31DC2013 - Inspired by a Tutorial

Tonight's post is gonna be super quick and short.  I'm about to watch the last episode of Breaking Bad and then go to bed.  I have to be at work at 4am so I can't be up much longer.

Today's past is inspired by a tutorial and I chose the ruffle mani by Chalkboard Nails.  Mine is nothing compared to hers but it was much better in my head.

I used three different purple polishes and some gold hexagonal "glequins".  The purples are Zoya Malia, Zoya Daul, and China Glaze Creative Fanstasy.

I'm sorry this is such a mess but I really tried.  lol Have a good night!

31DC2013 - Inspired by the Supernatural

This is the perfect mani for the upcoming Halloween season.  I didn't want to do something spooky because I honestly didn't know how.  lol I wanted to use the show Supernatural as my inspiration and I remember one of the first episodes was about vampires and those are cool, right?

Now I'm not into the whole Twilight or True Blood craze, but I still like a good vampire show like Vampire Diaries or the move Lost Boys...mmm.  Keifer Sutherland.  Ok now that's out of my system, here is my vampire fang mani.

 I used one coat of Dark Knight by BBCouture for the black.  I used a white striping polish for the fangs and teeth and then I just dabbed red on the teeth and below for the drips of blood.  It's a simple mani but super fun for Halloween.

So what do you think of my supernatural mani?  It's no ghost but I tried.  Leave your comments below!

31DC2013 - Inspired by a Flag

I know most everyone is going to do a flag from a country, probably their country, but I already did US flag for my 4th of July mani.  So since I'm from Texas, I thought that would be fun...and easy.  Yes I got lazy again.  lol

So this is just about an accurate version of the Texas state flag.  I mean our star is a solid one but I didn't have a solid star stamp.  I used a white creme for the base of all my nails except my pinky and then added Essie Forever Yummy to the bottom half.

For the blue I used two coats of Jesse's Girl Julie G Girl's Night Out and Bundle Monster stamp bm-05 and white creme for the star.

Since my mani isn't perfect you can see the actual flag below.  (:

31DC2013 - Inspired by Artwork

OMG I'm so tired.  Yesterday I told you all I had to work really late.  I went in a 7pm and didn't get out til 4am.  THEN I had to come home and actually wind down to fall asleep and be back at work at 10am.  Ugh!  But I made it to work on time (barely) and made it through the day.  I just can't believe I'm still awake but I knew I had to get this post up.  I've just been procrastinating and watching youTube videos.  lol

Despite all of that, this post is better late than never.  It's inspired by pop art.  I really love the comic book look.  I'm kinda of thinking of doing that for Halloween but that's another story.

My yellow base color is Zoya Pippa and the red dots are the ever popular Essie Forever Yummy.  I've been using it a lot in this challenge but I only have two reds and this one is perfect for nail art.  For the white "cloud" I just used a white creme and made the shape using the polish brush and then I outlined it with a black striping polish.  I just chose the word "POW" because well, it was short and fit on my nails.  lol And this time I did a much better "o".  (:

I hope you all enjoyed this mani.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.  Night!!

31DC2013 - Inspired by a Pattern

Today's mani for the challenge is inspired by a pattern and since I love plaid, I chose that.  Plaid is basically my favorite color so...yeah.

I started with one coat of China Glaze When Stars Collide which is this amazingly gorgeous berry colored holo that I found on clearance at Sally's.  Woot!  When that dried I used Essie Forever Yummy to make wide red lines, one vertical and one horizontal.

Then I did two black lines in the same pattern and over the red I used Zoya Malia and Hello Kitty Silver Star.  That was it and it was very easy actually.  I was surprised because I'm terrible at making straight lines.

I really love this mani.  I've done plaid manis before they never came out like this.  Enjoy and have a good night.  I'm off to work.  /:

31DC2013 - Inspired by Fashion

Today's mani is inspired by fashion so this one is a little more my forte and since Fashion Week just ended I have been researching the newest trends for 2014.  My inspiration came from Christopher Kane's Resort 2014 Show.  I added a photo at the bottom of the post.

I did the whole mani over a nude nail because that was how the design was in the photo.  I used Bundle Monster plate bm-208 to create the geometric lace effect.  I actually stamped the design vertically (as it was meant) and then stamped it again horizontally to get more lines.  The polish I used was BBCouture Dark Knight.

I free-handed the red stripe using Essie Forever Yummy and then added my top coats.  And that was it.  It was probably the easiest mani I've done so far in the challenge and very quick.  Is it my favorite?  No but I don't hate it.  I like the inspiration a lot and kinda want the outfit now.  lol

I've gotta head off to work now and tomorrow I have to work an overnight so I will do my best to work on the next few manis in the challenge.  I'm excited for a few of them because I think I have good ideas on what to do.  Later!

31DC2013 - Inspired by a Book

Ugh!  Ok so these nails are not my shining moment.  lol I don't even read books (I know that's bad).  At least not since I was way younger so I decided to pull inspiration from there.  I was really into Goosebumps books and TV show back then.  It wasn't even scary so I don't know what drew me in.

