On a warm, summer evening last year, I was sitting on my patio enjoying a beer and scrolling through Twitter on my laptop. I came across some pictures friends had retweeted of really awesome nail wraps a company called “Espionage Cosmetics” had made. There were Superhero designs, nebulas, and even some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ones. They were really cute but I wasn’t sure how nail wraps worked so I called my friend, Bonnie Burton, and asked if she’d ever tried them before and if she’d ever heard of a company called “Espionage Cosmetics.”
She’d never tried nail wraps before but she knew the company was based out of Seattle and had gotten themselves going through a Kickstarter. From our respective laptops, we went to their website and checked out all the cool products they had and all the nail wrap designs they had created. Since we both love googly eyes so much, we were hoping they made nail wraps specifically googly-eyed but we couldn’t find anything on their site.
Over the past two years or so, I would see people who had painted googly eyes on their nails with polish. Some people would even glue little googly eyes on their nails. While it was adorable, it seemed like a pretty big time commitment to put all that on and if you’re like me, you knock a nail against a kitchen cabinet or forget to put gloves on when washing dishes and half that polish is gone in an instant. Bonnie and I started talking about how cool it would be to have nail wraps (which it turns out is like a REALLY strong sticker in the shape of a fingernail that’s super easy to apply and can last a couple of weeks) covered in little googly eyes. Since Espionage Cosmetics already knew how to make adorably nerdy things like this, we decided to reach out to them to see if they’d be interested in making an exclusive “VandalEyes” line that Bonnie and I would design. Turns out they loved the idea.
In December, Bonnie and I went up to Seattle to do a photo shoot with Espionage. They made dresses for us, covered shoes in googly eyes for us and had THOUSANDS of googly eyes on hand to use in the shoot. We spent the entire day with their amazing crew taking photos and had a blast.
A couple of weeks ago, Bonnie and I got sets of the different VandalEyes nail wraps and tried them on (Wil told Twitter we were in our living room doing each others’ nails and it KILLED me to not be able to say it was with these nail wraps, not polish.) I can’t even stand how cute they are and how easy they are to apply. I was so sad that we had to take them off because we couldn’t let anyone see them yet. But it makes me so happy that we can finally talk about this now, you have no idea. Espionage will be releasing tons of photos from that shoot over the next few weeks as well as a “Behind The Glitter” video they shot that day which shows how it was all created, as well as individual interviews with Bonnie and myself.
Espionage Cosmetics will have a booth at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle March 28th-30th, where they will be releasing our VandalEyes nail wraps for the first time. Bonnie and I will be in their booth on Saturday and Sunday (the time in the booth will be announced soon) so if you’re attending the convention that weekend, stop by and visit us! If you’re not able to attend, the wraps will be available to order online after Emerald City or you can pick them up at other conventions. Bonnie and I will be in their booth at some other conventions this year (including GeekGirl Con in Seattle in October OH BOY!!) but we’ll let you know which ones as they get closer.
And can I just say, as a girl who once feared conventions and didn’t think I was a nerd, it’s a little crazy to know I’m actually attending conventions for my own thing and not because I’m just traveling with Wil. The geek gene is strong in the Wheaton house, that’s for sure.
WANT!!! I get together with a group of nerd/geek friends for pedicure/manicure parties, so I can’t wait to get some of these on my fingers!
I’m so excited to see these! I don’t do my nails very often for some of the reasons you listed, plus I just don’t usually sit still long enough to do them. (There’s also the fact that they’ll probably be covered in varnish, paint, or glue in no time flat.) Nail wraps have intrigued me, so I’ll definitely be checking out the booth! (Oh, and how amazing do you two look in those photos?!?!)
I want these! I go for pedicures, but never paint my nails since I’m a cellist. BUT, wraps I would do! So awesome!
SWEET!!!!!
Yup, you are figuring out that you can be a geek about ANYTHING!!!!
Go for it!
Dave
AHHHH!!! That’s why you two were all vandaleyes’d out!! Can’t wait to see the wraps. 😀
Can. Not. Wait! My daughter and I will be at Comicon at the end of the month. So looking forward to meeting you and seeing all the cool nail wraps, VandalEyes included! You both look AWESOME in these photos by the way! 😉
Anne,
Do you know if there will be a feature in the upcoming Nailed It Magazine? I would love to see more about this, but can’t get to any of the conventions because of school.
ARGH… Why is college so inconvenient to my nerd life?
“It’s not what you love, but how you love it!” Quoted from a great Nerd-American!
How cool are those?! I might just attend the con to get some of these. 🙂
Cool! Way to get excited and make something! 🙂
So nail wraps could possibly be ideal for someone who can’t use polish due to chemotherapy side effects. Oh I may have to try this. You are brilliant and so is Bonnie and thanks to Espionage Cosmetics for this product.
Love this idea! Can’t wait to be able to order these online!
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!