Art History & Nails: Malevich

Hey everyone! 

I have something a little bit different for you today. Once upon a time long ago I started a nail blog called Impressionist Nails to coincide with PrettyPanda. I used to do my nails a lot more, but with grad school, I made PrettyPanda the priority when I could update. I've decided to do posts here on nail looks with the premise that I had planned for my nail blog: blog about nail looks and art history together. Having the seven million blogs I do is getting a bit much (exaggeration, but seriously though).

Art is something I am very passionate about. I just finished my Master's in Art Business and I look at my nails as mini-canvases when I have the time to paint them/wrap them/etc. So these posts will be a little mini art history lesson mixed with a nail look!

 My look this week is using nail wraps from SCRATCH. They started as a Kickstarter that turned into a cool nail biz and my brother introduced me to them because he is always on Kickstarter, so they are special to me.

This pattern is currently unavailable (okay, so I may hoard nail wraps until they are discontinued. It is an issue, I know), but easy to recreate with some striping tape and nail polish. Or you can pick up one of their other cool wraps! They often have sales and I like these wraps a lot! Instead of filing off the edges you can literally just pinch the excess off and it looks like the above. I think I did a decent job considering nail wraps are usually unbearable to apply. These took me all of ten minutes. Slap on a top coat and mine lasted for five days with no imperfections. 

 

After wearing these for a day, they began to remind me of cubist/abstract art, so I set about finding a bit of inspiration for this post. It didn't take long for Kazimir Malevich to pop into my mind. I saw an exhibit of his in London and the geometric shapes and minimalism stuck with me.

Suprematism with Blue Triangle and Black Square. Kazimir Malevich. 1915. Oil on canvas. 66.5 x 57 cm. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

Above is a typical Suprematist work for Malevich. Simple shapes, lots of blue, black, and white. Although there is a bit of Mondrian in the design of the nail wraps, I am focusing on the blue/black motif. 

Suprematism is an art movement founded by Malevich that focuses on geometric shapes and a limited color palette that is supposed to represent the purity of how it feels to create art instead of the actual drawing of natural or man-made objects.

Bring that up in conversation and see how fancy you look.

And that, Pandas, is your very mini art history tid-bit and a peep at my nail look this week. Cheerio!

I Love Nail Subscription Boxes: Scratch Monthly Mani Box

I'm all about giving my love to beauty subscription boxes...especially when they come to nails!  I first heard of Scratch nail wraps on kickstarter and have followed them ever since. I am glad to see them blossoming as a brand and of course I was interested in their subscription manicure box...the first of which featured Nail Swag! 

 The deets on the box: $30 for your first month (because it comes with a bottle of Seche Vite) and $25 for the rest. Cancel or skip anytime and great customer service and tracking on your package. The kits come with a nail art card to help you create looks, add-ons for your nail art (in this case, four packages of neon yellow gem thingies), an extra (here I got nail glue), a nail file and orange stick, and three nail strip packages enough for two manicures each. Solid! 

 

The geometric grey and purple was a fave of mine...really cool and fun for Fall.

 

 The green and black offering was sweet and girly!

 

 

And the white and black splatter with yellow dots was funky. I loved all of the designs!

 

They are a little bit temperamental, and if you want a picture of them on...see here, but it was mainly user error. It will take me a bit of practice, but I have seen fab looks created with these, so I am excited to keep playing.

 

Overall, one of the most creative and worth it nail art subscriptions around. I highly suggest you check them out! Their September box is really cute!

 

I Love Nail Subscription Boxes: Scratch Monthly Mani Box

I'm all about giving my love to beauty subscription boxes...especially when they come to nails!   I first heard of Scratch nail wraps on kickstarter and have followed them ever since. I am glad to see them blossoming as a brand and of course I was interested in their subscription manicure box...the first of which featured Nail Swag!  

  The deets on the box: $30 for your first month (because it comes with a bottle of Seche Vite) and $25 for the rest. Cancel or skip anytime and great customer service and tracking on your package. The kits come with a nail art card to help you create looks, add-ons for your nail art (in this case, four packages of neon yellow gem thingies), an extra (here I got nail glue), a nail file and orange stick, and three nail strip packages enough for two manicures each. Solid!  

 

The geometric grey and purple was a fave of mine...really cool and fun for Fall.

 

 The green and black offering was sweet and girly!

 

 

And the white and black splatter with yellow dots was funky. I loved all of the designs!

 

They are a little bit temperamental, and if you want a picture of them on...see here, but it was mainly user error. It will take me a bit of practice, but I have seen fab looks created with these, so I am excited to keep playing.

 

Overall, one of the most creative and worth it nail art subscriptions around. I highly suggest you check them out! Their September box is really cute!