So of course this looks nothing like what you would expect from Goosebumps but you know now the logo always looked like it was melting or slimy?  Well that was my inspiration.  As for the colors, go back and look at them.  They were pretty colorful for being "scary stories".

The yellow is Zoya Pippa, the pink is Zoya Micky, the blue is Jesse's Girl Julie G Girl's Night Out, and the green is China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard.

Again I know these are not great, but I really was at a loss for what to do.  Hopefully tomorrow's fashion inspired nails will be better.

31DC2013 - Inspired by a Movie

Hey my lovelies!  Thank for sticking with me through this challenge.  We are almost there but first, I have my movie inspired nails.

So (500) Days of Summer is the most incredible movie and my ultimate favorite.  I love the chemistry between Zooey Deschanel and hot stuff Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  The story is definitely not cliche and the soundtrack is OMG amazing!

I really tried to get it to look like the graphics between scenes and I added the inspiration at the bottom of the post if you haven't seen the movie.  I did a saran wrap mani using Julep Meryl - grey - and Julep Sophie - beige.  I know it's tough to see but that's not what's important.  Next I drew the trees and used the corner of a sponge to do the foliage.

I'm did terrible on the last "0" but I tried.  I'm not that great of a free-hander.

And that's it.  Now if you haven't seen it...GO!  GO NOW!   I promise you won't regret it.  (:

Guest Post for Smashley Sparkles

Just a heads up to everyone.  I have a guest post up right now for my friend Ashley of Smashley Sparkles.  She is on vacation with her husband here in the States and actually, as you are reading this post, we are having lunch.  Yep!  I will definitely have to post up some photos on my Facebook page.  You can check out the post at the link above and don't forget to follow her amazing blog while you are there.

31DC2013 - Inspired by a Song

This day's challenge was really tough for me because I love all music and I have so many favorite songs.  Lately I've been listening to mixes and not one particular artist or song so I really didn't know what to do.  I finally decided based on what artists I WASN'T listening too at the moment and then just how I was feeling today.  I chose Death Cab for Cutie.  Now I know that's not a song.  It's the band but I couldn't even pick just one of their songs so just them as a whole was my inspiration.

My whole love for Death Cab comes from one person...Ben Gibbard.  I just wanted to make that clear.  He is the singer/songwriter behind Death Cab, Postal Service, DNTEL, and the ex-husband of Zooey Deschanel.  Just thought you all might want some background.

I used Zoya Phoebe as the base color, then I drew on some clouds for fun.  Really they have nothing to do with the logo but...yeah.  lol The DCfC logo is an umbrella with rain on the inside so that's what I did on my ring finger.  I know, so emo right?  

So that's about it.  I know this is kinda sloppy and plain but I've been out of commission for a couple days and like I said, I was having a tough time deciding what to do anyway.  So as a bonus I chose to share with you one of my favorite Death Cab for Cutie songs below.  It's cliche, but so worth it.  Enjoy!

31DC2013 - Inspired by a Color

The color I chose was black because why not?  I think everyone else in the challenge may be using a brighter color, but I didn't want black to feel left out.  Besides I had a great idea.

So here is my mani inspired by the color black.  The is not the best photo to show you how awesome it really looks but you can easily see the stripes I did and two different shades of black.

I started with one coat of Color Club Beyond which is a deep black linear holo polish.  Can you see it peeking through a bit?  It added a nice little rainbow flash in the right light.  After that was dry I added striping tape in a diagonal pattern and then layered one thick coat of OPI Stay the Night for a textured finish.

There's the holo effect!  Doesn't it look so cool?  I really love how it pops out of nowhere behind the textured polish.  OPI Stay the Night does still look a bit wet in these photos because it was.  Because I used such a thick coat to cover the holo, it took forever and day to dry.

Other than that small issue, I really love this mani.  I think it's really cool and sleek looking and not goth-y at all.  I know all black manis can tend to look that way, but I think it's really fun.  Have a great day and come back tomorrow to see if I've figured out a mani inspired by a song.  /:

31DC2013 - Water Marble

Yay!  Water marble!  Something I am familiar and slightly good at.  I wanted add a little something extra to it so let's see what I did.

I did a marble using three colors - purple, blue, and periwinkle.  The purple is Nicole by OPI Prized Possession Purple, the blue is OPI Dating a Royal, and the periwinkle is Color Club Hydrangea Kiss.

I chose to do random swirls in the water because I wanted it to look like actual marbles.  With that said I added Finger Paints Twisted and then a matte top coat.  Probably a glossy top coat would make it look more like marbles, but I didn't want to be too literal.  These polishes worked so well together, can you all believe I only had to do each nail once?!

I'm getting super exhausted, but we are about to be in the home stretch since two-thirds of the challenge is officially over.  This last set of manis is going to be super tough so I really hope I can bust out some impressive manis or at least find some good inspiration to make the process easier.  Check back tomorrow for my mani inspired by a color.