31-Day Challenge #31: honor nails you love

Well, I made it...the final day of the 31-Day Challenge! I almost can't believe I managed to do 31 manis in a row. There were definitely some days when I really didn't feel like painting my nails, but in the end I'm glad I stuck it out. This month I tried several techniques for the first time and expanded my repertoire of nail art by quite a lot; I also discovered many great blogs to follow! I'm looking forward to doing the challenge again next year (but not before, heh!).

The final prompt is "honor nails you love". I think my favorite nail art blogger has to be Chalkboard Nails; she has impeccable technique, her nails always look fantastic, plus she takes perfect photos! I decided to reproduce her metallic mani from Day 8 of this challenge. When I saw her pictures, I thought, "whoa, how did she do that??" but it turned out to be very simple! (The best kind of nail art!)

Instead of a gradient, I randomly sponged on several metallic polishes for the base color. (I think it turned out a little too subtle.) I used China Glaze Swing Baby, Sephora by OPI I Only Shop Vintage, Revlon Enthrall, Hard Candy Crush on Tin, and OPI The World is Not Enough. For the "distressed" effect I applied Revlon Stiletto after wiping most of the polish off the brush.

I made another collage for the final third of the challenge. Click to see my previous manis!




I also thought I'd be slightly vain for a moment and pick the challenge manis I'm most proud of. I think my top three would have to be:

#21 Inspired by a Color--my version of a waterfall mani. I just think it turned out really pretty, and apparently it's my #1 challenge mani among visitors to the blog!

#23 Inspired by a Movie--probably my best freehand effort so far. It's not perfect, but it makes me smile!

#30 Inspired by a tutorial--one-stroke flowers. The one-stroke technique is one I've been interested in for a long time, but never managed to get right until this time.








OK, that's all, folks. Now I'm off to give my nails a break for a few days. :-D Don't forget to check out the final challenge posts from all these other lovely ladies! (And thanks again to More Nail Polish for organizing the linkup!)

31-Day Challenge #30: inspired by a tutorial

Second to last challenge! Can't believe I'm almost done! It was hard to choose what to do for today's prompt, since there are so many awesome tutorials out there. I settled on this "one stroke abstract petals" tutorial at Lucy's Stash--she is really talented!

This is my first successful attempt at the one-stroke technique! The background color is Sephora by OPI Merry Me, and the flowers are all acrylic paint.

And here's your cute Trudy pic of the day:

Is everyone else pumped for the final challenge tomorrow?? Here are the rest of today's manis:

31-Day Challenge #29: inspired by the supernatural

I didn't have to think too hard about today's challenge. I've been into dragons since I was a tween--I used to draw dragons on people's folders in middle school. I even have a collection of dragon figurines, one of which appears in today's pic:

The base color is Julep Hailee with Color Club Wild Cactus and more Hailee sponged on. I made a darker shade of green by mixing Wild Cactus with Revlon Stiletto, and did the scales and area around the eyes with that (it's unfortunately hard to see in this pic, but quite obvious in real life). I defined the edges with Revlon Stiletto. The eye is Sally Hansen Lightening with a dot of Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the "reflection".

And here's a bonus dragon I found buried in my pictures folder--I drew this in 2002, which means I was probably 16 (don't ask me why he's holding a banner)...

Finally, don't forget to check out today's other supernatural manis!

31-Day Challenge #28: inspired by a flag

Does anyone else find today's prompt oddly specific? Why a flag of all things?

Anyway, I picked the flag of Slovakia, because I have a bit of Slovak ancestry, and I also think it's a nicely designed flag:

The double cross comes originally from the Byzantine Empire, since the Slavs were converted to Orthodox Christianity by Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius (who also invented the ancestor of the Cyrillic alphabet). The blue hills represent three mountain ranges in the region.

My mani isn't very exciting, but I wasn't sure how to spice it up! I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Revlon Red Carpet, and China Glaze Hanging in the Balance.

