30 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Tutorial

Howdy, everyone!  Oh my goodness, only one day left after today!  I can't believe it.  It's crazy to think that I've managed a different manicure every day for a month.  It's been fun, but I'll be glad to get back to doing what I want to do when I want to do it lol

Today's challenge was to be inspired by a tutorial.  I had to have a good think about this one, because most of the time when I see a tutorial I'm interested in trying, I try it then and there.  After I thought about it a bit though, I realized that there was one technique that I've been wanting to try but I hadn't made it to Michael's yet to get the supplies: flocked nails!

Aren't they cute??  They're like little sweaters for your nails!  The official tutorial I followed can be found here at Elle Sees.  This manicure has been referred to several ways, the aforementioned "flocked", the trademarked "Velvet manicure" from Ciate and the much humbler (and my favorite) "fuzzy" manicure.  The technique is pretty simple.  Apply your base color and while it's still wet, sprinkle on flocking powder.  Brush off the excess and "Ta da!", fuzzy nails!  

I used Essence Colour & Go in Let's Get Lost, a beautiful deep turquoise creme.  The flocking powder is from  Michael's store brand Recollections.  I got a set of 6 for about $7.  To be honest, the selection wasn't all that great.  The only single bottles I could find where white or black.  The set was much more colorful so I went with that.  This color is called Calypso...so pretty!

Tomorrow's challenge (the final one) is to recreate a favorite manicure.  I've got a few ideas so check back in to find out what I come up with!  Thanks for reading!

29 of 31: Nails Inspired by the Supernatural

Hello again!  For my second post of the evening, I have for you nails inspired by the "supernatural".  I actually had a hard time with this one.  For starters, the only thing I could come up with for supernatural were ghosts or the T.V. show.  I didn't really feel like doing either of those.  Since I'm behind on my swatching and I just got new stamping plates, I wanted to combine those things today.  Here's what I came up with:

So, what you're looking at is one coat of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme covered by 5(!) coats of Cirque's Kabocha.  Kabocha is a lovely bright orange jelly (hence the 5 coats til I was happy with coverage).  It's part of Cirque's All Hallow's Eve set which happens to be the prize I won from Chalkboard Nails' giveaway a couple of weeks ago.  On top of this, I tried my hand at stamping for the very first time.  Everyone says it's difficult the first time around and they are not lyin'!  As you can see, I still have a pretty spotty outcome.  This stamp is supposed to give me cute little skulls (supernatural), but mine are all missing the top parts of their craniums.  I chose to believe they all got attacked by zombies and this is how they got their brains out to nom upon...but I'm a bit morbid that way :)  I know the only way to get better at stamping is to practice, so be on the look out for more crappy stamping from me in the future lol  

The best part about Kabocha (other than the color, the formula and the fact that it doesn't reek cuz it's hand-mixed with essential oils) is that it...wait for it...wait for it...

GLOWS IN THE DARK!!!  So cool! You have to "charge" them in the light for a few minutes, but the glow is pretty strong.  I don't like that you can see how messy I was with the polish though.  I cleaned up around my cuticles, I swear!

All in all I had fun with this one.  Tomorrow's mani is inspired by a tutorial so swing by and check it out.  Thanks so much for reading!

28 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Flag

Howdy, everyone, hope your weekends are going well.  Mine is shaping up well, went to see Pitch Perfect this afternoon and was thoroughly entertained.  I highly suggest it if you're a Glee fan.  I thought I was going to be able to type this post up on my shiny new SmartPhone, but apparently the phone is smarter than me and I couldn't figure out how to Enter to start a new paragraph.  Quite frustrating.  Anyway, I'm already a day late on this post so we shall get down to business :)  

Today's challenge was to design a manicure inspired by a flag.  Being in love with me city as I still am after almost 5 years, I chose to use the Chicago flag for my inspiration.  

 There's quite a bit of symbolism involved in this flag, if you're interested in it, check out the wikipedia article here.  I thought it was a great design to reproduce in a manicure.  The colors and the simple shapes translate well in polish.  Here's what I came up with:

I started with one coat each of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme and MAC's Vestral White.  For the blue stripes, I used China Glaze in For Audrey.  The stars are done with a red striping polish. I got to wear this out and about in the city today and I got a lot of compliments on it.  I applied my Seche Vite a little too soon though, so there are some spots in the white where it turned a little pink.  Other than that, I'm really happy with it.  Here's another look:

I'll be posting my supernatural challenge nails here in a bit, so check back to see them!  Thanks for reading!

