New Nail Art Challenge

Hey all! I'm keeping this kne short & sweet.  Im going to do a different IG nail art challenge for this month (or at least partially, because I'm going on vacation soon) and this one is put on by Jamlynnails. It's called the Random Nail Art Challenge,  and follows the same sort of timeline that the Californails one did, so its about every 3 or 4 days.

First cue, paisley!  Back when I did the 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge,  I did a paisley design for the pattern cue. At that time, itwas one of cm my more popular designs,  so I was pleased to see this on day 1.

I hopped on the Internet and googled paisley. I found this pic:

Source : Maeve Parker

And I loved it! So springy, and still a paisley look without being so over the top. Here's my attempt.

I was going to do something on the pink nail, but I liked it by itself,  since it had some shimmer in it.

Hope you like this, and I'm looking forward to this new challenge!

Have a great day,
April

Super SPAM of the past week

Hey guys and happy Monday to you all.  Did anyone have fun weekend plans?  Some friends went with us to a beer festival in Peoria on Saturday and it was a blast. I'm typically an IPA girl,  but shockingly I really gravitated towards the alcoholic ginger beers. They were delicious! Plus it was almost 80 degrees and sunny,  so they were super refreshing. Now today it is dreary,  rainy and cold. Darn Midwestern weather.

I'm going to hock my Instagram page again today,  because I tend to update that more often because it's so much easier. I've taken on the Californails April challenge, do I have the past 2 prompts to share today.

First is from day 8, chevron. Have I mentioned how much I want some of those dang nail vinyls?  I get so frustrated using tape. Here I've got OPI's Chic From Ears to Tail,  which is a pretty pink shimmery crelly. The glitter is Cult Nails Center of Attention. COA is one I acquired through a swap and I love it.  It's so sparkly and it has a golden / Iridescent shimmer in it too.  Now for my chevron. Ugh. I used Essie Chinchilly, but that frigging tape kept messing up  so I free handed this.  So frustrating.

But I did really like how this turned out. It felt springy and glitzy at the same time.  I love chevron,  but I need some help.

Second prompt is for today,  Peeps!  Ok,  seriously,  peeps?  Kind of weird,  but whatevs. I had another swapped polish from Polish Addict,  called Candy Pop. To me it looked like fluffy candy,  so I wanted to use that for sure.

For the peep and the logo,  I used my sticker method. I free hand paint with polish on a sandwich baggie,  top it with a top coat and let it dry. Peel it off the plastic,  and it's a sticker that you just place on and top coat to seal. 

I kind of like the little bugger. Although I hate Peeps with a passion  (marshmallows make me gag when not in s'more form) I think this was a sweet Easter look. 

I've actually got a review of a product for you all next post. Hint : my 3 nails covered in glitter.  =)

Have a great day!
April

Day 8, Favorite

Hello! I very rarely post on a Tuesday,  so this is weird, ha!

I picked up the April challenge this month,  I figured why not? It had more interesting prompts than March, so I'm doing it!!!

Today's prompt is Favorite. I at first was just going to swatch my favorite polish. Well how on earth do you pick a favorite? ?? I have too many!!

So instead,  I started to think about my favorite things.  Coconut. Tickles. Herbal tea. Raw honey. (Yeah, that would be cute- a raw honey mani) I moved on to things that would translate well in polish.  Flowers. Yes.

My favorite flower is the Stargazer Lily. They were my wedding flower, I grow them, I love them. I free handed some splotchy green patches on my nails and then went in with a million different colors of polish and painted the lily. (Side note, I use all polish for my painting... no acrylic paint here).

I love, love, love this. Might be one of my new favorites. So that's two favorites in one post. Lovely.


Enjoy the day!!
April

P.S,  here are some of my favorite polishes:
-Essie No More Film
-Zoya Darcy
-Essie The More the Merrier
-Essie In the Cab - ana
-OPI Do you Lilac It?
-OPI Pamplona Purple
-OPI My Vampire is Buff
-OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Day 7 of the Nail Art February Challenge

It's the weekend! !!!

I'm so excited.  For reals. I am so I busy the first week of the month that the first weekend is like chocolate coated. With sprinkles.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this prompt, which is XOXO. Of course I needed it to be slightly different,  so I did an abstract XOXO.

The textured polish here is L'Oreal Too Dimensional on top of one of my faves, OPI'S Do You Lilac It? The pink is Essie's The Girls Are Out. I taped off the criss cross, or the X's, and then I free handed the O's.

Funny story. I did this pretty late last night, and I turned on the comedy station on Pandora for background sound. I do NOT recommend doing this. You should see my right hand. You can see every move where I laughed. It looks like my 8 year old niece painted them.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Is it beer thirty yet?   ;)
April

Polka Dot Drops

Happy Tuesday chickadees. Today I have the second prompt for the February nail art challenge.  Polka Dots!!! I again wanted to do something in somewhat of a Valentines theme, but not overly so.

I used OPI Sweetheart for the pink, and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the "white". The white has Essie's Pure Pearlfection on top to give it a touch of shimmer. Speckle on top a bunch of girly dots, and Ding! Polka spotted mani.

Know what these remind me of?  Those eyeball tests that you have to see the number in the dots.

That's all I've got. Unless you want to hear that we're getting more snow tomorrow.  Again. I'm never going to see the sun.

Enjoy the day!
April

Day 10, Gradient

I'm totally spoiled by the weather lately.  I like it hot. I'm always cold, so it's so much easier to be warm than to be cold. The weather decided that its finally time for fall, and all I want to do is sleep. And eat. And bake. Hmph.

Good thing I have this to keep me busy. Today's theme is gradient nails. I like doing fades. I think it looks cool, and I like it when people ask how you did it because it's easy nail art that looks complicated.

My coworker and I have this thing... we love Mean Girls. We quote it all the time. Almost every situation you can bring it back to a Mean Girls quote. So on Wednesdays we wear pink. And therefore I did a pink fade.

I used OPI Pink Friday and a dark pink Sinful Nails color, Folly. I then added a light blue diagonal stripe and topped with a black stripe. It was a fun mani to wear. I liked the contrasting blue with the VERY pink polish. And it pulled together the whole pink theme for the day.

Today is also the last of the easier looks for me. Next days are all about different shapes, so this is where it will start to get interesting.

Have you tried a gradient mani before? What were your favorite colors to use?

April