Day 25: Inspired by FASHION

Day 25 of the Longest 31 Day Challenge is Inspired by FASHION and I'm pretty excited to show you my nails for today.  I recently bought a blue snakeskin wallet/clutch; it's pretty awesome and I keep getting compliments on it.

I used Zoya Robyn as my base, combing blobs of Robyn and Zoya Snow White together to get the blue and white mixed pattern I desired.  I then stamped the snakeskin image from Bundle Monster plate BM-215 on top using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out.  I love how this turned out.  It looked just like my wallet! Love.

Day 24: Inspired by a BOOK

Welcome to Day 24 on the Longest 31 Day Challenge Ever!  Tonight I'd like to share Inspired by a BOOK.  You'll have to humor me on this design because it's about to get real nerdy in here.  Looking to catch up? Check out my previous designs here.

The book that I'm basing this design on is called Ion Exchange Materials: Properties and Applications.  My research focuses on developing novel water softening processes which requires me to read a lot of materials on ion exchange.  So how does this translate into a manicure?

Well ion exchange resign (divinylbenzene polystyrene) looks like small orange/clear beads:

Which translates in nail art terms to this:

I picked up clear mirobeads from the art store, and after using two coats of Zoya Tamsen poured the beads on top.  While Tamsen isn't the focus here, I'd like to note that I was very pleasantly surprised by the formula on it.  Tamsen was opaque after one coat, applied very smoothly, wasn't watery, and was a pleasure to clean up (for me, reds typically aren't).  While Tamsen was still wet, I liberally poured the microbeads on top.  I was pretty bummed that these supposed "clear" beads weren't really clear; they had hints of pale yellow, blue, red, green, purple, etc. and these colors show up on the nail instead of reflecting the orange-red of Tamsen like I'd hoped.

Ah well.  Maybe I'll try this again someday when I find truly clear beads.  Have you tried the divinylbenzene polystyrene manicure trend?

Day 23: Inspired by a MOVIE

Welcome to the next installment of the Longest 31 Day Challenge Ever.  Today I'd like to share with you Day 23: Inspired by a MOVIE, otherwise known as My Hunger Games Failure.

Like many of you, I devoured the Hunger Games series and was really excited to see the book turned into a movie.  I bought my tickets for opening day a head of time, painted flames on my nails, but completely underestimated how popular the movie would be!  I showed up for the movie only to find the only remaining seats were the ones in the very bottom corner...

So I still have yet to see the Hunger Games movie as I returned my tickets (why do theaters even include those seats in the first place??) but I'm hoping in the next week or so to try again.

To create the manicure I wore for opening day I relied heavily on Kayla Shevonne's Hunger Games inspired nails.  She always does such amazing work and I love seeing the designs she creates.  My attempts to duplicate her work never turn out quite the same.

I used a layer of Zoya Snow White for my base, then two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow.  I next sponged Zoya Tamsen on top, making the layers thicker as I moved towards my cuticles.  I then "drew" on flames with a Kiss Nail Art Pen in Black, finally filling in the area outside the drawing with my SoEasy Striper in Black.  A coat (or two) of Seche Vite was all I needed to make this design shine.  Clean up was a complete PITA, black polish just doesn't come off my skin nicely.

Overall, from a distance this design looks pretty sweet because you can't tell that my flames are a hot mess.  At this distance they're much more skeptical though I do enjoy them.  I really need to practice free-hand nail art more.

Day 22: Inspired by a SONG

Welcome to the next installment of the Longest 31 Day Challenge Ever!  Bet you haven't seen one of these challenge posts in a while!  Today I bring you Day 22: Inspired by a SONG.  Looking to catch up?  Check out my previous manicures here.  I've been completely stumped by this day's challenge and that's a bit of why it has taken me so long to get this challenge post up.  After a wicked session of brainstorming and YouTube searching, I finally settled on the Meow Mix jingle.




For my nails I attempted to recreate the face of the cat from Meow Mix packaging.

For my base I used three coats of Zoya Jancyn and for the accent stripes I used Zoya Tamsen.  For the cat's face I used Zoya Yara, Essie Jamaica Me Crazy, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out.

Day 21: Inspired by a COLOR

Welcome to the most ambiguous day of the Longest 31 Day Challenge (stretches over two years now!).  I arrived at this design in a very round about way. I had my significant other pick a color (he chose blue), then I started wanting to do a gradient sponging of different blues and maybe stamp something on top.  What I ended up doing was using three coats of Sinful Colors Gorgeous as my base, then stamping Bundle Monster plate BM-212 on top with Konad Special Polish in Black, followed by alternating diagonal rows of dots of Zoya Charla and Zoya Ivanka.

How does this fit with the theme of "Inspired by a Color"?  Let's just say that I was inspired by the aqua-green-teal colors in Gorgeous to add Charla and Ivanka.  I'm glad I was - the colors compliment each other so well and this design turned out much better than I had originally hoped for.

