Indie Spotlight: Paint Shop Polish, May Flowers & In Bloom

Hello there!  Yes, I know it's been ages and ages since I've posted.  There are tons of excuses I could make, but what it boils down to is just feeling burnt out on blogging.  There just came a point where all the swatching, photo editing, and writing just wasn't fun for a bit and I was all like "Blogging is hard!" so I took a break.  But I'm dipping my toes back in the water, just to test it out.  I can't promise regularity with posting but be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram (user name is @vashtiaa).  I tend to post quick shots of current manicures on those accounts.

Alright, back to the point of today's post!  Paint Shop Polish has a new spring collection coming out on Monday, March 23 and I was lucky enough to get to swatch a couple of pretties and I have some photos of those to show you today! 

First up is In Bloom, an appropriately named floral glitter topper.  Large iridescent lavender flower-shaped glitter swim in a clear base with smaller petal pink,  daffodil yellow, and violet hexes, lilac squares, and a healthy sprinkle of holographic micro glitter.  This is just a perfectly pretty spring mix!

I applied In Bloom first in one thin coat to spread out the holographic sparkle and then by dabbing the larger glitters on.  The gradient underneath was created using Sinful Colors Unicorn and Out of Bounds.  In Bloom was fairly easy to work with, the base is a good consistency; not too thick or gloppy.  I did have to fish a bit for the larger flower glitters, but that's pretty much par for the course when it comes to big glitters.  You'll also want a good top coat to smooth out any bumpiness from the glitter.

If you're a glitter topper fan, In Bloom is definitely worth a look.  So pretty!

May Flowers is the second polish I have to show you today.  We all know what a sucker I am for a good crelly and this one fits the bill!  Icy blue iridescent flower glitters are accompanied by small hexes in the same shade and periwinkle hexes in a squishy white crelly base.  This was my favorite of these two polishes...love the glitter mix and the base is beautiful!

No application issues to report, beyond the necessity to fish a bit for the larger glitters.  I'm showing 3 coats here with one coat of Seche Vite on top.  Really just a lovely polish!

May Flowers and In Bloom will both be available this Monday, March 23 on the Paint Shop Polish Etsy site.  A 5ml mini bottle retails for $5.50 and a full size 15ml bottle is $10.  Also, Candi is currently offering 15% off $15 with code PADDYS15 or free US shipping with a $25 order with code FREESHIP25. Both codes will expire on March 31st so don't wait!. Be sure to follow PSP on Facebook to keep updated on new products, sales, and other important info!

Thanks so much for reading!  I hope you enjoyed this post and I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below!

Kansas State Game Day Manicure

Hi there, folks!  If you're fairly new to my blog, you may not know that I'm a football nut.  In particular, a Kansas State University Wildcat football nut.  Today is the first game of the year and I'm super excited to watch my 'Cats play again...it's been too long!  I know you're asking yourself what this has to do with nails or polish.  Well, just like any fan I like to display my team's colors and fortunately, nail polish comes in many colors including the regal purple and white of the Wildcats!  So without further ado, here's my game day mani to cheer on the 'Cats!

I used bunches of polishes to create this look (I'll include a list at the end of the post if you're interested) and some fun PowerCat (my team's icon) decals I found online.  I'm trepidatious about the decals, as my team seems to do better when I handpaint them.  Yes, I'm a crazy superstitious fan to boot lol  But, I'm chancing it because the decals are just so darn cute!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this manicure (even though I know not every one is into sports).  I know I can't be the only fan out there who paints her nails for game days. I'd love to see your team manicures as well!  Feel free to link them in the comments section!  Thanks so much for reading!

Polish list:
Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer~Donatello
Sinful Colors~Snow Me White
Zoya~Carter
China Glaze~Creative Fantasy
O.P.I.~Solitaire
Sally Hansen Striper~White & Purple
Wet 'n' Wild~2% Milk
 

Red & White Snowflakes (or My Very First Successful Stamping...Woot!)

