THIS IS AMERICA!!

We take dress-up themes very seriously.

  If you know me at all, you know I have precious little civic pride, but that isn't going to stop me from enjoying a thematic dress-up opportunity or the chance to paint my nails the appropriate holiday theme!  Hence, AMERICA! The Manicure was born.  I really wanted to paint a few little flags, unfortunately the US flag looks like about a hundred other flags in the world (have you seen Liberia's flag?  Seriously it looks exactly like what I'd paint a "simplified" US flag as) and I really didn't want to have some Texas-ass-lookin' flag, either, so I had to get crafty.
  I recently ordered some nail striping tape as part of an Amazon nail-accoutrements binge.  They came as a set of ten colors for only a couple bucks, but the tape is so so thin (only about 1/10 cm) that it's really kind of hard to work with.  I found that it was better to firmly adhere the tape to my nails before trimming the edges to length.
  I generally prefer to use the tape just as masking, because tape on nails never really stays put, no matter how many layers of top-coat you apply.  But I had to make an exception because I just didn't want to get into the nightmare of masking off all the stripes of the flag.  So, there's a bit of both going on here, though the flags were made much easier with the help of super-skinny white tape!

  As per usual, not a great picture but you get the idea.  It's always an epic battle to balance sharpness with accurate color on my stupid little digital camera, but I do try.  This red is a newsie from Revlon (my love!) called Fearless, it's a totally gorge slightly orangey-red, and it's just perfect.  It's almost a poppy red, great for the summer.  I currently have it on my toes and it's giving me another reason to just stare at my feet when I walk!

ManiCures for the Common Nail: Benetton Manicure

  When I was in middle school, I had an extensive nail polish collection.  I would paint my nails a different color each week, and so dedicated was I that eventually my nails turned a sad yellow, and I gave them an approximately four-year break.  But I'm back to my early love of nail painting, and with more gusto than ever!  Armed with the superhero of long, strong fingernails, Prenatal Vitamins, I am once again ready to present ManiCures for the Common Nail.

  Today's look is something I call the Benneton Manicure.  I had wanted to just paint Jamaican flags, but as I am white and have no connection to Jamaica whatsoever, I figured this would be slightly inappropriate.  Not to mention the potential for exposing my dearth of Jamaica knowledge.  SO I went ahead and did a combo of flags, drawing from my cousin's Flags Of The World flashcards! I tried to keep in the Benneton theme and represent all the continents, at the very least.  Some of the sexier countries to had some of the more difficult flags, and some of the sexier flags belonged to the least sexy countries.  So, choosing who would make it to Nailsville was surprisingly intellectually involved.

  I am really happy with  how these turned out!  I'm especially happy with how nicely the Brazil flag turned out!  I'm left-handed, so results of painting with my right hand have been mixed, but practice has improved my control considerably!  I remember when I could barely paint a solid color without having a massive right-hand earthquake!

Can you guess them all?