Finally, Day 31-Re-create a Mani You Love

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week... life got out of control and I ended up wearing that Louboutin mani for a long time because I was so scared to take it off. (Which it wasn't that bad... I soaked my nail and then used a Q-tip to grab out all the underside)

But today is the final prompt for the 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge,  re-create a mani you love. This took me FOREVER to find one that I wanted to do. And I'm still not completely sold, so look for a do-over sometime soon.

So after searching for hours on Pinterest,  reading a multitude of nail blogs, I went back to one on my own Nailed It Pinterest board that I pinned like a year ago.

And of course, in true Pinterest fashion, I'm not sure if the link that I have on the pin is correct.  So for the copyright Nazi's that might be reading this, I hope that whatever language the link is in says that it's her own nail art.  ;)

Source (I hope) Linvant

I altered this slightly for my version.  Since we are expecting snow today, (SNOW!!! Ugh!) I thought that the pink and lilac was just too springy. I instead used OPI's My Vampire is Buff as the base. Then because I did this last night at like 9 pm, I free handed the purple shapes- which is OPI'S Do You Lilac It? . And again, since it was slowly creeping on my bedtime,  I free handed the black shapes too, which is Essie's Licorice.

I'm strangely liking the overall look, but as what happens with me all the time, is that I don't have the patience or the plan-aheadiness to have a completely dry base before attempting to tape. Oh well, like I said,  I will most likely do another version sometime down the road.

Well, that takes me to the end of the 31 day challenge.  How long did that actually take me, lol? I hope to still post regularly.  I just got a new nail polish station upstairs, so my DH will be very happy that my crap is not clogging up the dining room table anymore.  He's already got to refinish the table because varnish and acetone don't mix well.  (Whoops).

Have a wonderful day, and for the rest of you in the Midwest today, be safe for the first bit of bad weather today. People tend to get all wackadoodle when this happens.
April

20 Days of the Challenge

Well hello there.  I cannot believe that I've made it to day 20. I seriously thought that I would be so far behind that I would just quit around day 10. But I made it to the dreaded water marble.

I actually re-did this one from my first look because it was a hot mess. I took a deep breath,  watched several tutorials,  and did a do over.

I cant remember what tutorial I watched, but it was a similar design from this one. And let me preface this with that I've only really attempted water marbling a few other times. And I'm kind of partial to purple nail polish.

I used three different colors here for the marbling: Essie Jamaica Me Crazy, OPI Do You Lilac It and Essie No More Film. My base was a light coat of Essie Lilacisim.
So, you drop good size blobs into water and repeat with other colors.  Take a toothpick and then cut in your design.  Dunk your nail in and then collect off the excess. Bring out your nail, and the design is transferred onto your nail. Oh yeah. Best part? It comes out of the water dry.

I think with a little more practice this could be very cute. My pinky got a little funked up, but ended not being as annoying as I thought it would be. I definitely need to check out some more ideas and tips. I saw one that was a striped look that I really liked.

So that's all for today! Let me know what you think!
April

Lucky 13, Animal Print

How was your weekend? Mine was super awesome.  Not only did my football team win, they obliterated the visiting team. However, it was pretty sunny out, and I didn't realize how sunny it was until I looked at my husband (who is a fair skinned redhead) and he was super red. It was then that I remembered that I put a mascot sticker on my cheek that morning. Yep. I've got a tigerhawk sunburned on my cheek. I look ridiculous.  Good thing my nails are here to distract me!!

Today I've made it to day 13, animal print.  I Googled pictures of animal prints, and I just didn't see anything I really liked. Here's the thing... I have always sort of thought that standard animal prints are for older women, like leopard and zebra print... it's just not something I would wear. Definitely not something I would purchase.  So I started to think about other animals. Fish. Snakes. Birds. Wait... birds! I had purchased some feathers a long time ago, and knew it was perfect for today's challenge.

I started with a base of OPI's Do You Lilac It? and let that fully dry. Then I grabbed the feathers and found some good looking ones that would be easy to apply. Look for feathers that have a tight tip and are curved at the end- that way you won't have to trim as much. 

Then working one nail at a time,  I swiped on a coat of Seche Vite topcoat,  and then placed the feather on top. Seche Vite dries pretty quickly, so I was able to trim the excess feather pretty quickly. Finishing the rest of my hand, and with the feathers secure,  go back and closely trim the edges and file. One more top coat, and voila! 

I love this. I don't think I want to ever take it off. Imagine how fab this would look with a golden yellow base... hawkeye nails! 

What's the verdict on this one? Have you worked with feathers before?  

Happy Monday

April

11 days of nail art!

Today is day 11, and I was ahead of myself by one day. No longer. After having a totally crap-tastic day I went to the alehouse to drown my sorrows in craft beer. So no nail art last night for me. At least I had the one day cushion to still share with you all!!

As I mentioned on rainbow day, there's nothing happier than rainbows and polka dots.

I received Full Steam Ahead in my August Blackbox and hadn't had a chance to try it out yet. Its a light lilac creme with a subtle shimmer. It's really pretty. I then did half of the nail in white. The dark purple dots are my favorite polish of all time, No More Film and the lime ones are The More the Merrier.

It seems as though I am a total Essie girl. Here in the Midwest,  I don't have a lot of access to specialty stores or things like that. Our only Sephora is in JC Penneys. Ulta is getting tired of me because I have been in there once a week since July stalking to see where the fall Zoya collection is. I gave up a couple weeks ago. So I rely on Target to supply my Essie colors because I have their red card which means I get 5% off. So I deal. I want to get into indie colors so bad but haven't had much of an opportunity to research it yet. Anyways, what do you think of the dots? I got quite a few compliments on this one, so that's a win in my book.  :)

Have a great day
April