Here are today's other patriotic manis!

31-Day Challenge #27: inspired by artwork

I was initially nervous about this challenge, because I didn't think I had the talent to reproduce any works of art (except for maybe some really minimalist abstract art). I hope you like the inspiration I eventually came up with...

It's Lascaux Cave art--the original artwork (over 17,000 years old)! I love the style of the animals. Here are the pictures I used for inspiration:

 Here are the polishes I used:

• Julep Otte
• L'Oreal Creme Puffs
• Sephora by OPI Thyme for a Mani
• Revlon Stormy Night
• Revlon Timeless
• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• OPI My Vampire is Buff
• Revlon Stiletto
• L'Oreal Spice Things Up
• L'Oreal L'Orange

I sponged several colors on the background to get a "rocky" look. At the end I used Revlon's matte topcoat.

Don't forget to admire today's other artsy manis!

31-Day Challenge #26: inspired by a pattern

I took the easy way out for today's challenge and based my mani on a pattern I see every day: the one on my bedspread (which looks like this). I just switched the color scheme because I feel like I've used a lot of blue lately (even though I adore blue!).

I think this looks pretty cool! I used Julep Abbie and Brit and did the pattern with my smallest dotting tool.

Only five more challenges to go! I'm trying not to get burned out. :-P

Check out today's other challenge manis:

31-Day Challenge #25: inspired by fashion

I had been avoiding thinking about this prompt for a long time, because I had no idea what I was going to do. I've never been interested in fashion in the slightest; 90% of my wardrobe is from GAP, and the rest is mostly funny t-shirts. Eventually it occurred to me that I should just go with what I know. And one thing I have a lot of (from GAP, of course) is argyle.

This mani made me very grouchy. First, I used striping tape to make the diamond shapes, but of course once I removed the tape I had white lines that needed to be filled in, or it wouldn't look right. Since I had to fill in the gaps by hand, it doesn't look as neat as I would like. Then, I used a Sally Hansen nail art pen for the dotted lines--I started with dots, like you see on my socks, but it didn't look good, so I connected some of the dots to make dashes. But I think this pen was too thick for this design. (Do they make super thin nail art pens? Like the size of thin mechanical pencils?) And the pen also stained my skin! Boo.

ANYWAY the colors I used were Essie Lapiz of Luxury, Revlon Timeless and Sinful Colors Snow Me White (plus the turquoise art pen).

I didn't put a topcoat over the turquoise, and it washed off almost completely in the shower, so I took a quick picture of just the diamond pattern:

Here's hoping tomorrow's mani turns out better (even though I have no idea what I'm going to do yet...).

And don't forget to check out everyone else's fashionable manis!

31-Day Challenge #24: inspired by a book

For this challenge I chose one of my favorite books, Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The book covers the history of Middle-Earth before the events of The Lord of the Rings, and is basically full of elves being badass.

I attempted to paint the Two Trees of Valinor, which shone silver and gold. They were killed by a giant spider but before they died, their last flower and fruit were taken and became the sun and moon.

For the silver tree I used Zoya Storm, Julep Harley, L'Oreal Eiffel for You, and Color Club Wild Cactus (unfortunately the picture doesn't show that the trunk and branches are a slightly different color than the silver leaves--I mixed silver with brown); for the gold tree I used L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight, Maybelline Bold Gold, Revlon Stormy Night and Revlon Sassy.


Here are today's other literary manis!

31-Day Challenge #23: inspired by a movie

I don't know about you, but my favorite Disney movie of all time is The Lion King. I've watched it probably at least a hundred times, and I've seen the musical twice. I gave myself a very ambitious (for me) goal for this challenge, which was to recreate this scene from "Hakuna Matata":

I was terrified the whole time that I was going to do something horribly wrong and have to start the whole thing over, but miraculously that didn't happen!

