Day 31 Recreate your favourite challenge!

It's finished! After an extremely drawn out 30 days, I have finally reached the end of the challenge. There were times when I wasn't sure if I would get here but we persevered.

I decided that I wanted to recreate a combination of Day 11: Polka Dots (and kind of Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial). In my meanderings I have seen paint splatter nails, which are basically just as the name suggests- nail polish (or paint) literally splattered across the nails.

After looking at a bunch of pictures I figured I could replicate the style... I probably should have at least looked at one tutorial...

I started with two coats of Chi Chi white, and initially tried flicking the coloured polish. Trust me-this is not the way to do it. I then resigned myself to a dotting tool, creating alternate sized dots. I'm quite happy with the finished result of my paint splatter nails. It does remind me of an old painters drop sheet.

So this is it for the challenge, but in no way is this the end of my posting! I've caught the bug, and I am crawling with ideas for new designs. For those of you who have kept track of the challenge the whole way through, a huge thank you, and to those of you just joining me- please check out my older posts :)

Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

I've been loving animal themed nail art lately, I suppose its my zoology side shining through. I went in search of a tutorial for any kind of animal design, and stumbled across this penguin tutorial at Nail Art 101.
It was cute, but I wanted the more realistic penguin figures.

I used a background of Jezy 22, and painted the penguins with black, white and orange acrylic.

(No top coat) 

(OPI Start to Finish top and base coat)

These cute little guys were so simple to do! I learnt my lesson this time and took photos before I painted a top coat, but the OPI didn't seem to smudge or dissolve the acrylic thankfully. I can't get over how adorable they are. Definitely check out Nail Art 101 for not only tutorials, but also many other tips and tricks :)

Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural

There are heaps of supernatural themed nails around at the moment- Halloween is just around the corner!
In Australia its not something that is celebrated all that much, but my Dad likes to have a Halloween dinner, so I'm hoping to dress up and do a matching design for that at least.

This design was inspired by one of my favourite movies- The Nighmare Before Christmas. Ever since I was a kid I have loved it!

I used Chi Chi white, and black acrylic for the details. Cute huh?

Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

What a long day! I have just started playing softball, and had my first game today....

WE WON! (sorry- I was pretty excited!)

 It was so much fun, and despite being a complete noob, I am loving it.

But, I digress. On to the nails. For Australia day this year, I decided to paint a design similar to this, using my then limited supplies (toothpicks and a small stash of polish). I since have started using acrylic paint, and brushes, to get nicer looking lines.

These Australian Flag nails were created using two coats of Kleancolour "Metallic Blue", and then used white acrylic for the stars and Union Jack, and Ulta 3 "Scarlett" for the red accents.

The above pictures are actually my second attempt. I had these all finished, and thought I would add a top coat to add some shine. Now, I'm not sure if maybe I was impatient and didn't let the acrylic dry long enough, or if it was a strange reaction with the Seche Vite, but this is what happened:

The white acrylic and red polish accents began to fade, until they completely disappeared. So frustrating. Has anyone else had problems with polish reacting with acrylic? Or was it my impatience?
Nevermind, I got there in the end :)

Day 27: Inspired by Artwork

This was a little bit exciting! I wanted something bright, and eye catching. It got me thinking of pop art, and who was one of the kings of pop art? Andy Warhol!

While I didnt think I could replicate an actual Andy Warhol design on my nails, I came across this image. I've seen it in various places though, so I'm not sure who the original source actually was.

I used two coats of Sally Hansen "Mellow Yellow", Australis "Limited Edition 2", Jezy 22, Sally Hansen nail colour pen in Hot Pink, and Ulta3 "Purple Pumps".

I then stamped the lips from Bundle Monster plate BM02 (I used the same colours for stamping).

Like it? Im not sure about the yellow on the blue, but it might have been ok with a thicker polish maybe?

It's almost the end of the not-so-30 day challenge and I must admit, I'm kind of excited! I have some lovely polishes that I want to swatch and show you all. Stay tuned!

Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

Hello again lovely readers. I thought I would dig out my stamping plates again for these nails. 

I wanted a green background but couldnt find a shade that I liked, so I made my own using a combination of Revlon "Minted" and I *think* Rimmel "Sky High". I then used my Bundle Monster plate 203 and stamped with Jezy black.

The finished product reminds me somewhat of the matrix. Not sure why! Also, excuse my wonky stamping, I got over enthusiastic.. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question about this, or any of my previous posts! 

Day 25: Inspired by Fashion

I really need to stop writing these posts so late at night. My mind wanders and before I know it I've been stuck on the same sentence for over 20 minutes. Ooops...!

For todays mani I decided to pick a design from my all-time favourite clothing brand- Black Milk.

I have to say, I am obsessed, and now that I am working full time, they are claiming a large portion of my pay packet. 

They have some amazing, unique designs, and their clothes are so comfy. I could wear them 24/7. You may remember my Tetris nails- these are from the same company. Anyway, these are the Cross of St Peter leggings, and I figured them to be a nice and easy design for a Monday (I had a pretty crazy weekend, so Monday was not my friend today- not at all).

This was two coats of Jezy "Black", and white acrylic paint. Its so simple, and I actually liked the look of it more than I thought I would. I can't wait to turn more of their designs into nail art!

Day 24: Inspired by a Book

I have been waiting for this day to come around- it was a design that I had been planning for a while! I am a huge Harry Potter fan, and have been since the books first came out. With so many aspects that could be used in a mani, the Hogwarts houses seemed easily recognisable as "Harry Potter" inspired.

There are hundreds of images of the Hogwarts house's and although I had the idea in mind, I needed an image to base the animals on.

This image was found on Google 

I used Kleancolour metallic polishes as my bases, and then used a fine tipped brush to paint the designs on each nail. These polishes apply evenly, and are opaque with only 1 coat. Be wary though, because they can stain if a base coat is not used, and their smell is not appealing. I mean, nailpolish rarely smells nice but they smell horrible! I can look past this though as they are affordable, and they have a nice range of colours. 

After finishing the mani, my boyfriend suggested that I should have painted a lightening bolt on my thumb! Oh well, next time maybe. 

Day 23: Inspired by a Movie

Whilst looking for some inspiration for a design, I stumbled across this. Cheshire cat nails! I thought about painting something different on every nail, similar to my last design, but they all seemed too "busy".

This manicure was simple, but bright, and I am super happy at how the Cheshire cats face turned out!

I had to mix Ulta "Purple Pumps" and Ulta "Fruit tingle" with different amounts of white to get the shades I was happy with. The face of the cat was painted using these same colours, and a fine tip brush. 

Hopefully I can get myself some striping tape, and new brushes soon. I think using one set of polish for both acrylic and nailpolish is damaging them. Do you use different brushes? Does it make a difference?

Day 22: Inspired by a song

What to choose, what to choose- so many songs on my mind! I tried a few different designs out for this manicure, but wansnt entirely happy with their end result.

After a suggestion by my ever-so-helpful partner, I went with nails inspired by a childrens' song, so may I present...


Incy Wincy Spider nails!

The Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout.

Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain

And the Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the spout again.

I used a grey from Opi's Pirates of the Caribbean collection- I cant remember if it was "Skull & Glossbones" or "Stranger Tides" (sorry!). All of the designs were painted in nailpolish, not acrylic paint. Each nail represents a different element of the song- a web for the spider, the "water spout" (or a dodgy drain pipe), the rain, sunshine and a lovely black spider!

Happy singing!

Day 21: Inspired by a Colour

Now it gets tricky- the "Inspired by.." series. I'm not entirely sure how to interpret some of these, but I guess that's not a big deal!

For today's design I decided to try out an ombre design, which has been popular recently. These red ombre nails were created using Ulta "Scarlet" mixed with varying amounts of white polish to create the gradient effect.

I liked how this turned out, but I think next time I might try a more obvious gradient. Not bad for a first effort though, don't you think?