One of the perks of photographing my right hand instead of my left is that I can experiment with my final design on my left before coming up with a design I like.  For example, my pinkie and ring finger on my left hand just have Zoya Charla dots.  My index finger has alternating straight rows of dots, and my middle finger has diagonal rows of dots.  Since everything is in the same color family, the differences aren't noticeable from a distance and don't bother me.

And once more!

Day 20: WATER MARBLED

I scheduled this post because I'm off in Minnesota visiting my family for Christmas.  I didn't do much in the way of Christmas, or any other holiday, manicures this year but I thought it would be cute to do a red white a green water marble combination for Day 20 of the 31 Day Challenge.

I used two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Whirlwind White as a base for the marbling, then alternating drops of Zoya Sooki, Zoya Snow White, and Orly Lucky Duck for the swirls.  I used a white base because when I tried dipping naked nails Lucky Duck was very sheer and I had major VNL.  I topped everything with two coats of Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine Kaleidoscope, a color I received earlier this year as part of my Polish-aholics Anonymous Secret Santa (thank you Amanda!).  A final coat of Seche Vite holds everything in place and gives a nice shiny finish.

(If you'd like, you can now follow my blog with Bloglovin since Google has announced the end to Google Friend Connect.)

Day 19: GALAXIES

Galaxy nails for Day 19 of the 31 Day Challenge is another one I could be less than thrilled about.  I used Cutepolish's Easy Galaxy Nail Art YouTube video to guide me in this process.  When Cutepolish says to stipple the white dots along the nebula...well...my stippling ability needs some work.  Large stars!

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow, China Glaze Fifth Avenue, and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Glass Slipper.

Can you see the flakes from Glass Slipper?  I had a hard time seeing them while I was wearing it.  Maybe I'll try galaxy nails again.  Maybe.

Day 18: HALF MOONS

I'm excited for half-moon day, heh. It's Day 18 of the Longest 31 Day Challenge and I'm very excited to share today's look with you.

I've paired Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out with Butter London's No More Waity Katie.  I originally saw this combination on Pinterest, and that led me back to Okay Joy Now's blog post where she did this same design for her day 18.  I love the way this looks!

Day 17: GLITTER

Day 17 of the 31 Day Challenge calls for glitter and this day I went for a very simple glitter: Butter London's Victoriana.  This has been one of my untried polishes since I picked it up in October and I was really irked to find out that there was polish all over the inside of the cap and around the lid of the bottle.  Like someone swatched it in the store.  Seriously guys?  Ugh.  Okay, enough of that, on to the polish!

I love the microglitters suspended in the polish!  Not too much glitter to be in your face but enough to sparkle.  A deep blue, practically teal color that manages to still look very soft.

Day 16: TRIBAL PRINT

It's Day 16 on the 31 Day Challenge.  I wasn't looking forward to this day.  Tribal print, just like animal print, isn't my thing.  Since I've been taking my time with this challenge I've been able to plan more in advance for the designs I'd like to do each day.  So when I pinned this on Pinterest the other day I knew I would be doing a Norwegian setesdalsgens design.  Norwegian tribal print - perfect!  31 Day Challenge meets Christmas.

Only this?

Source: Never Too Much Glitter via Kristen on Pinterest

This is ridiculously hard for me to freehand.  I tried.  Twice.  So I turned to my trusty friend Google and found this YouTube video by So Long Kitty Nail Art.  Now this is more my style!

This is what I wound up with:

I used Zoya Sooki (I've added an 'e' to the end of Sooki every time I've typed it - does anyone else have this problem?) as the based and then stamped Konad Special Polish in White on top using Bundle Monster plate BM-214, and Konad plates m71 and m59.  I think it looks convincingly sweater-ish.  My reindeer looks decidedly...special. Oh poor reindeer.

Despite this being a stamping based manicure, it still took me at least two hours to complete (an episode of Bones and one-and-a-half episodes of Glee).  Quite the time sink.

And here's a shot of Zoya Sooki by itself.

Can you spot my camera in the reflection on my nails?  Sooki is more red than orange in real life, is more sheer than I'd like, but it perfect for stamping over.

Are sweater tribal print nails something you'd try?

Day 15: DELICATE PRINT

Welcome to Day 15, delicate print day, on the 31 Day Challenge.

For my delicate print manicure I used Avon Amethyst Shimmer as my base with China Glaze Platinum Silver stamped on top using Bundle Monster plate BM02.  I've had Avon Amethyst Shimmer for at least 15 years now and I'm surprised that the formula has held up so well!

Day 14: Flowers

Day 14 of the 31 Day Challenge calls for flowers but I needed something more subtle for work.  For this version of subtle I chose to do a simple french manicure with an accent nail flower for this day.  You may be surprised to hear that I've never done a french manicure on my real nails.  It's true!  They've never been long enough for me to want to draw attention to the tips before.

