus and Hades are just as real to some as God and the Devil.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it is dumb. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology; the rule is made to remove bias and (in the case of indigenous groups and certain religious groups) to avoid upsetting people. This is not really a good forum to discuss these things which is why I added that one rule; I don't think a nail art contest should cause problems for anyone's personal beliefs and judging the entries so far, they do not.
DeleteIt is my contest and I make the rules. If you think that is dumb, you are totally free to not enter or be a part of it.
P.S. Greek gods and goddesses (for the most part) were not sacred re: iconography but instead had their likenesses painted on pottery, carved into stone, and pieced together in mosaics. The images told stories and the symbols embedded in each image let you know who the gods, goddesses, demi-gods, characters, etc. were and which story it was. There are a lot of cultures that don't have a problem with their religious stories and beings drawn and painted but some do. Those people who DO have issue with it are the ones I would like to respect. Thanks.
DeleteI am dying to know who won!
ReplyDelete