Literary Nails: Croak by Gina Damico

Today I bring you some book-inspired nail art I've been wanting to do for, like, a million years! Well, actually, ever since the chrome nail powder craze first started. Lol. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's fine. You'll see 😉 lol.

Anyway, this nail art was inspired by...

Croak by Gina Damico

Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex's parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape.

But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business.

She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her desire for justice — or is it vengeance? — whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.

Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

And if you have not seen this book in person, it's beautiful! It's very reflective, almost like a mirror!



And this is the nail art I came up with:



Believe it or not, this was fairly easy to do! These are the things I used:



Base coat: UNT - Ready For Take Off (Peel Off Base Coat)
Black base color: Finger Paints Gel Polish - Black Canvas (can be found at Sally's)
Top coat: One Dor - No Wipe Top Coat
Mirror chrome powder: TwinkledT - House of Mirrors (Currently sold out, here's another option)

I also used the following nail vinyl:

Image from TwinkledT

And this stamping plate:

Image from Maniology

The thing about nail powders, they work best over gel polish, and I hate gel polish! I paint my nails at least once a week, so using gel polish is pain for me since it is so hard to remove! I hate it! So here's my trick: I use a peel-off base coat under the gel so that when I'm done I can just, you know, peel it off! So I started off with the peel-off base coat, 2 coats of black gel polish, and a no-wipe gel top coat.



You bake all that in this alien space ship cure your nails under a lamp after each coat and you're basically 75% done with the look! Lol.



I'll give gel polish this: it is absolutely beautiful and very shiny! Also, you don't have to wait around for it to dry. You just stick it in the lamp and one minute later it's dry! Anyway, typically regular gel polish has a sticky layer after you cure it and you're supposed to just wipe that off with some rubbing alcohol. But because we are going to use a nail powder, we need a top coat without the sticky layer, thus the no-wipe top coat.



And we finally get to playing with the nail powder! Basically, you just want to buff it in until you get the chrome effect. And it really only takes a couple of swipes. It's so fast and easy... but messy! I used a makeup sponge to buff in the powder and this is what you get:



That's just with one "coat" of the nail powder, and you can already see the awesome mirror effect it has. But I did not stop there. Oh, no. I added another coat of the powder because I'm extra like that. Lol. This time I rubbed in the powder with a silicone tool. Below you can see the difference and how it's much more smooth with the two coats of powder and finishing it off with the silicone tool.



And that's it! Wait, no. I added a nail vinyl (basically a sticker) to my middle nail and thumb. And then I stamped another image on my ring finger and I put a final layer of gel top coat over everything.



Okay, now that's it. Lol.



I am very happy how it turned out! I've been wanting to do this nail design for this particular book for so long! I guess I just put it off because I don't like gel polish. I also don't like peel-off base coats! Lol. I know, I know, I'm picky 😅 But gel polish is cemented onto your nails until you soak it off, and then for whatever reason, I cannot make the peel-off base coat last for more than, like, 3 days! This Croak mani popped right off the next day!! Look, I'm a nurse so I wash my hands a lot. Water and peel-off base coats just don't go, I guess. That's why I rarely use it. But I'm so glad I was able to do it!

And if you have not checked out this book yet, you really need to! It is amazing! And it is perfect for this time of year because it has reapers and death! My fave! 🤪

You can also check out my review of Croak here!

And there you have it! Croak nails! Even though I don't care for gel polish, I absolutely LOVE nail chrome powders! They are beautiful!

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