Support Our Troops! Camouflage Nail Art

Today was a very somber day for our family. We watched as my husband along with the rest of his Army National Guard company boarded a bus on their way to hunt for IED's in Afghanistan. It still doesn't feel quite real and I really don't know how we're going to cope with a year apart but we'll get through it just like all the other military families do.. with hope and prayer. 

They had a big Call to Duty Ceremony at the community college a couple days ago and I just had to do a special mani to show my support in my own way. 

This was my first time trying a camouflage print design and I love the way it turned out. And a big thanks to Patrick for letting me use all of his stuff as props (and for defending our freedom and all) Thanks babe! :)

I used a ton of polishes for this..

My base color was SOPI Thyme For A Mani then using a small detail brush I added random blobs of Zoya Dree, Zoya Zara and Zoya Shawn, threw in some tiny OPI You Don't Know Jacques blobs and realized it was too dark so I went back and added a touch of Essie Miss Fancy Pants here and there to lighten it up again. Then because I'm terrible at freehand nail art I made my ribbons with Zoya Pippa on a Ziplock bag then peeled and stuck them on my accent nails. I got the idea from this tutorial by Nails In Nippon about DIY Nail Stickers. Check it out, they were super easy to make. 

Like I said I LOVE this mani! As soon as I found out he would be going for sure I started planning it, collecting every khaki colored polish I could find over the last couple months.. I ended up with about 4 more colors that I didn't even use. I have a lot of greens now. :)

Then after I had already taken a million pictures it hit me... duh... Matte it! I added one coat of butter LONDON's Matte Finish Topcoat and voila! Now it Really looks like a pair of Army fatigues!

I was kinda disappointed that no one at the ceremony noticed my awesome nails but that's ok - I know we all had a lot more important things on our minds.. And besides my dear hubby thought they were cool and I have you guys to show them off to. :) 

Words cannot express how worried I am for his safety and how scared I am of being alone.. But more than anything I am Proud. Proud that my man has the courage and integrity to do what has to be done and proud to say I know such an honorable group of guys. 

Thank You to the 837th Combat Engineer Company and to all of our men and women in the Armed Forces who are willing to risk it all to do what's right.  

We Support You!

P.S. I've been playing around with the idea of possibly holding some kind of polish auction to raise $ to send donation boxes to the troops.. I have no idea how to organize something like that but I know I've seen people doing it in the past for different charities.. Does that seem like a good idea? Should I try planning one for real?