31 Day Challenge: Day Thirteen ~ Animal Print

When I saw "Animal Print" all I could think of was tiger stripe, cheetah spot, or zebra stripe. I could have used the excuse to use my new MoYou plate with the tiger on it, but I really didn't want to do tiger, cheetah or zebra. I wanted to do something different. But what? Well looking at what Chalkboard Nails did a couple years ago gave me wonderful inspiration! She did a beautiful blue rainforest frog with black spots. Not wanting to do the exact thing she did I googled images of tropical fish. There are a lot of gorgeous fish out there but this one caught my eye.

The consensus seems to be it is either a Koran Angelfish of a Juvenile Emperor Angelfish. Both are very similar, just the Emperor's stripes tend to be more circular, more like a fingerprint. The electric blue edging is what attracted me to it. Here is my take on it:

I love it. I think if I ever do this again I'll make the black stripes thicker but that's about it. NYC "Skyline Blue", Sinful Colors "Endless Blue", and Stripe Rite in Black and White. To make the tips brighter I first sponged Wet n Wild "White Creme" then "Endless Blue" on top to make it more electric. Almost like a mini gradient. Here's a pic of the nails and the fish all in one.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twelve ~ Stripes

I almost forgot about stripes! I was planning my animal print mani when I double checked something on my phone and saw today was stripes. Good thing I double checked just to be sure. So I was thinking about doing a reverse gradient stripe. I'd never done one, and decided to give it a shot. A reverse gradient stripe is painting your nails in a gradient, putting down thin strips of tape over it, then doing ANOTHER gradient over the top reversing the colors. I did my gradient in Sinful Colors "Enchanted" and "Calypso" a dark purple and teal green. Admiring my awesome skillz I came to the conclusion that perhaps the colors I chose were too dark to gradient over the top of well. I could remove the polish and start over, but I hate doing that. I decided instead to tape the nails then paint them white. Then I would paint lighter versions of the same color over them. If I had planned this from the beginning I would have done the lighter colors first then the dark colors over them, but I was making it up as I went along. I used Wet n Wild "Teal or No Teal" and Sinful Colors "Tempest". When I peeled the tape off you could see the white (Wet n Wild "French White Creme) under it and since it had been sitting on the nail for a bit as I gradiented (is that a word?) it dried a bit and didn't leave a crisp line. It kind of left strings behind. I like the idea, but the application this time didn't go very well. And it looks alot like my Gradient Nails I did a couple days back. All well, they can't all be winners I guess.

Moral of the story? Plan your nails a bit better.

31 Day Challenge: Day Eleven ~ Polka Dots

I had planned for something else for today's Dots mani, but then I saw this manicure from A Girl and Her Polish, and fell in love with it. I changed the color scheme a bit, but I simply ADORE it. Glad I didn't go with my rainbow dots idea, this one is much better. The dove grey base color is Orly "Mirror, Mirror" the black and white dots are Wet n Wild "Black Creme" and "White Creme" and the pink is Sinful Colors "Cotton Candy". Very easy but stunning. There is just something elegant about pink and grey together.

31 Day Challenge: Day Ten ~ Gradient

I wasn't sure I was gonna have time to paint my nails today, but when my MoYou plates showed up I made the time! I couldn't wait to play with this amazing plate. Here I have a green to purple (yes, trust me, that's purple. It always shows up blue on my camera) gradient that I stamped over with the feathers of the peacock. For the accented ring finger I wanted the body but every time I stamped it and cleaned off the bits I didn't need, the stamp was dry. So I did it as a stamper decal. I haven't had to very much luck with stamper decals, the edges always roll up and stick off the finger, but this is my absolute BEST decal EVER! I giggled like crazy when it turned out so WONDERFULLY! Well to be honest I was giggling the moment the mail showed up with my plates. I still am. *giggle* Ahem, this is Wet n Wild "Buffy the Violet Slayer" and "Sagreena the Teenage Witch" stamped with Pure Ice "Silver Mercedes" and MoYou plate Suki 01. Love, love, love this! I might do a review on MoYou soon, but the 31 Day Challenge is keeping me pretty busy. I'll see what I can do.

*giggle*

31 Day Challenge: Day Nine ~ Rainbow

I'm not sure how much time I'll have tomorrow so this might have to serve as day 10's gradient nails as well. I'll do my best to get one in though. These nails were fun because I usually do my gradients horizontally and here I wen't vertically. Plasmaspeedo gave me the idea. The colors are Sally Hansen "Straw-Ready", "Lightening", "In Record Lime", Orly "Blue Collar" and Sally Hansen "Grape Race". Just like Plasma did, I topped it all off with China Glaze "Ice Cap" for a equalizing gold shimmer across all the nails. This was fun, if a bit messy.

31 Day Challenge: Day 8 ~ Metallic

Like my Black and White yesterday, this mani didn't want to behave. I didn't want to go with the standard silver or gold mani so I dug around in my stash and found this pretty little gem pushed to the back of my Pure Ice. "First Time" shares the same issues that most metallics have, showing every brushstroke and imperfection in the nail. It does mellow a little bit as it dries, but you can still see brushstrokes in there. Usually I like to pair green with silver, but I thought, what the heck lets go with gold. Gives it a more fall-like vibe. Maybelline "Bold Gold" is stamped with BundleMonster BM217. Again, I'm using this challenge as an excuse to use things I don't usually, and I ignore my french tip plates a lot. Well, this didn't turn out as much of a tip. To get the leaves to show up I ended up stamping nearly half way up the nail and to me that doesn't look much like a french tip. The lines aren't all that crisp either. I need to stop staring at it, I keep finding things that aren't quite right.

31 Day Challenge: Day Seven ~ Black and White

Whew, finishing up this first week of the challenge. This is harder than I thought it would be. I hope I can finish let alone finish on time. I have to say I am thrilled to have gotten this far. Ok, this mani didn't turn out quite as I had planned. First, all my plans for Black and White day just kept looking like something I had already done. Second, I could have sworn up and down that I had a music note stamp and after the freehand disaster that was Yellow day, I wasn't gonna attempt it on my own. And third, the keyboard was supposed to be straight across the bottom of the nails, but the more I stamped the more diagonal it got. You know what? I kind of like it better diagonal. Wet n Wild "Black Creme" and "White Creme" and BundleMonster BM207. Still looks like its missing something. I'm gonna see what plates I can get online with music notes.