27 of 31: Nails Inspired by Artwork

Howdy, everyone!  Only 4 days left in the 31 Day Challenge!  Pretty crazy, huh?  Today's challenge was to be inspired by artwork.  My friend, Joe, went to Spain a couple of weeks ago and got to check out the Salvador Dali museum there.  Knowing my interest in jewelry, he brought me back a catalog of Dali's Jewels, a series of sculptures made out of precious metals and stones.  I hesitate to call them all jewelry as some of them aren't really meant to be worn, but they're all lovely.  While the photos in the catalog are spectacular, some day, I hope I'll get to see them in person.

I chose a particular piece from this collection as my inspiration.  The Royal Heart is a small gold heart with a miniature crown.  The center of the heart, a vertical rectangle has been cut out and in the space, an anatomical heart shaped out of rubies has been set.  The most amazing thing about this piece is that the ruby heart actually beats.  It's breath-taking to watch, almost creepy in a way.  I've tried to attach a video at the end of this post, so we'll see if it goes.  There's also a link, which I urge you to click so you can see the heart beat for yourself.  Here's my interpretation along with a picture of The Royal Heart:

Stunning, yes? (The Heart, not my manicure lol)  I started with a coat of Orly's Luxe topped with 2 coats of Oscar by Julep.  While that dried, I created some nail decals by placing dots of color on top of some saran wrap and left it to dry.  I made rectangle stencils with blue painter's tape and used a deep maroon O.P.I. whose name I don't know (obviously part of a mini set to which I don't have the packaging) to paint in the rectangles.  Once the decals dried, I cut them to fit the rectangles and fixed them to my nails with a coat of Seche Vite.  I added some yellow heart "jewels" in the center of each nail for some extra bling.

This challenge has been so fun (and exhausting) and I'll be a little sad when it's over (but not too sad).  I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am.   Please tune in tomorrow to see some flag-inspired nail art!  Thanks so much for reading!

This *should* be the video of The Royal Heart beating.  Here's the link just in case this doesn't load the way I hope it will.  

26 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Pattern

Howdy, everyone!  This is my first attempt at a scheduled post so we'll see if I can pull it off...seems pretty simple, which usually means it isn't lol

We're on to Day 26 of the 31 Day Challenge; nails inspired by a pattern.  I originally wanted to do houndstooth because it's just so awesome, but even I'm not crazy enough to attempt that free-handed and I don't have stamping plates yet.  I have a few on order, but to be honest, I can't remember what patterns they have and I'm pretty sure I won't seen them til the end of the week anyway.

So, my initial ambitions thwarted, I decided to go with a harlequin pattern instead.  Here's how it turned out:

I started with a coat of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme and then used blue painter's tape and pinking shears to create the diamond shapes.  I painted over the tape stencils with Cirque's Fascination Street (not that you can tell from this photo, but FS is a lovely, lovely purple holographic.  Seriously, rainbows everywhere in sunlight...not so much in my crappy house lighting).  You can see in a couple of places where I should have been a bit more careful with the stencils, but on the whole, it turned out pretty well.

I'm very excited about tomorrow's challenge wherein I shall be inspired by artwork!  Tune in to see what shapes up.  Thanks so much for reading!

25 of 31: Nails Inspired by Fashion

Howdy, everyone!  Gosh this 31 Day Challenge is just whizzin' right along, huh?  We're on Day 25 already, I can hardly believe it!  Today, we are inspired by fashion.  Now I have to admit, I don't know from fashion...I like what I like and that's what I like.  Whether anyone else cares for it doesn't interest me much.  That being said, I am an avid Project Runway viewer and I enjoy clothes overall.  Being in love with Pinterest as I am, I looked back through some of my fashion pins to see what jumped out at me.  Here's what I found:

These tights are from an etsy seller, Gal Stern, whose store can be found here.  I love pretty much everything she has listed even though I do hate to wear stockings myself.  For my manicure on the left, I started with 2 coats of MAC's Black Enough?, a  polish with a matte finish.  Then, using Orly's Luxe and my homemade dotting tool, I added some half moon dots and the pattern on my accent nail.  This is really simple, but I LOVE it!  Black and gold is such a great color combo and I think it's a great complement to the tights.  Whaddya think?