I was going to wait to post these til tomorrow but I'm just so excited I couldn't wait!  I've finally, finally conquered stamping!  Now, it's not 100% perfect, but it's so much better than any other stamping attempt I've ever managed.  I got a tip from somewhere online that I should rough up the stamper with a nail file and then clean it with acetone.  It appears to have worked!  Thanks to whoever gave me this info, though I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it.

Everyone always has such adorable stamped snowflake manis for the holidays and now I have one, too!  I give you my first successful stamping manicure!

I used Glitzy Glazes' Hickory Honey Ham and Essie's Blanc for this mani.  I. Love. It.  So much!  Both of these polishes worked really well for stamping.  HHH shows a little pink on the white, but I like it.  It reminds me of redwork embroidery.  I used a small dotting tool to add in some smaller "snowflakes" in the empty bits.

 

I hope you guys enjoyed the photos, I'd love to hear what you think of it :)  Thanks so much for reading!

Pigtails & Purple Nails: Game Day Manicure

Hello to my lovely readers!  I'm down to the wire on getting this post up, I almost forgot!  Bad juju, forgetting my Game Day mani ON Game Day!  I'm headed to the local alumni-sponsored bar gathering for the Kansas State vs. Texas game in about 15 minutes, so I gotta type fast lol  Tonight is my Wildcats' first conference game so it's kind of a big deal!  Here's my team spirit mani for the day:

I tried out a plaid pattern on my ring finger this time around.  I got the idea from this pin I saw last week on Pinterest.  Mine didn't come out quite as nice, I need to be a little more delicate with the smaller stripes, but I like it anyway.

I believe I've finally found the perfect KSU purple; China Glaze's Grape Pop.  It's the exact right color and it's opaque in almost one coat!
 

As always, thanks for taking the time to view my KSU Wildcats manicure.  I know football doesn't mean much to a lot of folks, but I love it!  Go, 'Cats!

Mish Mash Challenge: Cold

Good evening everyone!  I'm a late poster tonight, but I'm bound and determined to get my Mish Mash Challenge up before bed!  This week the theme is "Cold".  I went pretty literal with it this time around, as you can see from my inspiration photo below.

Looks kinda chilly, huh?  I love the way the ice has layers of translucency and all the different shades of blue and white.  So icy and pretty!  Here's my interpretation:

I started with a coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue (am I the only person who thinks this polish smells weird?) and then I used Sinful Colors' Tidal Wave, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Deep Blue Sea and Breezy Blue, Barielle's Swizzle Stix, and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Something Blue to create the "icicles".

I'm so pleased with how this turned out.  The blues are a bit darker than I wanted but, as you can see in the macro shot above, I captured the translucent nature of the ice pretty well (I hope!).

This *might* be my favorite Mish Mash mani so far!  Please stop by the other Mish Mashers pages to see the fantastic manicures they've come up with for this week's theme!  You can find them via the thumbnails below.  Also, I'd like to remind you that there are around 2 weeks left to enter The Nail Files Turned 2! giveaway that I'm participating in, so get those entries in! 

I'm also thinking about doing a Halloween/Fall themed giveaway in October.  If you'd like to donate a prize, please shoot me an email at ndirks@hotmail.com.  Any and all prizes, big or small, would be appreciated and you will get 2 Rafflecopter links to drive traffic your way as well.  :)

Thanks so much for reading!

Pigtails & Purple Nails: Game Day Manicure

It's Saturday!  And that means it's Game Day!  And that means it's time for Pigtails & Purple Nails!  Enough exclamation points for everyone?  :)  For my new readers, I'm a huge Kansas State University football fan.  I like basketball, too, but nothing gets me like the football.  So, typically every Saturday during college football season, you'll see a KSU-themed mani from me.  I also wear my hair in braided pigtails AND have a specific t-shirt I wear.   I do wash the t-shirt...I'm not THAT crazy.  I know not everyone is into football, but hey, it's my blog! :)  Last weekend did not go well for my Wildcats, so I'm hoping the game against Louisiana Lafeyette tonight goes our way.  It's a rebuilding year *sigh*  The below Bud Light ad pretty much sums up my KSU football nuttiness :)

Ok, enough boring football stuff...bring on the nails!

