31 Day Challenge: Day Thirty ~ Inspired by a Tutorial

I've never done a waterfall nail art before and I still need some practice it seems. I saw the Waterfall technique on The Nailasaurus blog last week and fell in love with it. Mine didn't turn out nearly as good as theirs did so you should totally check out their blog. I would say that I just don't have a good brush for this yet, but its a poor artist who blames her tools. So I just need practice.

To do this I used shades of purples starting with Sinful Colors "Tempest" as the base. I then thought it was too dark so I used a coat of Sinful Colors "Tokyo Pearl" to lighten it up, but it was to light so a final coat of Sinful Colors "Rain Song". It was at this point I should have realize I didn't have the patience to try this today, but I pushed through. It wasn't drying fast enough for me so I slapped a coat of Seche Vite to flash dry it. Shortly after that bubbles showed up in the base color. For the streaks I used "Tempest" Sally Hansen "Grape Race" and "Grape Escape". It was awfully dark so I threw in some streaks of Maybelline "Bold Gold" to lighten it up. Not bad, but not as good as Nailasaurus does. Seriously, they are amazing!

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge and I have no idea what I'm gonna do for it yet! But lookie! One post every day this month! That is a first for me :D

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Nine ~ The Supernatural

What a fun prompt! I had so many ideas for this one I wasn't sure where to start. Before I eventually settled on a Phoenix image I really wanted to do a Kitsune, but nothing I tried looked right. If I ever do a fox mani, nothing less that perfection will do for my beloved foxes. Then I thought up mummies, werewolves, witches and demons, but we are coming up on halloween so I want to save those for next month. So Phoenix it was. I tried a few different fire effects for the background but nothing turned out well so I decided to multiple stamp the phoenix from Bundlemonster BM314. At the last moment I decided to put a gold one on the ring finger. No reason, it was just fun. I think I should have added more black ones for the background, but otherwise I like it. Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" for the red background, Wet n Wild "Black Creme" for the birds and Maybelline "Bold Gold" for the one accent phoenix.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Eight ~ Inspired by a Flag

One day I'll get a chance to visit Ireland. I want to so badly. Today's prompt is "Inspired by a Flag" and while I could do the good ole USA, I do that enough for Memorial Day and 4th of July. First I tried to redo a failed St. Patrick's Day mani but it turned out just as badly as it did that first time. Then I looked at the cup of pencils on my table and was thinking about how I got the circle for my "Inspired by a Movie" mani. I wanted to play with that some more so I busted out the pencil eraser to do some polka dots. The smaller dots were made with my dotting tool. I really like it. I don't think I've ever done something quite like it. A no name orange was used with China Glaze "Starboard".

Oh as a reminder, this is what the Ireland Flag should look like:

Only a few days left of the challenge! I'm so excited, I never thought I'd get this close to finishing!

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Seven ~ Inspired by Artwork

If only one good thing comes out of this challenge, it has to be that I'm less afraid of freehanding now and more willing to practice it. I simply ADORE how this turned out and is one of my best works ever. Not just of freehanding, but of all my nail art ever! *giddy happy dance*

Ahem. Sorry.

I have a few favorite paintings and most of them are by Van Gogh. I don't know why I like him, I just do. Of all of them Starry Night is my number one favorite.

Ok, how did I do this. First off I started with a gradient on all fingers of Wet n Wild "Saved By The Blue" Orly "Blue Collar" and "Saved By The Blue" again. Next I cut down an old paintbrush to a smaller size and painted the tower in Orly "Liquid Vinyl", but I should have done the wind first before the tower. For the wind I used Wet n Wild "French White Creme" and dry brushed on the wind in a stippling motion. To dull it out (the white was a bit stark) I dry brush stippled some "Saved By The Blue" in the center of the wind line. "French White Creme" was also dry brushed in tiny circles all over for the stars with a center of Sally Hansen "Lightning". Simple techniques but it was the brush that helped out so much. Proper tools make things so much easier.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Six ~ A Pattern

Inspired by a pattern. Well I tried a few different tartans and none turned out well so I decided to redo my old green argyle. I even used the same sparkly green for it. Base coat of Wet n Wild "French White Creme". I made a big X on my nails with Stripe Rite green glitter. Next I filled in the 2 triangles on the sides with China Glaze "Tree Hugger" and more of the same green glitter. Finally I added the black lines with Stripe Rite black. Very simple but I like it better than the first time I did it.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Five ~ Inspired by Fashion

I have never done a fashion manicure before even though they are rather popular in the nail art world. I had no idea where to even find the dress to mimic. So I went to my ever trusty Google Image search. I just typed in "Red Carpet Dresses" and this neat gown popped up.

Apparently she is Kelly Rowland at the 2013 Grammy Awards in a Georges Chakra Couture gown. I really don't know much about any of that, but that is what it said on Google. I'm not sure I really captured the dress all that well, but it was the first time I have ever done this. I freehanded a simple french tip on all my nails but for the accent using Color Workshop french pink and white. I taped off the stripes with striping tape on my accent then used Orly "Liquid Vinyl" over the tape. Peel it off and you have the open mesh areas of the dress. Again I'm not sure I used enough tape to get the idea across, but I like it. Simple and elegant.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Four ~ Inspired by a Book

Ann McCaffrey. I grew up on her books. She is one of the reasons I became a voracious reader. While this is book 2 of the Harper Hall Trilogy, its also my favorite of all her books. I'm showing you the book before my nails, because they didn't turn out all that well. In the world of Pern there are Dragons and Fire Lizards which are a form of tiny pet-like dragon. Both species come in 5 colors for breeding reasons. Gold, Bronze, Brown, Green, and Blue. Well, here are my nails. Another freehanded attempt.

In my defense they don't look as bad at a distance. Blowing it up in a picture makes the mistakes bigger too. Anyway, the thumb is my gold dragon in Pure Ice "Excuse Me". Index is my bronze dragon but I don't have a bronze polish so I used Maybelline "Bold Gold" and Sally Hansen "Chop Chop Copper" to dull it. Middle is brown dragon in Sinful Colors "Nirvana". The ring is a China Glaze "Tree Hugger" green dragon. Finally the little blue dragon on the pinky is China Glaze "Blue Sparrow". The eyes on the dragons whirl different colors depending on their mood but I stuck with Orly "Blue Collar" on all of them. The outline was done with Orly "Liquid Vinyl". I love the position of the dragon on the thumb and pinky. I even kinda like the close up of the head on the ring. Index and middle I would prolly have redone. Sorry this post is late today, I really had no idea what I was gonna do right up until I did it.