31DC2013 - Rainbow

I've been wanting to do this mani for sometime and just never thought it was the right now.  But what better time than now for the 31 Day Challenge.  I wasn't sure though what day I wanted to post it.  I mean yesterday was metallic, today is rainbow, then there is gradient and after than polka dots...this mani fits them all.  lol And yes, I seriously considered cheating and posting it for all four days.  Just kidding.  haha!

So here is my super fun rainbow mani in pastel form!  I thought the silver base added something extra to it so I used one coat of Zoya Trixie and then I got all my polishes in color order ready to dot.  I also used two different sizes of dots for aesthetic...lol.

I used Sinful Colors Unicorn for the yellow, Color Club Blue-ming for the mint green, the blue is Jesse's Girl Julie G Girl's Night Out, the purple is Color Club Lavendarling, and the pink is Sinful Colors Soul Mate.  Then I just repeated the order until I reached my last nail and ran out of room.

And then of course I used a matte top coat to top it all off.  I'm addicted to matte.  I really love matte pastels and metallics, not necessarily together, but since I used them together why not?  Right?!  Now that I've exhausted this mani, I have no idea what to do for tomorrow or the next day.  If you have any ideas let me know and soon.  (:  Have a good night!

Guest Post for The Mani-logues

Just a heads up.  I have a guest post today for Casandra of The Mani-logues.  She just had a beautiful baby girl so she won't be posting for a bit.  Check it out HERE and don't forget to follow her while you're there.

31DC2013 - Metallic

Hey My Lovelies!

I am so tired today because I stayed up way too late last night so this will be a short post, however I was able to come up with a great metallic mani...at least I think I did.

So don't ask me why I decided to do metallic on metallic because I know it's difficult to see but the next photo is much better.

 There we go.  I used 3 coats of Zoya Loredana which is a silvery grey matte metallic polish.  Then I used Ulta High Roller for the gold art.  Can you tell what it is?  It's a key on my ring finger and a heart with a keyhole on my middle.  I thought it was cute.

I'm so sorry that I'm rushing through this but I really need a nap or a coffee...or both.  lol (:

31DC2013 - Black and White

Today is exciting!  It's been one full week since we started the 31 Day Challenge and it's been pretty simple so far.  The worst is yet to come.  lol Black and white are one's I usually dread because I can never come up with something really great.  They always look too "plain" or geometric and I love color.  I think I nailed this one though.

I decided I wanted to do something kind of grungy looking so I used the watercolor technique.  I started with two even coats of a white creme polish on all my fingers and then two coats of Zoya Storm on my ring finger for an accent.  If you aren't familiar with the watercolor technique I will give you a quick explanation.  Over the white polish I added about 3 randomly placed dots of Storm.  Then I used a thick, fluffy nail art brush (mine is actually meant to be used for acrylics) dipped in polish remover to dab and spread the black dots around.  And really that's it.  You don't brush it on your nail, you just dab it around randomly.  The technique works best with 100% acetone but I use acetone free remover and I really like the effect I get.  If you want it darker, just add more dots of polish.  Easy!

After the remover and polish was dry I added a top coat and placed a cool black square-shaped stud near my cuticle.  I tried to really capture all of the sparkle from Storm but it's a bit difficult.  Basically the holo particles spread all over the white for a shimmery rainbow surprise and it's awesome.  (:

 So that's about it.  I'm actually slaving away at work while all of you read this.  lol But when I get home and tomorrow on my day off, I'll be working on manis for next week's themes.  Are you excited?!

31DC2013 - Purple

Today's theme for the 31 Day Challenge is purple nails.  I really thought I would enjoy this day more because purple is such a gorgeous color and one of my favorites.  However I'm not crazy about what I created.  It's cool and kind of interesting but there's just something about it that's bugging me.

Well here it is!  On my pinky and pointer fingers I started with Zoya Trixie and then used Zoya Savita and Zoya Avery for the leopard spots.  Then for my ring and middle fingers I did something different.  I painted half of my nail with Savita and half of my nail with Trixie.  On the silver side I did the same leopard print as before and then where the colors meet I added these fun silver circle studs down the center.

I guess I'm just not crazy about it because the color combination.  I always try to mix purple with different "metal" shades like gold and silver but I never like the outcome.  The art is fun...just not the colors.  I really like to use purple with other bright colors like orange or turquoise.

Anyway I hope this was a fun interesting mani.  I may not be crazy about the color combo but the idea I love.  I'm digging this half-and-half design I did.  What do you think?  Leave your comments about it below.  (:

31DC2013 - Blue

Yeah for Day 5!  A lot of great things happened to me today so let's keeping it going with my great blue mani.

