You and I have unfinished business...

I'm part of a polish group on facebook, and I can't remember how it came up, but someone mentioned a Kill Bill manicure. As I just watched it this weekend, I decided to give it a go.

The serger thread cones aren't actually involved, but have some videos going in the background.

Did you know I'm criminally insane?




A little mood music, please

First, the concept. I decided to highlight just the assassins, because ten fingers, five assassins, it's easier. The thumb was definitely going to be The Bride/Black Mamba/Beatrix Kiddo, because she's the main character, and thumbs are important. The rest are in order of killed; O-Ren Ishii/Cottonmouth, Vernita Green/Copperhead, Budd/Sidewinder (which are pretty cool snakes), and Elle Driver/California Mountain Snake. Daryl Hannah is a fucking legend. The right hand was going to be the women(and Michael Madsen), with the left hand inspired by their snake codenames.

Left hand. Thumb is Sally Hansen "Black Out". Index is "Warm Me Up" from OPI Mariah Carey, middle is "Brownstone" by NYC, Ring is "Almost Almond" from Sally Hansen, and Pinky is "I Will" from L'Oreal.

Prepping the right hand. White is "I Will" by L'Oreal, because I hate myself. Ring finger is "Almost Almond", index is "Powder Puff" by Revlon, which has a matte finish, and yellow is Kleancolor "Yellow".

The trickiest part was how to represent the snakes. For Black Mamba, I chose to do a quilting pattern (like scales) using striping tape over a gloss finish polish, then top it with OPI "4 in the Morning", which has a matte finish. When peeling the striping tape off, presumably it will leave a glossy stripe underneath.

I kind of hate striping tape.

One coat of 4 in the Morning.

I wasn't 100% successful, but I want to keep trying.

For "Cottonmouth", I used Revlon "Powder Puff" to do a gradient effect on the tip. I think this had the weakest concept overall, but I like the idea (myself). For "Copperhead", I sponged Sally Hansen Lustre Shine "Copperhead" in stripes across the nail, to get those areas of full color. This is also in mid-application of the red for California Mountain Kingsnake. The red is "Paint the Town" by Maybelline Color Show.

I used a dotting tool and added dots of NYC "Brownstone" for Sidewinder. I tried to expand the middle dots into a kind of diamond shape. I also used the dotting tool to freehand the black stripes (Sally Hansen "Black Out") on the pinky, because the snakes themselves have uneven stripe patterns.

That's my excuse, anyway.

For the right hand...

Ignore that streak on the yellow nail. I had to redo it like 6 times and it was the simplest design.

While I let the coats of yellow, white, and "Powder Puff" dry, I taped off the middle section of the Vernita Green nail, and painted it blue with Revlon "Coastal Surf", to replicate Vernita's top when The Bride kills her.

The Budd nail was the easiest; I based it off his hat (off-white with a brown belt detail). I took the same striping tape from earlier and painted it brown before placing it on my nail. Done. Boom. And I think it looks kind of cool.

I'm not a big fan of taping things off with Scotch tape, but maybe it's because I'm not used to it. I always seem to apply too hard too soon, so it rips up the polish.

Tape off your middle nail again, once you're confident, and paint the center black stripe for Vernita's top. I just used "Black Out".

See what I mean about redoing that thumb? Damn it, Beatrix Kiddo.

For O-Ren, I used "I Will" and a GAL stamping kit to apply a floral pattern over "Powder Puff", and because the application sucked (and I wanted more interest there), I added "Paint the Town" in a dot tool smear, like the first gash she receives on her thigh in the battle with Beatrix in the snowy landscape.

I fucking love that scene.

For Elle's stitches, I chose a small, short-bristled brush that ended in a point, doled out a little "Black Out", and carefully painted in the lines. I considered doing her eyepatch at first, but that wasn't abstract enough for me, so I went with her bitchin' outlined trenchcoat. I know it wasn't done in stitch lines like this, but I do what I want.

Apply a stripe of black (4 in the Morning) to your yellow Bride nail, but you didn't tape it off so it looks way too big and kinda janky and ugh.

Redo it, because you are really struck on free-handing this bitch and you want it asymmetrical. And yeah I forgot to clean up that little blurp there before the photo.

Then, clean up your tools and whatnot, and show them off! Be sure to stress the Kill Bill theme when you explain your nails because people probably won't get it.