Thanks so much for reading and look out for tomorrow's post, inspired by pattern!

24 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Book

Hello again!  Ok, now I'm back on track with posting, yay!  Day 24's challenge is a manicure inspired by a book.  I chose The Princess Bride as my inspiration.  Written by William Goldman, The Princess Bride is the basis for the 1987 movie by the same name.  Yes, you know the one...Fire Swamps, swash buckling, and #1 kisses of all time.  The book is really pretty good, although there are some key differences to the movie version.  I sort of pulled from both sources for this mani (I figure the book inspired the movie and I'm inspired by the book so it follows that the movie can be part of the inspiration...plus, see the note where it's my blog and I'll do what I want if you're confused).  Here's what I came up with:

I just love it!  This is one of my favorites so far in the challenge.  It was so much fun to do! I'll break this one down nail by nail as well.

 Starting with Westley on my thumb.  Or I should more properly say, The Dread Pirate Roberts!  Mask, mustache and scarf do make the man, don't they?  Who wasn't a little in love with Cary Elwes in the movie?  All blonde and man-of-few-words-y...yum!  This is just some black striping polish and Sharpie over 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme.

And with Westley, comes Buttercup, the Princess Bride herself.  Robin Wright (before she was Penn) was amazing in this film and I couldn't help picturing her as the character when I read the book.  Here's her crown made with red, yellow and blue striping polish and Milani's 3D Holographic in 3D over 2 coats of FWC again.

My personal favorite character has always been Inigo Montoya.  Even without the infamous "Hello!" monologue, he's such a great character.  I highly suggest reading the book just so you can get more of his back story.  He had a rough time of it, did lil' Inigo.  I went with a play on the whole "Hello!" business here.  I couldn't write small enough to get "my name is" in there between the salutation and his name, but you get the idea.  Julep's January provides the red frame and black Sharpie for his name.  FWC for "Hello" and the background.
 

Fezzik loves his rhymes and who doesn't love Fezzik?  The classic Gentle Giant, Fezzik is forced to wrestle at a young age, but secretly he has the heart of a poet.  One of my favorite lines in the movie is Vizzini saying "No more rhyming now, I mean it!" and Fezzik's reply of "Anybody want a peanut?".  Makes me giggle every time!  So here's a peanut...this is made out of a couple of different no name polishes and striping polish over the ubiquitous 2 coats of FWC.
 

And finally, Westley's message of love to Buttercup, "As you wish...".  Buttercup has a lovely speech in the book when she realizes that she loves Westley, it's one of my favorite love scenes ever written.  This is simple black Sharpie again, but still cute for all that.

As I said before, I'm so happy with the way this turned out!  However, I've really got to get better about taking photos in the sunlight.  This indoor shots are just not cuttin' it any more.  Oh well, we work with what we have, right? 

Come on back tomorrow to see a fashion inspired manicure and thanks for reading!

23 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Movie

Howdy, everyone!  I'm a day behind with this post and I'm blaming it on the photos.  I'm still not very happy with how they turned out, but it's this or nothing! 

So, the challenge for Day 23 is to do a manicure inspired by a movie.  I chose to use The Last Unicorn as my inspiration.  Now I'm going to guess most of you have never seen this movie.  It's an animated film based on a book by Peter S. Beagle.  TLU is one my favorite movies of all time.  It's a hold over from my childhood and it brings me right back there every time I watch it. 

Here's a shot of the full mani.  I chose some of my favorite characters from the movie to spotlight.  I'll do my best to explain who's who for those who haven't seen it.

I'll break the explanation nail by nail.

Starting with my thumb, this is the Pirate Cat from King Haggard's castle.  (King Haggard is the dude who's stolen all the unicorns from the world.)  This cat is pretty awesome...he can talk for one and he's got this cool Cruelle de Ville hair-do and an eye patch! 

My index fingernail has The Red Bull, not to be confused with Red Bull the energy drink.  TRB is a bad, bad dude who chases down all the unicorns and forces them into the ocean, where King Haggard can see them but no one else can.  Talk about never learning the "sharing" lesson in kindergarten!

This is the Butterfly.  He doesn't really have a name and he's only in the movie for one scene, but he's really one of my favorite characters.  In the film, butterflies speak in song and bits of poetry, so his lines are really fun. Plus he has an adorable hat and scarf combo!

