Well ladies and gentlemen...that's the end of my Hunger Games series.  I hope you all enjoyed it.  As of today, I have still, rather sadly, not seen the film.  Though I've read the books many times over!  I had a lot of fun trying to represent all the districts with the China Glaze polishes.  It was really a winning collection in my book and one worth owning.  I can't wait to do more series like this!  I think my most favorite district ended up being district 10.  Yes, the cow print!! I don't know why, I've never had cow print on my nails before and for some reason it's never even occurred to me to do it.  It was fun and it turned out so cute! I may try it again in the future! I also really loved the capitol nails, because they were flashy and subtle.  I have SO many things lined up for my blog for the next two months.  Some are surprises (!) and others not so much.  In May I will begin the first part of my Rehab Your Nails series.  You guys have been asking me to do more nail care posts and I've been listening!  So the first of those will be here in May and I will round them up for you on a new tab at the top so you can always get to them easily.  I can't wait to share the tips and tricks I've learned with you. :)  If you have requests for nail care posts PLEASE don't hesitate to contact me! I'm compiling a list and will start to go through them one by one. Thanks so much for sharing my Hunger Games excitement! Which mani was your favorite? Have any of you tried to recreate any of them? I'd love to see!!

District Thirteen is the elusive district which, according to the Capitol was annihilated and the original reason for the Hunger Games.  If you have only seen the films or have not yet finished reading the second book in the series...get ready for a spoiler!!  District Thirteen is actually a fully functional, operational district. Their industry is: graphite mining and nuclear power.  District 13 was never destroyed, they just moved underground.  They made a treaty with the Capitol since they had access to nuclear power and they agreed not to destroy the Capitol if they were left alone. The President of the District is Alma Coin.  District Thirteen plays a big role in the rebellion of the districts of Panem, and ultimately, ends up having it's own surprises.  These nails are sort of based on the idea of fire out of the ashes.  Katniss alights the fire of the rebellion in the district when she arrives.  This is also the very first thing I did when I got my China Glaze Colors of the Capitol collection! It makes such a nice contrast and it's very easy to do. Since there is no China Glaze color for this district, I've used Stone Cold and Electrify to do this mani.  I hope you're all enjoying the series! There is ONE post left in this series.  

I have another VERY exciting series to come after this...I will leave you simply with this as a hint: There will be six girls, six designs, and six seasons.  And if you ask me...it's the best six seasons of television to ever exist. :)

Next in the series: The Capitol

District Twelve's industry is mining. Specifically coal mining. They are also one of the poorest, most ridiculed districts in the nation of Panem. Located in the Appalachian Mountains, they have a population of fewer than 10,000 people.  Obviously since the main characters from the book are from this district, there is a TON of information on it.  It's separated into four main areas: The Hob, The Seam, The Victors Village, and the merchants section. Katniss and Gale are from The Seam whereas Peeta was from the merchants section.  The Seam is the poorest part of the district and the things Katniss learns from living there help her greatly in her round of the Hunger Games.  The China Glaze color for this collection is called Smoke and Ashes. It's a gorgeous color; deep black with green and gold shimmer.  I would have much preferred Stone Cold as 12's color though, being it looks almost exactly like a piece of coal.  For this district I chose to do some coals over a fire for my accent nail.  The intention with the other nails was smoke on a night sky but they ended up looking like coal briquettes themselves!  Either way I think it worked out!!  I used Riveting and Stone Cold to complete the mani. :)

Only two more Hunger Games posts left!!

Next up is District 13: ???

District Eleven's industry is agriculture. Orchards, fields of grain, and cotton surround the district.  I already did grain nails and I wasn't too keen on orchards or cotton so I went with a sort of all around green-y design.  The bottom is meant to symbolize a hill or field while the green stripes represent growth. Could be flowers, trees, food, etc. This is a poorer district of Panem and it's also where Katniss' partner in crime, Rue is from.  Other known tributes include Thresh, Chaff, and Seeder.  The author of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins revealed in interviews that this district is located near Atlanta, Georgia so I imagined it as being warm and sunny.  The blue background (meant to represent the sky) is a franken I made which I am calling Forget Bee Not. :) It's a pale blue laced with gold, green, and pink shimmer.  Thanks for following along...

District Ten is another one of those districts which the book left out much information on.  So I'm going with the film's accepted industry of this one and it's livestock. he tributes from District 10 were dressed as cows with flaming belts in the 75th Hunger Games, which Katniss thought was, "ridiculous".  I used that idea to an extent for these nails. Of course, there is no flames!!  I actually felt a little bad about doing this one because the China Glaze color for this district is called Foie Gras.  I don't know why but it feels awkward polishing on an animal print with a color inspired by dead animals!!  But hey, you win some you lose some, right?  There are also no named tributes from this district.  So not much info to go on.  I liked how this came out though and it's my first time doing cow print so I feel good about that!  I hope you're enjoying the series!