Confession?  The white part of my ring finger and middle finger chipped while I was at work and I tried to "fix it" so it looks a bit funky in this photo.  This being my first attempt at french tips I'm pretty pleased at how it turned out. This is definitely something I'd like to try again in the future!

I used two coats of Essie Petal Pink as the base, SoEasy Stripe Rite in White for the tips, then I stamped Zoya Areej on my ring finger as an accent using Bundle Monster plate BM14.

Day 13: ANIMAL PRINT

I love how this manicure for Day 13 of the 31 Day Challenge turned out.  I'm not an animal print person.  I have no clothes or accessories that have animal prints on them.  I've just never felt like it's me.  But this?  This I love and I feel it is super cute.  

It's Zoya Marley for the base, then M.A.S.H. plate m57 stamped on top with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Black Out.  To add some spice I added a few dots of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Pink I Can to the center of a few of the spots.  This is much more intense than the last spotted manicure I did and I think it turned out a lot better.

Day 12: STRIPES

Welcome back to the longest 31 Day Challenge in the history of all 31 Day Challenges! Ha. My apologies for not getting back on this challenge faster.  Day 12 of the challenge is stripes and for this design I went for a straight-forward solid color of polish plus stripe stamp.

I used Zoya Pasha as my base color, then stamped Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Black Out on top using Konad plate m60.

Day 11: POLKA DOTS

It's time for polka dots, Halloween-themed on Day 11 of the 31 Day Challenge.

I used two coats of Zoya Snow White for the base and alternating rows of dots of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Black Out, and Zoya Jancyn.  Very simple for Halloween.

Day 10: GRADIENT nails

I've known what I wanted to do for Day 10, gradient nails, of the 31 Day Challenge since I visited my parents earlier in October and picked up a couple of Butter London polishes.  A gradient with Rosie Lee :)

I used three coats of China Glaze Innocence as a base then sponged Butter London Rosie Lee on top.  I love this.  I've never done a design like this before and am head over heels with how it looks.  My fingers feel so sparkly I love waving them around, hehe.

For some reason it's really hard for me to see pale polish near my cuticles until after I take photos and enlarge the image so please excuse the mess.

Day 9: RAINBOW nails

Day 9 of the 31 Day Challenge and today it is rainbows!

I was inspired from this photo I saw on Pinterest:

Source: mlt93.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

but I failed to visit the blog of the photo to see how they'd achieved this look.  I just assumed the lovely rainbow gradient was done through sponging.  I broke out my best rainbow colors and sponged away, two colors for each nail and approximately two coats of each color.  It was my first time sponging but it was really easy to do!

The colors I used were Zoya America, Zoya Jancyn, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow, Zoya Shawn, Zoya Robyn, and Zoya Mira.  Can you tell I have a lot of Zoya polishes?

I'm thinking the two polish colors too harsh of a look and I should have gone with three colors for each nail.  It turns out the look on the photo I saw was achieved by a brush so once this challenge is over I'd like to go back and try to recreate her design.

Day 8: METALLIC nails

So...I've missed a few days for the 31 Day Challenge, but the rules say "if you miss one, pick it up the next day."

I left off with black and white nails making today metallic nail day.  My original idea was to try a newspaper manicure but with the periodic table of elements.  I was hoping I could print off a copy of the periodic table, use the newspaper technique, and it would work magically.  It didn't.

Is it that the paper to ink ratio is different for home printers versus newspaper?  Could I just be inept at the whole newspaper technique?  Has anyone tried printing off an image and transferring it to your nails before?

My Day 8 design wound up being very simple, just a swatch of China Glaze Platinum Silver.

I usually use this color for stamping but had never solely painted my nails with it.  I'm not loving the streakiness of this formula - definitely meant to be a stamping or accent polish.

Day 7: BLACK AND WHITE nails

Day 7 is black and white nails day for the 31 Day Challenge and since Halloween is fast approaching, black and white to me screams ghosts.  It's also apparently monster day for the Polish-aholics Anonymous group on facebook and ghosts are considered monsters right? Eh, it's close.  :D

For this I used three coats of Zoya Snow White for the base, three coats of China Glaze Ghoulish Glow top coat (I'd heard thicker resulted in better glow...) and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Black Out for the eyes and mouth of my ghosties.

They are quite plain in the daylight:

Perhaps the scariest item here is the fact that my cuticles are in desperate need of moisturizer! ...and maybe the dents you see in the white polish.  But since the focus here is supposed to be their ability to glow in the dark the dents and dings don't really matter when the lights are out.

Once you turn out the lights they go wild:

Sorry I couldn't capture a better photo.  I took several and this was the best that I had.  I'll take any suggestions you have for capturing a better glow-in-the-dark photo with my Canon PowerShot.

Day 6: VIOLET nails

Another simple design for violet nail day on the 31 Day Nail Challenge.  For this day I used Butter London's HRH, a glorious royal purple with a red base and a hint of metallic shimmer.  I think this is my favorite purple and a great color for fall.

Sadly this polish is really thin on me and it shows every bump and ridge I have.  :(