My ring fingernail has a six-pointed star to represent The Unicorn.  There is a pink, star-shaped mark on her forehead where her horn spouts out of her head.  Now The Unicorn is actually not one of my favorite characters, but I could hardly do a manicure about this movie without the title character making an appearance.  I didn't have time to paint another mini portrait though, so I went for more of an abstract thing instead.  Incidentally, that's my new Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory holographic top coat you see shining so prettily on top :)
 

Last, but definitely not least, is The Tree. She's another one without an official name, but her scene really steals the show.  She's been accidentally enchanted to life by Schmendrick (a would-be sorcerer with a serious self confidence issue) and then falls in love with him.  It's quite amusing!

Well, I hope you stuck with me through all of that!  And you should check out The Last Unicorn if you love 70's style animation or unicorns or cool cats :)  I'll be posting my book-inspired nails here in a bit as well and then check out tomorrow's post for some fashion inspired nails...thanks so much for reading!!

22 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Song

Howdy, everyone!!  I'm sorry, I'm just so excited so please forgive any excess exclamation points :)  My Kansas State University Wildcats have beaten the Oklahoma University Sooners tonight in a magnificent football game!  I know that 95% of you really don't care, but it's kind of a big deal and I just had to mention it here.  Congrats, 'Cats!

On to the manicure, today we're inspired by a song.  Because of the aforementioned game, I had to do purple nails, so I chose Wabash Cannonball as my song of choice.  Wabash is the second fight song of the Wildcats and a personal favorite of mine.  I did a little research into the song and found out it was written about a mythical train that, in hobo culture (yes, I said hobo culture), symbolized that last great ride, death.  Yes, I know, a little morbid.  You'd never know it from the song, I'll post a link to it at the end of the post.  Additionally, the sheet music for Wabash was the only saved from a fire in the KSU music department in 1968, so it's come to stand for the fight and triumph of the underdog which is exactly what happened tonight!  Here's what I came up with:

I know it doesn't look like much, but I was knackered when I was painting my nails last night so my creativity level was a bit low.  I started with 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Fast Dry in Buffy the Violet Slayer, a rich purple metallic, over a coat of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme for undies.  On my ring finger, I painted railroad tracks using French White Creme, Sinful Colors Smokin', Revlon's Diamonds Are Forever and black striping polish.  I also used DAF for the french tips on my other nails.  My pinkie is supposed to look like a train coming down the tracks toward you.  I've included a closer image of both accent nails so you can see it a bit better.

Not my best work, but it was a fun idea anyway!  Tomorrow's challenge is to be inspired by a movie, so stop by to check out what I come up with.  Thanks for reading!

Almost forgot the links!
http://youtu.be/aZiQ89_s67Q : This is Johnny Cash's version of the song
http://youtu.be/cUjQ39eTQbk : And this is how we do it at K-State!

21 of 31: Nails Inspired by a Color

Howdy, all!  The weekend is finally here!  It's been a really long week, but I've gotten some good news today about some work-related things so I'm pretty excited.  I won't know anything for sure for awhile, but I'm looking forward to some changes in the near future.  Does anyone have any big weekend plans?  I'm headed to the local Kansas State sports bar to watch the game tomorrow night...pins and needles...we play the Sooners (my arch enemy!) and I'm hoping my Wildcats will pull off a big "W"!  Ok, ok, I know what you're thinking.  "Can we talk about nails, not sports, please?"  Alright, here ya go!

Day 21 starts the "inspired by" challenges; today's being "inspired by a color".  I had no idea what that meant at first.  I mean, inspired by a color?  So do I just paint a straight color on of my choice and go?  But, after a little research, I've discovered that we're to be inspired by a nail polish color name, not necessarily the color itself.  I deliberated on several color choices before deciding on Revlon's Royal.  I started with 2 coats as a base and then, using Orly's Luxe, painted on little crowns.  I went back in with a dotting tool to add the "jewels": Julep's January for rubies, Wet 'n' Wild's Fast Dry in Sage in the City for emeralds and more Royal for sapphires.  I actually think this would make a great holiday mani...I must remember it!

Here's a view showing the crowns a bit better:

I'm already stressing over tomorrow's "inspired by a song" manicure.  The aforementioned "big game" necessitates purple polish, so I'm not sure what song sounds purple ;)  Either way, check back in to check it out!  Thanks for reading!