OK, Simba's expression looks more doofy than carefree. But all things considered I'm pretty darn pleased with myself. :-D

I used a zillion polishes for this (in many cases I mixed two or more colors together):

• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• Revlon Stiletto
• Julep Otte
• L'Oreal L'Orange
• L'Oreal Spice Things Up
• L'Oreal Caught Red-Handed
• OPI My Vampire is Buff
• L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight
• Essie Sand Tropez
• Julep Parker
• Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!

Don't forget to check out today's other movie-themed manis, and remember...ya gotta put your behind in your past!

31-Day Challenge #22: inspired by a song

OK, can you guess what song I was thinking of?

(The answer is Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles!) For this mani I was experimenting with "drawing" using dots. I do like the way the sun came out, but I can't decide if I should have used a base color or not. I used Sally Hansen Lightening, Revlon Sunshine Sparkle and Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the sun and L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight for the sky.

Here are today's other musical manis!

31-Day Challenge #21: inspired by a color

I wasn't totally sure what "inspired by a color" means, so for today's mani I just picked a color I love and went crazy with it. :-P Teal is my favorite color besides purple, so I gathered a bunch of blue-green polishes and did a waterfall mani a la The Nailasaurus. Mine is not as neat as hers, because I used a bigger brush, but I like how it looks (it's quite waterfall-ish, don't you think?).

I started with a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff, and did stripes of Essie Naughty Nautical, Color Club Age of Aquarius, Color Club Wild Cactus and Julep Lena, and accented it with OPI Goldeneye. I like how the off-white base looks like foam at the bottom of a waterfall!

And here's a bonus Trudy for your enjoyment:

Don't forget to check out today's other inspired manis!

31-Day Challenge #20: water marble

I have to confess, when I saw today's prompt I was pretty scared. I'd never done a water marble before, and everyone said it was the hardest thing EVER, so I was pretty sure I'd screw it up. But somehow it turned out pretty decent!

This is an all-Revlon mani: my base color is Provence (which you can just barely see peeking through in some spots) and I did the marble in Enrapture, Impulsive and Blue Slate. The one thing I would do differently next time is to use a lighter color along with the darker ones to get more of a contrast. But on the whole I'm kind of amazed I pulled this off!

Oh and we're now done with the second chunk of prompts for the challenge, so I made another collage! Only eleven more to go!!

Now go admire all of today's other water marble manis!

31-Day Challenge #19: girly galaxy

I was looking forward to this challenge because I'd only done galaxy nails once before, and they turned out kinda meh. So I wanted a chance to improve! I stole the concept for this version of galaxy nails from Rachel at Royal Milk Tea, who created an adorable pastel "magical cupcake galaxy, with flying unicorns and kittens"! What other kind of galaxy could you want??

"It's a galaxy for girls," quoth my husband. I started with a white base and sponged on Zoya Ali, Essie DJ Play That Song, Color Club Age of Aquarius, and Essie Play Date. Then I added a coat of Revlon Celestial FX (had to fish for the big glitters unfortunately).

I'm definitely happier with my second attempt at galaxy nails, and I also feel like I'm living in Lisa Frank's acid trip.

Now go explore the galaxy with the rest of today's challenge participants!

31-Day Challenge #18: half moons

This was another mani that I barely had to think about. I already knew what color scheme I wanted to use--I borrowed it from this outfit in Dragon Age II:

I like the way the coral contrasts with the blue-grey! So this is what I came up with:

The coral is Julep Gloria, the grey is Essie Maximillian Strasse-Her, and the gold is Maybelline Bold Gold. To make the half-moon shape, I used Orly French tip guides, but they didn't give me enough curve so I touched up the half moons by hand.


Now go admire today's other half moons!

31-Day Challenge #17: glitter

For today's prompt I barely had to think at all before I knew what I wanted to do. I love the look of full-coverage glitter with solid-color accents; I've seen the idea on several blogs (I think on Accio Lacquer most recently).