My blue themed nails are a little mismatched I think, but I really love the colors together.  For my pinky and pointer fingers I used Zoya Song as my base color and then I stamped a neat design using Zoya Zuza and Bundle Monster plate bm-212.  Zuza didn't really show up it's true color.  Instead it looks more silver-y but it's still pretty.

For my ring and middle fingers I started with a pretty thick coat of Zoya Zuza so the beads would stick.  Then I used beads from a kit I bought at Claire's.  They call them Nail Pearls but anyway, they were Buy One, Get One Free so I couldn't pass them up.

I really think this is a super fun mani and the color of the beads matches the polish colors almost exactly.  If I hadn't bought the beads I think this also would have been a boring mani because the stamping by itself isn't all that interesting.  I hope you all enjoyed this mani as much as me.  Look out for tomorrow's purple mani.  It's pretty "wild".

31DC2013 - Green

Put on your shades because my green mani for day 4 of the 31 Day Challenge is super bright.  I've been doing nail art for all of the colors until today.  This is new polish I picked up and I think it's awesome on it's own.

This is Claire's Graffiti.  I posted Electric Avenue not too long ago which is just the teal version of this.  It's a neon green jelly with different sizes and shapes of black and white glitter.  I didn't layer it over a white polish so it still shows the whites of my nails but this is 3 coats.

What I've noticed about Claire's glitter polish is that it's super tough to remove...even more than other glitters I own.  Because of that I just decided to use my glue base and it came off super easy.  I did get to wear this to the Backstreet Boys concert too.  Yeah!  How was it you ask?  AMAZING!  lol

I really love this polish as well as my other Claire's polishes.  I think they are really stepping up in the world with their polishes and nail art accessories.  I'm hooked.  Do you have any Claire's polish?  Tell me what you think in comments below!  (:

31DC2013 - Yellow

I'm not sure if any of you knew that the 31 Day Challenge happening in September was initiated by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails and in her honor I wanted to recreate one of her manis.  HERE is her version of yellow nails.

And here is my version.  I started with one coat of a creme white base.  Then I freehanded the color blocks using Sinful Colors Unicorn, the pastel yellow, and Zoya Pippa, the brighter yellow.

I couldn't bear to leave it just like that so of course I added some glitter.  It's an L.A. Colors Color Craze glitter called Sparkling Diamond.  Can I tell you all something weird?  As I'm typing this post, I'm also watcing Glee episodes.  Kurt and Rachel are watching Moulin Rouge.  In the movie, Nicole Kidman's character Satine is nicknamed the Sparkling Diamond.  Weird right?

Anyway, don't forget to come back tomorrow to see my green nails.  I'm also not sure if anyone noticed, but I added a hashtag on all my photos.  This is the hashtag used by everyone who is participating in the 31 Day Challenge.  Check them out.

31DC2013 - Orange

Hey Everyone.  I'm back for day 2 of the 31 Day Challenge.  The theme is orange nails.  This one was a tough one to decide on because I don't really like the color orange.  I thought about using my fruit slice fimos to stick on my mani, but I don't have orange slices.  I only have limes and lemons.  lol

Instead I thought an orange cloud mani would be fun.  First I used 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild Creepy Pumpkin to create a sugary sparkly base.  Then I used a white creme to make the first layer of clouds.  My last step was 2 coats of OPI Y'all Come Back Now, Ya Hear? for the last layer of clouds.

It's definitely patchy over the white but I didn't want to keep adding and adding and make a big mess of it.  I actually love this mani even with the patchy-ness.  I love that it's different and I'm always a sucker for monochromatic manis.

If you enjoyed this mani, let me know down in the comments.  I love reading everyone's feedback.  And don't forget to check in tomorrow for yellow nails!

31DC2013 - Red

This is super exciting.  I am participating in the 31 Day Challenge yet again.  I wasn't able to complete it last time so let's if I can do it this time.  Below is one of the official challenge jpegs that I will also post on my social media pages so you all can keep track.  Last time I participated I was still not great at nail art but I think I've gotten much better.  Let's check it out.

The day 1 theme is red nails and so I thought it would be fun to create a red snake mani.  I started with one coat of Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar for the base color.  It's a pretty shimmery red with gold and red flecks.

I used Bundle Monster plate bm-215 for the stamp.  I doubled up using Zoya Trixie (silver) and BBCouture Dark Knight (black) to create the scales.  To make it more realistic looking, I only used small dots of black on the plate so it didn't cover the whole nail.

I really love how this mani turned out and it already makes me excited to pump out more amazing manis for the challenge.  I hope you will come back everyday to check 'em out.  (: