Bucket List Alert -- TVXQ! Concert Mani

Hello folks! Today bear with me as I let my inner fangirl out and share an exceptionally special mani with you. Last Friday, I was absurdly lucky enough to fly out to LA and see TVXQ!, my favoritest favorites ever, live! I doubt many of you know who TVXQ are, lol, which is fine and to be expected. As a quick FYI, they are a (super amazing) Korean boyband that I have pretty much loved forever, it feels like, from afar (read: the Internet) and never ever thought I would get to see them live. Then last month, I think, I got an email that they would be having their first feature concert in the US! Now... I don't live in LA, alas, so it was a bit of a so-close-but-so-far moment... but somehow I convinced my parents that I needed to be at this once in a lifetime thing, and I ended up actually flying out with my mom! (She's become a bit of a fan herself through listening to my iPod, haha).

Of course, as you all, I'm sure, already know, a special occasion of this sort needs a special mani to go with it! I agonized for the better part of June over what exactly to do with my nails (even bought a few polishes just for this mani, and they didn't even make it into it... oops). I finally sort of settled on simple red holo (or more accurately, Deborah Lippmann It's Raining Men, a red creme, with Enchanted Polish Djinn in a Bottle, a holo topcoat) with a single star rhinestone at the base of each nail (which leaves me with 5 stars, which is important symbolization within the fandom anyway -- so it was perfect!). I got a bit bored with it though, so I added the accent nails with Cult Nails Tempest, a white creme, OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, a white jelly - to soften the stark white a bit - It's Raining Men again for the design and then Djinn over it all once more -- another configuration of five stars, that when connected just right (in the shape of a W), resemble the constellation of Cassiopeia -- which happens to be the name of the fandom :)

I am quite pleased with how it turned out, take a look!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade + flash

 On my nails:
1 coat Orly Nail Defense
2 coats Deborah Lippmann It's Raining Men/3 coats Cult Nails Tempest + 1 coat OPI Don't Touch My Tutu
*design painted/rhinestones added*
1 coat Enchanted Polish Djinn in a Bottle
1 coat KB Shimmer Clearly On Top

I had a hard time making the picture including my thumb look nice, hope it turned out ok. I was overall very happy with the finished product! I wish the red was a little more pink/cherry-leaning... but this is just because I don't much like true reds, haha (red is the official color of TVXQ, by the way -- that's obviously important for this mani). If you have been wanting a true red holo though, I definitely recommend this combo with Djinn! The nail art nails got a bit goopy with so so much paint but I think they turned out ok. I am proud of myself for coming up with an actual meaningful nail art design for my dream concert -- which was, by the way, wonderful and amazing! (Even if most all my pictures are crazy blurry, or I would share some... got some great videos though!) Quite possibly the coolest, most special thing I've done in my entire life. Truly something to cross off my bucket list -- with a cute mani to boot. :)

outdoors, sun

Have a great day! ♥