20 of 31: Water Marble Nails

Howdy, everyone!  We're 2/3 of the way through the 31 Day Challenge already, can you believe it?  I really can't...amazing how time flies when fun is being had!  Day 20 brings us water marbling.  Everyone loves how a water marble looks and pretty much everyone hates doing them.  I'm no exception.  In fact, I'll let you in on a secret...I cheated this time!  I figure if I can get the same look from an easier technique then I'm goin' for it!  I did a faux water marble or dry water marble (you can read about that technique here) to save my sanity and I think it turned out pretty well.  Have a look:

I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Jungle Trail as a base color.  Jungle Trail is a light grey creme.  To do the marble, I used Jungle Trail again as well as China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le (a light blue creme) and First Mate (a deep navy creme) and Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine in Sunny Side Up (a sherbert orange creme).  After everything dried under a coat of Seche Vite, I went back in with the point of a cuticle stick and Sunny Side Up and First Mate to create the dots.  The dotted water marble is a manicure that I've been seeing around on Pinterest (although nothing is ever linked back so I'm not sure who to credit for it) and is such a great easy way to change the look of the marble.  I love the way this turned out, everything from the color combination to the pattern is just fantastic!

Tune in tomorrow to see a color inspired mani and thanks so much for reading! 

19 of 31: Galaxy Nails

Howdy, everyone!  I've got some galaxy nails for you today.  I've done galaxies once before and so I wanted to try something with a different color palette this time.  I went for the darker side of things...whaddya think?

 I don't think I can even begin to list all the colors I used.  I know I started, once again, with 2 coats of Sonia Kashuk in Rock Star but after that it gets a little fuzzy lol  I had a lot of trouble with this manicure and had to start over once.  I'll include a list at the end of this post if you're interested in knowing exactly which colors I used.  Galaxy nails are really one of my favorite manicures ever.  The way the colors sponge on and look kind of like a mess until that top coat goes on is just magic every time!  There are tons of tutorials for this technique online and it's pretty easy to do, so grab as many colors as you want and give it a try...you know you want to!

Colors used:
NYC Long wearing in Luxury Lime Creme
Milani 3D Holographic in 3D
Milani Jewel FX in Gold 
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in For Sher-bert
Sally Hansen Diamond Strong in Something Blue
Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine in French White Creme
Wet 'n' Wild Megalast in I Need a Refresh-Mint

I think that's everything!  Thanks so much for reading and check out tomorrow's challenge; water marble!

18 of 31: Half Moon Nails

Howdy!  It's a half-moon manicure challenge today...here are mine!

Two coats of Sonia Kashuk's Rock Star to start.  I followed that with a gradient using Essie's Bangle Jangle and The Nailasaurus's Gradient Tutorial. When that was dry, I free-handed some half moons again in Bangle Jangle.  I got the idea from a photo I saw on Pinterest, but unfortunately, it wasn't linked back to the original website, so if you know who came up with this idea, let me know so I can throw some credit their way ;)

As always, thanks so much for reading and tune in tomorrow for Galaxy Nails (which I've already done twice for this challenge and may have to redo again tomorrow...the Force is not with me tonight, sigh).

17 of 31: Glitter Nails

Howdy, everyone!  Today's challenge brings us glitter!  Oh, that lovely, sparkly stuff :)  Here's my take on them:

I started with 2 coats of Revlon's Limited Edition Diamonds Are Forever.  After that dried, I added a couple of coats of Cirque's Debris from their Dark Horse collection.  Debris is a beautiful multi-sized and shaped black and silver glitter in a clear base with micro prismatic glitter as a sparkly finish.  On my accent nail, I used Wet 'n' Wild's Fantasty Makers Confetti in Glitz.  This is a loose glitter that Wet 'n' Wild is selling as part of their Halloween collection.  I still used Diamonds are Forever as a base color, but then dipped my nail in the pot of glitter while it was wet and shook off the excess.  Serious Wow! factor with this.  I may have to do a whole mani sometime with Glitz and I'm going to buy some glitter base polish to make a bottle of my very own.  I did have a really hard time photographing this.  Those prismatic glitters never want to show off their gorgeousness for the lens, do they?  Here's a blurry one that shows it best, although it still doesn't come close to the color flash of Glitz.

