Saturday, March 20, 2021

Literary Nails: Elemental Assassin by Jennifer Estep


I've been wanting to do some Elemental Assassin nail art for a while now, but I've been holding off cause I'd have to hand draw what I wanted to do. BUT book 19 in the series, Last Strand, just came out this past week, so I thought it would be the perfect time to attempt this.


Every bloody thread has been leading to this...

I’ve battled a lot of bad guys in my time, both as Gin Blanco and as the notorious assassin the Spider. But I’ve never faced off against anyone quite as powerful and deadly as the dastardly leader of the Circle secret society.

Just when I finally have a lead on how I can defeat the evil group once and for all, new information comes to light that throws me for a loop. Suddenly, everyone and everything I love is in imminent peril of being destroyed, and I’m racing against the clock to figure out a way to save my friends.

The stakes couldn’t be higher, and the danger has never been greater. Somehow, I need to weave one last strand in my web of death—and kill my enemies before they kill me...


Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository

I always say I'm no good at hand drawn nail art, but then I do hand drawn nail art and I end up surrpising myself...


It's not that bad! Although, looking back at it now, I wish I would've just done one rune per nail.


And here are the polishes I used:

Holo Taco - Smoothing Base
Hunter's Helper - Demon Blood (This one has not been in stock for a long time 🙈)
Holo Taco - One-Coat Black
Holo Taco - Super Glossy Taco


I tend to do a lot of complicated nail art, which is my favorite type of nail art to do 😅 But this one was relatively easy to do comparatively! I started off with a coat of base coat, and two coats of this sparkly red polish. When I was trying to figure what base color I wanted to do, I was thinking of maybe matching the base to one of the covers of the books or maybe using a fun chrome powder... but I decided to keep it simple and use Demon Blood to represent the blood of Gin's enemies 😂


I then hand drew ALL the Spider runes on my nail art mat. If you thought I drew them directly on my nails... NOPE. I am not that good 😂 I drew them on my mat and then I added a layer of clear polish and turned them into decals! Then I just stuck them on my nails with a little more clear polish and melted the decal into my nail using a tiny bit of acetone and a brush. Then I just slapped on my top coat and it smoothed everything out.


Some of the rays on the runes are a bit longer than others... but I think they turned out okay overall 😅


On my other hand I like to experiment. So before I put on the decals on this one, I added a holographic topper THEN I added a magnetic topper I had just gotten. I think it's a bit too flashy and Gin, who likes to lurk in the shadows, might not approve 😂 I love the magnetic topper, but maybe I don't need to add it to everything 😅


Elemental Assassin is one of my favorite series! If you're looking for a good adult urban fantasy, definitely check this one out!

So what do you think? Did I nail it? 😜

4 comments:

  1. This is SO AWESOME! Thanks for sharing. :-)

    I wonder if it would be easier to somehow copy one of the runes from the cover, cut it out to make a stencil, and then use that to paint the rune on your nails? I might have to try that, although I am not at all talented when it comes to doing my nails. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! 😅 Oooh, that could work! You could also use a plastic sandwich bag, put it over a rune on a cover, and then trace it that way with a thin brush!

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