I've done a skittle manicure showcasing the Wildcats' emblem, the Powercat (that's the design on my middle finger) and our school colors, purple and white.  I made a decal of the Powercat by first applying several coats of clear polish to a plastic bag and then freehanding the design in polish (China Glaze's Grape Pop) on top.  After everything dries completely, you can peel your design up off of the plastic, et voila! Instant decal!  That being said, I actually have some temporary nail tattoo Powercats coming next week.  I don't mind freehanding the little guy, but he's time-consuming and I'm kinda tired of doing it every week lol  My bf says that's cheating, but he's not the one spending 2 hours plus on the decals!

My index and ring finger are sporting a jelly sandwich done with Orly's Charged Up, the perfect purple jelly, and Wet 'n' Wild's Stars & Stripes, a clear glitter topper with holographic stars and bars.  My pinky finger is adorned with my favorite linear holographic polish ever; Cirque's Fascination Street.  FS is also my very first indie polish as well as first linear holo, so it holds a very special place in my heart.  For my thumb, I did a simple glitter gradient with MAC's Vestral White as the base (also the base for my Powercat) and Barielle's Purple Hearts on top.

I'm super happy with how this turned out and I hope this mani will help spur my 'Cats to victory tonight! 

Does anyone else have any superstitious football related silliness that they do?  I'd love to see other football-themed manis (unless they're Oklahoma University related...blech)!  I hope I didn't bore the pants off of any body here, but I'll do my best to keep the football talk limited to one post a week lol  Thanks so much for reading!

Happy Independence Day! Or The Inevitiable July 4th Manicure

Hi everyone!  May you all have a lovely 4th of July, if you live in the States....if not, have a lovely Thursday!

This is my stars and stripes manicure.  Red, white and blue is such a classic combination, isn't it?  :)
 

I've got a polish list coming, if you're interested!  Stay safe and have a great holiday, everyone! Thanks for reading :)

Polish List:
Sinful Colors~Snow Me White
Pure Ice~Freedom
Zoya~Liberty
China Glaze~Ride the Waves
NYC~Big Apple Red
Wet 'n' Wild~Stars & Stripes
Wet 'n' Wild Fergie~Hollywood Walk of Fame

Sunday Water Marble Blues

Howdy, everyone!  Hope you all have had a great weekend.  Mine has been lovely.  Had a spa day with the girls yesterday and got a fantastic facial at Trump Tower Spa.  Lest you think I'm all rich and fancy, we had gift certificates so my treatment with tip only cost me $12 out of pocket.  Woot!  It was a good day all around, plus my nails looked fab!

This is one of my favorite water marbles ever!  I'm sorry the pics are a little dark.  I've got a new lightbox (thanks, Dana!) and I'm trying to work out the lighting situation.  Basically, my little lamp ain't cuttin' it anymore, I'll have to look into some better wattage.
 

Anyway, I started this marble with 2 coats of Orly's Snowcone (on 50% clearance at CVS!!) for my base color.  I used Snowcone and Sinful Colors in Snow Me White and New Wave for the marble.  This looked a lot like Sodalite IRL and I really loved the patterns that were created.
 

Thanks a bunch for reading!

ABC Challenge: R is for Rubik's Cube

Howdy, everyone!  I'm a late poster tonight.  I like to get my ABC Challenge posts up on Tuesday evenings but I was exhausted last night and had to wait to paint 'n' post until today.  Our letter this week is "R" and I thought it was going to be a super easy letter cuz everything starts with "R", right?  Yeah, not as many things as I thought and a lot of them were far too esoteric or general for nail art.  I surely could have grabbed a Revlon or a red and just done a swatch, but I wanted to do something more decorative this week.  So, after searching words that start with "R" via Google, I finally came up with Rubik's Cube!  I have a brother who can solve one of these in about 5 minutes; he says there's a trick to it, but I've never figured it out lol

Whaddya think?  I think they turned out really well and a good thing, too, since they took about 3 hours!  There was a lot of taping and striping polish used and, of course, after I started I realized there may have been an easier way to do it, but oh well.  It turned out in the end and that's all that matters ;)

For some reason, my camera didn't like the green I used (China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover) and it's showing up in these pics as more of a mint.  FLC is much more of a grass green, but you get the idea, I hope?