So, a pretty successful manicure even if the photos don't show it properly.  I also want to throw out a couple of 'Thank you"s before I sign off this evening.  Upon checking my mailbox today, I discovered two surprises.  First of all, my new Cirque polishes from Chalkboard Nail's giveaway arrived!  I cannot wait to try these out and I want to give one more big "thank you" to Sarah for her generous giveaway and great blog!  After ripping open the packaging from Cirque and oohing and ahhing over the contents, I dug through the rest of my mail and found a postcard from my friend, Joe, from his trip to Spain.  Not only did he send this card, he also got me a fantastic Dali book which will be my inspiration for the artwork challenge coming up.  Here's a shot of all the fun stuff I got in the mail today!
 

Thanks so much for reading and tune in tomorrow for a cute half-moon manicure!

16 of 31: Tribal Nails

Howdy, everyone.  Short post this evening.  Tribal nails are the challenge of the day and mine aren't that great.  I really don't care for the look of most tribal manicures, it's just too much pattern on the nail for me.  However, I didn't want to skip the day so I decided to try my hand at some Maori tribe patterns.  Here's what they look like:

I started with two coats of Wet 'n' Wild Megalast in Private Viewing.  To do the tribal patterns, I used a Sharpie pen and just free-handed everything.  Some turned out better than others and I wish the marker would have given me a darker line overall.  I'm just too tired tonight to redo them, however.  I promise to give it my all for tomorrow...glitter nails!

Thanks for reading!

15 of 31: Delicate Print Nails

Howdy, everyone!  It was so great to have the day off today!  I took myself out to lunch and went on a Target run (picked up a couple of new polishes).  However, by the time I got home, I was feeling kinda cruddy.  I've been fighting off a cold or something most of the week, so I'm guzzling orange juice and trying to take it easy.

Anyway, on to today's challenge!  I'm still not really clear on what constitutes a "delicate print", but I did something that I think is cool and since it's my blog, that's what counts, right? :)

Believe it or not, I haven't actually done newsprint nails yet.  The process is pretty simple, you just dip your nail in rubbing alcohol and press a piece of printed newsprint onto it while it's wet.  For my manicure, I started with two alternating coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme and Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Sunny Side.  The white and the yellow kind of mixed into a milder tone of Sunny Side and I thought the effect was nifty.  After a coat of Seche Vite and some drying time, I did the newsprint process.  One pass wasn't enough for me, so I Seche'd again and added another layer of print and kept repeating that until I was happy with it.  I'm not sure if it meets the challenge, but I think it looks pretty cool!  Here's a closer view:

We're going tribal tomorrow, so please stop by to check it out...thanks for reading!

14 of 31: Flower Nails

Howdy!  As usual, I'm running late with this post.  Today's challenge is Flower nails and, frankly, I was not excited about it.  I'm not really a flower-y girl.  So, I thought and I thought and I thought about what to do.  Then I started googling photos and found this one.  Poppies are one of my favorite flowers and I love the drama of the color.  Here's my version:

This turned out so fabulous that I'm almost sad I'm not at work tomorrow to get some feedback...almost sad, but not really :)  I started here with 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme.  Using a striper brush, I painted the flower outlines and seed pods onto my accent nail.  After that, I used acrylic paint to detail some flowers.  I also used the paint in a one-stroke technique to do the larger flowers on the rest of my nails.  Drama, drama, drama!  And in a good way!  Here's another look:

So, again, the 31 Day Manicure Challenge pushes me to come up with something out of nothing!  Thanks so much for reading and I hope you'll come check out my delicately printed nails tomorrow!

13 of 31: Animal Print Nails

Howdy, everyone!  I have to start by giving a big "Thank You!" to Sarah from Chalkboard Nails.  Even though I never win anything, I entered her Cirque All Hallow's Eve Giveaway and snagged the set!  I'm so excited, I can hardly wait to get them in the mail! 

On to today's challenge, animal print nails.  I went pretty traditional here because I actually don't do animal print that often.  (If you want to see some really out-of-the-box animal prints, try here and here.)  