Next up is District 11: Agriculture
Or visit the previous district: grain

District Nine is another district whose industry was not really specified in the books.  While I haven't seen the film yet (though I'd like to) I'm relying on the film for this particular series of nail art since it has more defined industries for the districts and as well the polish line is modeled after the films not the books.  In the film, the industry of this district is grain. There are no named tributes from district nine and it is the only district in which all known tributes have died.  The color for this district is Harvest Moon which is a gorgeous burnt orange with shimmer to spare.  You can get a better idea how it looks in real life by checking out my thumb in the picture above! So pretty.  I think it's one of my favorites of the entire collection.  I went super simple on this one and polished on 'grain' with Orly Luxe. The results were super shimmery and while it's not super obvious that I have grain on my nails I think the inspiration is there. :)

Next in the series is District Ten: Livestock
Or visit the previous district: Textiles

District Eight's industry is textiles. In the books, Katniss describes District 8 "as an ugly, urban place stinking of industrial fumes, the people housed in run down tenements, barely a blade of grass in sight".  Obviously I'm not doing nail art based on that!  There is also mention in the books that it's a cold district and it is assumed to be a very poor one as well.  Woof and Cecelia are the known tributes though the ones who participate in Katniss's games are not named.  Other people known from the district are Twill, Bonnie, and Commander Paylor (don't worry if you've not read the books and only seen the films, these people are coming!)  The color China Glaze chose for this district was called Dress Me Up and it's a light dusty pinkish shade.  It's actually a lovely color and very flattering as well.  It again, has little to do with the district given the descriptions above BUT it was easier to work with than some of the others! I went simple one this one giving it an easy pattern so that it would resemble cloth.  The pattern was done with butterLONDON Toff.  I liked the subtle color difference and from a distance it really looked more textured than patterned which is the effect I was looking for.  Thanks for following!  

Next up is District Nine: Grain
Or visit the previous district: Lumber

***Don't forget to check out the winner of my Free Swag Giveaway!!***

District Seven's industry is lumber.  I actually LOVE the descriptions of this district in the books. We all know I'm a big tree hugger!  It's supposed to be a district lush with trees and beauty. It's also said to smell like pine.  The only mentioned tributes from this district are Johanna Mason and Blight.  I find it a bit odd that while the other districts tribute names seemed to fit their district industry this one actually had very odd names. Not Johanna of course though her last name seems more fitting to district two, but Blight. What has that got to do with lumber and trees?  Well if you were wondering too then I have the answer for you.  It's not really very pretty though.  Blight apparently is rapid and complete chlorosis and it affects plants by browning and then killing the plants.  Cheerful, no?  His parents must have really loved him.  :P  Anyway I went simple on this one.  I used Mahogany Magic by China Glaze for the base, keeping with the theme of using the district allotted polish.  Then I stamped a wood like pattern on with China Glaze Foie Gras.  It was a bit easier to see in person and I matted it the first go round but it looks much better with a shine to it!  You can click the picture and blow it up to see the pattern more accurately!  Thanks for following and I hope you're enjoying the series!

District Six is the Transportation district.  There isn't a whole lot of information on this district in the books and it's so unimportant in the scheme of the story that it's tributes aren't even given names.  Given that and the fact that this is another color match-up fail from China Glaze, I was a bit stumped at first as to what I should do for my art.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Fast Track as a color. It's absolutely stunning: neutral, sparkly, great coverage.  It just has nothing to do with transportation.  I wish it had been something darker or murkier.  But I digress.  I got to looking at pictures online and ended up loving the look of the rail trains.  They all have these little square windows and then these two stripes which run the length of the cars.  Even better is that my nails fit perfectly into the scheme of a train by creating their own little cars!  So this is my take on that. The thumb is the lead car, with the big dark windows, and the other nails represent the other cars with the pinkie bringing up the rear. :)  I created the stripes with China Glaze Mahogany Magic and Dress Me Up and the windows with Stone Cold.  Then I top coated the whole thing with Seche Vite. :)  I hope you're enjoying the series and thanks for following! 

District Five's industry is power.  They harness solar, electric, and nuclear power for Panem.  The only known tribute from the district is Foxface and whether you've seen the film or read the books there isn't much to say about Foxface.  I wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to go with the art for this district.  I had a lot of ideas but on the day I sat down to do it I had an epiphany. Sadly, the full effect of this epiphany is lost in the picture BUT if you have the China Glaze polish for this district I fully encourage you to take it into the sunlight.  It sparkles in a way that really makes your nails look alive.  I started with a base of Barry M Gold Foil for these.  You can't really see it but I wanted to be sure that the glitter would be fully covering the nail and it's always better to start with a similar base just in case!  Then I added two coats of Electrify.  After seeing the way it lit up in the sun I decided to go simple and do 'lines' of power.  The black was a stark contrast to the glitter and when I moved my hands in the light it really did look electric!! I wish it had picked up better on camera.  I need to work on that for next time! :) 

I hope you're all enjoying the series so far!

Next up is District Six: Textiles
Or visit the previous district: Fishing

Next up is District Five: Power
Or visit the previous district: Technology

Next up is District Three: Technology
Or see the previous district: Luxury

As the title of this blog suggests, District One is the district which supplies the Capitol with luxury items.  The residents of District One are generally described as being attractive and glamorous and are named as such.  Tributes have included Glimmer, Cashmere and Gloss.  So for this district I decided to do an accent nail of gemstones. The accent is done with a base of ManGlaze Mink Mitten and then individual gem stones glued on. I wanted the other fingers to reflect diamonds or precious metal so I used butterLONDON Diamond Geezer and then, of course, I gave them two coats of their China Glaze counterpart: Luxe & Lush.  I think they came out rather glamorous.  I'm not one for flashy nails (I know, you're shocked, no? :P) or gem stones so this was a little outside my box but I think it reflects the luxurious district well.  What do you guys think?