Thanks so much for reading and please take a moment to browse the other ladies' Challenge posts.  You can find them via the thumbnails below!

Polishes Used:
Sinful Colors~Snow Me White
Deborah Lippmann~Edge of Glory
Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine~Red Red
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri~Orange Impulse
Sinful Colors~Pull Over
China Glaze~Four Leaf Clover
Sinful Colors~Endless Blue

Ikat Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  How's your weekend?  I'm having a decent one so far, despite the fact that I have to work every day.  One day I'll have a job that doesn't require weekends, and that will be a glorious day!  Ha!  I really can't complain too much though.  Even working two jobs, I have the time to do my nails...what more can a girl ask for?

Today's manicure is a technique I've been wanting to try for awhile now.  Ikat is a dyeing technique used in fabric weaving.  The threads are tied off and dyed in a specific pattern before being woven into a beautiful fabric.  I took a few weaving classes at SAIC and found that I really enjoyed the whole process.  I never got to try ikat and I'm kind of glad because I'm pretty sure I don't possess the patience required to create such a precise weave lol  However, ikat manicures are very easy!  Here's what mine looks like:

I started with a coat of Peachy Keen by China Glaze, a one-coat peach creme.  After that dried, I used a small paint brush and short strokes to create the diamond shaped pattern, making sure to leave the edges a little rough.  I used China Glaze in First Mate (a dark navy creme) and Nina Ultra Pro in Blue La La (a denim/turquoise/blue creme) for the darker parts and a white striping polish for the light bits.  I adore the way this turned out!  I can't wait to try the technique with some different colors.  You could use any contrasting colors with this technique, although it seems to work best if your background color stays fairly light colored.

A detail shot:

Such a great visual impact for such little effort...I love it when things work out like that!  What do you guys think?  Have you tried an ikat mani in the past?  Any color combo suggestions?

In other news, my very first giveaway is still open for entries and will be until the 22nd.  So hop on over the giveaway post and enter if you haven't already!  It's super easy to enter and you could win 3 full-sized Julep nail polishes!

Thanks so much for reading!

Sam & Willy's Manicure

Howdy everyone!  Tonight was the holiday dinner for my workplace.  We really only have 4 employees so it's a small get together, but it's always a good time.  In honor of our after hours evening, I decided to do a Sam & Willy's manicure.  If you live in the Chicago area and haven't been by yet, Sam & Willy's is definitely worth a trip.  We carry tons of cute dog and cat stuff as well as a great selection of healthy pet foods, including raw and grain-free diets.  Ok, that's it for the plug, on to the nails!

I'm pretty proud of how this one turned out.  The base color is 3 coats of Wet 'n' Wild in French White Creme.  The portraits are done with black striping polish and various acrylic paints.  For the letters, I just used a Sharpie.  The only drawback to that is that sometimes the ink runs when applying a top coat.  I think maybe I just need to let it dry longer before I use my Seche Vite but I was in a hurry last night to finish this one up.

Here's a close of Sam's portrait on my thumbnail:

And one of Willy on my pinky:
 

Please check out S&W's facebook page to keep updated on the latest sales and events at the store!

As always, thanks so much for reading!

O! Christmas Tree Manicure

Hello, hello!  Two days in a row with a post, shocking, I know!  I hope everyone's holiday season is turning out well so far.  I've got my first holiday function this Sunday night with the crew from my job.  I'm trying to get myself into the spirit of things this year, so I've got another holiday manicure for you today.  This manicure is not my own design, as I found it on Pinterest and for once, the link back actually worked.  You can see the original design here on Laatikollinen lakkaa.  Aaaand here's my version:

 So adorable, right?!  I started here with 2 coats of Ulta's Salon Formula Nail Laquer in Diva, a pretty holographic glitter in a light pink shimmer base.  I used Wet 'n' Wild's French White Creme for the "snowbanks" and dots of falling snow.  The snowbanks were done using a method similar to Nailside's Freehand Cloud tutorial.  For my accent nail, I used painter's tape to create a long triangle shape and then filled it in with e.l.f. in Green Machine, a dark green creme.  I quickly went over GM with Wet 'n' Wild's FastDry in Happy Holidaze!, a teal multi-glitter jelly from their Party Rocks 2012 Holiday Collection, to add some sparkle and depth to the tree.  My tree topper is a silver star from Wet 'n' Wild's Stars and Stripes.  The ornaments on the tree are done with a dotting tool and e.l.f. in Cherry Bomb.