Despite the fact that it's been done by everyone already, this is one of my favorite manicures so far in this challenge.  There are tons of tutorials out there on how to do both kinds of print here, so I won't go into it too much.  It really just takes a dotting tool (mine is homemade), a striping brush and a little patience.  As for the colors, the brown on the cheetah print nails is an O.P.I. mini bottle.  I got it from a customer at the pet store I work at and I'm guessing it was part of a collection and, as I don't have the packaging, I have no idea what it's called.  In any case, it's a pretty dark caramel creme.  The gold is Luxe by Orly and the blue on the zebra striped nails is Nina Ultra Pro in Blu La La.  The black is a striping polish from Color Club.

The next few days of the challenge are going to be extra challenging for me because I'm not particularly fond of the categories, but I'll give it my best!  Thanks so much for reading!

12 of 31: Striped Nails

Howdy!  Just a quick post today for the Challenge, stripes!

You can see I've got some wear on these already, the polishes I used are from a set I bought at Marshall's called Simply Sweet.  I know nothing about the brand, but I've worn it a couple of times and always get a lot of chipping really quickly.  Oh well.

 I started with 2 coats of Mac Vestral White for undies and then painted each nail a different color.  After that dried, I taped off some stripes and painted over it with Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in Black Creme.  Super simple but I got more compliments on this manicure today than I've gotten in awhile, so it must pack a visual punch!

It's on to animal prints for tomorrow's Challenge, thanks so much for reading!

11 of 31: Polka Dot Nails

Howdy, everyone!  It's turning into another whirlwind week for me, I almost didn't get my Day 11 Challenge done!  I did manage to sneak it in after all so, on to the Polka Dots!

I started with one coat of Fingerpaints Hue Are You? topped by one coat of Maybelline's Color Show in Downtown Brown.  DB is a really pretty milk chocolate brown with a turquoise green shift.  I'll have to swatch this on its own and get some full sun photos going for you guys.  Maybelline has a few limited edition colors out in their Color Show line at the moment, but DB was the only one that caught my eye as something different.  Super pretty!

After all that dried (with the help of some Seche Vite, of course!), I did a polka dot gradient using Sinful Colors in Leap Flog and Athens and Wet 'n' Wild's Megalast in  I Need a Refresh-Mint.  I love the color combo here and the gradient effect is pretty nifty.

Tune in tomorrow for some stripe action!  Thanks for reading!

10 of 31: Gradient Nails

Howdy!  I'm a little late posting this, but oh well.  I figure the manicure was worn the whole day of Day 10, so it counts, even if I'm posting it 10 minutes after midnight ;)  Today is Gradient Nails and here's my version:

I started with 2 coats of Ulta's Magnetic polish in Put a Ring on It, a dusty rose polish with blue iridescent glitter.  Then, I taped off my nails in the middle and did a gradient from tip to cuticle using China Glaze Magnetix in Instant Chemistry, a dark maroon.  I reversed the gradient for the other half of the nail and then used a coat of non-fast drying top coat to reactivate the magnetic polish to create the diagonal lines.  This didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped it would, but I'll give it an "A" for effort.

Next up is polka dots so check out tomorrow's post!  Thanks for reading :)

9 of 31: Rainbow Nails

Howdy!  Today brings us Rainbow Nails.  I've done a few different variations of rainbows since I got into nail art, so I wanted to do something a little different than your standard "unicorn" rainbow of colors.  I also wanted something sparkly, so I come up with...wait for it...The Glitter Skittles Rainbow Manicure!  Ha!  I just love the way that sounds :)  I also thought I might called it The Dark Side of the Rainbow...but Glitter Skittles is more fun to say.  Here's a photo!

 Polishes used:

Red: Spoiled-Ants in My Pants

Orange/Copper: Spoiled-Cougar Attack

Yellow/Gold: e.l.f.-20417

Blue/Green:Milani Jewel FX-Teal

Purple: Sinful Colors-Frenzy

I thought this turned out very dramatic for a glitter mani.  I used a coat of Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in Black Creme as a base color for all the glitters and then I just piled on the glitter until I thought I had good coverage.  Some of the polishes are 3 coats, some are 4 and some of them might even have 5 coats!  I tried the new peel-off base coat trick that I've seen floating around the blogs lately (for example Kayla Shevonne's tutorial here & Wacki Laki's here).  Basically, it's Elmer's glue.  It seemed to work pretty well, although I accidentally bought the Glue-All instead of the School Glue.  I think the School Glue might adhere a little less so I'll grab some at Target next time I'm there to compare the two.  One more shot:

Thanks so much for reading and tune in tomorrow for Day 10's Gradient Manicure!