This is two coats of Deborah Lippmann Superstar with Revlon Stiletto on the tips. I mattified the accent nail, then I decided to make the whole mani matte:

I think both versions are pretty classy! Which do you like better?


Don't forget to admire all of today's sparkly nails!

31-Day Challenge #16: Peruvian patterns

Well folks, today I'm officially more than halfway done with the 31-Day Challenge!! Just gotta keep that momentum going!

Today's prompt is "tribal". Can I just say first that I really hate the term "tribal"? It's often incorrect and just kind of racist. :-(

*gets off high horse* Anyway, I'm assuming "tribal" means "a pattern used by non-white people". I chose to reproduce some Peruvian textile patterns I found--I love the bright colors they use!

I picked four patterns from this lovely picture to attempt (hopefully you can tell which ones):

I'm pretty impressed with myself, I must say! I'm especially proud of the pattern on my ring finger.

I used a ton of polishes for this one:

• Revlon Impulsive
• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• Deborah Lippmann On the Beach
• Revlon Plum Seduction
• Sally Hansen Lightening
• Essie Play Date
• Essie DJ Play That Song
• Essie The More the Merrier
• Wet 'n' Wild On a Trip
• Julep Meryl
• Julep Nan
• L'Oreal L'Orange

Whew, I think that's all! Oh, and I mattified everything because, you know, it's fabric! :-D

Don't forget to look at everyone else's "tribal" nails!

31-Day Challenge #15: delicate print

When I saw the word "delicate" in today's prompt, I knew I'd be stamping. I ended up choosing this really intricate labyrinthine stamp from Winstonia plate W112.

I wanted some interest in the background, but not so much that it would distract from the stamp. I ended up using a white background (Sinful Colors Snow Me White) and sponged two colors per finger on top:

• index finger: Zoya Sweet and China Glaze Peachy Keen
• middle finger: China Glaze Peachy Keen and Sally Hansen Lightening
• ring finger: Sally Hansen Lightening and Essie First Timer
• pinky: Essie First Timer and Essie Lapiz of Luxury

I used Revlon Stiletto for the stamp.

Check out today's other contributions!

31-Day Challenge #14: pansies

Today's challenge theme is flowers. I knew I could pull off a really easy look using dots, but I decided instead to challenge myself by freehanding a type of flower in more detail. I typed in "flowers" in Google image search and my eyes landed on pansies. I think because they look like they have faces, and also because of these creepy guys from Alice in Wonderland:

They're kind of terrifying actually. Real pansies are very pretty though! So I looked up pictures of four different-colored pansies and attempted to reproduce them on my nails.

I'm pretty happy with them! I just need to work on getting smoother lines (I probably need to invest in some polish thinner). I think the one on my index finger is my favorite!

I used five polishes for the main colors, and mixed each of them with black or white to get the darker and lighter shades:

• Zoya Carmen
• Revlon Impulsive
• Essie Lapiz of Luxury
• Revlon Plum Seduction
• Sally Hansen Lightening

Check out today's other floral manis!

31-Day Challenge #13: leopard print

For today's animal print prompt I went with the classic leopard print, since I'd never done it before. It's so easy! To make it a little more exciting I inverted the colors on my accent nail.

I started with a base of Julep Otte (really pretty on its own too!) and added the spots with a dotting tool using Revlon Stormy Night and Revlon Stiletto.

In other news, there was a turkey wandering around the neighborhood yesterday! Wonder where he came from...

Don't forget to check out everyone's wild manis!

31-Day Challenge #12: stripes

For today's prompt I made an attempt at freehanding rather than reaching for the striping tape. I need practice!

For the base color I used Essie First Timer (Love this color, but holy lobster hands Batman!) and I used acrylic paint for the stripes.

Next time doing stripes by hand (which will be coming up soon!) my goal is to use a lighter touch with the brush. Easier said than done, but practice makes perfect!

Oh and don't forget to admire all the other stripey manis today!