Overall, I thought this turned out great.  I love the sparkle that Diva adds to the whole mani and the nail art came out great!  Here's a close up of my accent nail:
 

I hope you enjoyed this manicure as much as I did.  Check back for more holiday nails before Christmas!  Thanks so much for reading!

Pigtails and Purple Nails

Howdy, everyone!  College football season is really heating up and my Wildcats are still in the thick of it!  They beat Oklahoma State today 44-30.  It's really such an exciting and inspirational season for K-State fans and I can't wait to see what happens in the next month!  But anyway, on to the nails, which is what you all are waiting for lol  

Here I started with 2 coats of Purple Pulse by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure.  PP is a gorgeous purple frost with blue and red flecks.  On my thumbnail, I used Wet 'n' Wild's Fast Dry in Stars & Stripes.  My index finger is stenciled with Diamonds Are Forever by Revlon.  I stamped and free-handed the "KSU" on my middle finger using Sinful Colors' Bad Chick.  On my ring finger, I sprinkled purple flocking powder over a still-wet base coat and tamped it down so it would stick.  The flocking powder is from Michael's Recollections line.  And, finally, my pinkie has an animal print using Diamonds Are Forever again and a black striping polish.

I though this turned out really fun and you can't blame the slow start on me this time, as this was done Friday night long before midnight lol

Here's a shot of my right hand:

My cuticles are starting to get a bit ragged.  I'm really kind of a slacker when it comes to taking care of them...I have to be more diligent about it or I'm gonna end up with sandpaper around my nails!

Oh! Here's a picture of my pigtails that I wear every game day as well:

Thanks so much for reading!

Game Day Manicure: Gradients and Polka Dots

Howdy, everyone!  I have yet another K-State manicure to share with you guys.  I know you're not all interested in football, but hopefully you're all interested in colorful nails!  In case you were wondering, my Wildcats won today, 27-21 over Iowa State.  It was a nail-biter (not literally, cuz I don't do that any more)!  

Anyway, it's become a ritual for me to paint my nails purple and white to honor my school's colors. Yesterday, I was lamenting the fact that I was going to be up late to finish my nails and my boss said something to the effect of "Well, then don't do them."  I told her that I HAD to paint my nails because, if I didn't and they lost, it would be all my fault!  I also wear my lucky braided pigtails and a specific t-shirt.  Yes, I know it's all superstition, but it's only weird if it doesn't work!  Ok, how about some photos of my manicure already?

...more after the jump...

Game Day Manicure

Howdy everyone!  Another weekend is drawing to a close.  Because I know you're all terribly interested in my sports teams, my Wildcats pulled off a big win against the KU Jayhawks on Saturday.  It was a tough first half but they pulled away in the second and won 56-16 to become the #5/6 team in the nation!  EMAW!

I wanted to show you guys my game day manicure because I got so many compliments on it.   It was super simple to do and has a great visual impact.  I used 2 colors (K-State's colors are purple and white which if you've read my blog at all you've figured out by now) but this could be done with as many as 4 colors.  Too much more than that and you run the risk of getting a little muddy.  So here's the manicure:

...more after the jump...

Nail-aween Challenge 1: Water Marble

Howdy!  As promised, I have my first Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge challenge for you today.  Wow, that was a mouthful!  The first challenge is a water marble.  Everyone loves how water marbles look and everyone hates doing them.  The technique is time-consuming, polish-consuming, and sanity-consuming.  So I cheated.  Here's a photo:

*more after the jump*

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!

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!

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!

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!