Day 31: Recreate your favorite challenge (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

Today's the last day of the challenge! Out of all the 30 designs that I did for the whole month, my most favorite is the Giraffe Print Nails from Day 13. That was the first time that I did giraffe print and I really liked how it turned out. I also got some compliments with that design. Someone even thought that I used nail wraps for the design. I also changed it up a little bit because instead of using a pale yellow base color, I used a gold glitter polish. I just did the same steps in creating the giraffe print. Here are my giraffe print nails:

This blog doesn't stop here. I have a lot of ideas and input that I want to add here. So, I'll see you around!

Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

I'm almost done with the whole month of challenge, whew! For today's design, I decided to do cutepolish's Ladybug Tutorial. You can find the video here: 

So I just followed the steps in her video. The polishes that I used are Essie in Russian Roulette for the red base color, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black out and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On for the details of the ladybug. Here are the photos:

I'll see you tomorrow for the last challenge!

Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

For today's challenge, I decided to do Frankenstein Nails. I used Icing by Clair in Laser Light Show which is a metallic yellow green shade. I makes the design lighter and night scary compared to using a darker green polish. It's also perfect for spring! For the hair and the mouth I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out. I designed the hair using a dotting tool and I used a striping brush to draw the lines for the mouth. Then for the eyes, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On and Black Out. I put the white polish first using a dotting tool, followed by the black polish. There you go!

I'll see you on Day 30!

Day 28: Inspired by a Flag (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

For today's challenge, may inspiration are racing flags. They are just your regular flag with black and white squares. I decided to change it a little bit by using different colors. It actually turned out to be racing flag/checked pattern nails, lol!

My pink base color is Maybelline in Chiffon Chic. I love this color. I've been looking for a bubblegum pink crème polish and this is the loveliest I've ever seen. The darker color that I used is Sheswai in What. It's a dark brown crème with a hint of violent. I applied Chiffon Chic first. Then using a striping brush dipped it in What and drew a horizontal and a vertical line on each of my nails. Then I filled the 2 opposite spaces using a dotting tool.

I'll see you on Day 29!

Day 27: Inspired by an Artwork (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

Today's entry is really challenging for me. I'm not really into artworks such as painting, sculpture, etc. So I just browsed on the internet and I came across this website, Art Works Gallery. It features Western Canadian artists. I chose "Shadows, R0105" by Martin Quen. This is the picture of Shadows:

I just decided to use the topmost part in today's challenge. I used all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes here. My base color is White On. I dabbed a little of Mellow Yellow on the lower center part of my nails then I used Black Out for all the lines. It's not really 100% like the painting, but it's the best that I can do for now. Here's the outcome:

I'll see you on Day 28!

Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

My inspiration for today's challenge is the Argyle Pattern. I saw cutepolish's tutorial about this pattern a few months ago and when I was thinking of a pattern to do, I remembered her video. You can watch the video here.

For my design, my base color is China Glaze in Re-fresh Mint. For my darker color, I used China Glaze in First Mate. Then for my white lines, I used my L.A. Colors Nail Art Deco white striper.

I'll see you on Day 27!

Day 25: Inspired by Fashion (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

I've seen a lot of runway-inspired nails art. For today's challenge, I picked a design from the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Spring 2013. I was overwhelmed with all the photos and dresses on the website. I decided to choose a design that's easy to do and I made sure that I already have polishes for the colors. This is the pattern that I chose:

It's from Angel Sanchez Spring 2013 collection. There's no detailed information about the dress and the model but you can find the exact link of the picture here.

Now for my design, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On for the White Base color. Using a striping brush, I outline the black portion first with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out. Then, I filled the rest of the space using a small dotting tool dipped in Black Out. I also did the same technique for the blue portion. I used China Glaze in Hanging in the Balance. Here is the final outcome:

I'll see you on Day 26!

Day 24: Inspired by a Book (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

I got a boo boo yesterday =( I needed to cut my index fingernail very short and I hate it. I hope it grows out real soon.

For today's challenge, I just decided to do something simple. I just did Skittle nails inspired by The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha. I love this book. I'm done reading this one as well as the second one which is The Book of (even more) Awesome. This is the front cover of the book of awesome (I just googled the picture, I do not own this one):

I used the colors in the word "AWESOME". Listed below are the polishes that I used:

Periwinkle - China Glaze in Secret Periwinkle
Red - Essie in Russian Roulette
Pink - China Glaze in Rich & Famous
Orange - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sunkissed
Yellow - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow

Good thing, there were only 5 colors used in "awesome" The periwinkle and red were just repeated twice. To do the skittles nails, I just painted my nails with each of the color. I used all crème polishes for this design.

I'll see you on Day 25!

Day 23: Inspired by a Movie (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

Today's challenge is inspired by one of my favorite movies so far... Pitch Perfect! It's such an awesome movie and I really love all their mash ups in the movie. At first, I thought of doing a stewardess-inspired movie since Beca and the rest of the Barden Bellas have stewardess costumes during competition. It was hard for me to think of a concept about stewardess, then I remembered Beca and her desire for mixing songs. Hence, the nail art for today which is an equalizer.

I started of with a white base color, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On. For the equalizer colors I used, China Glaze in Hanging in a Balance (blue), Icing by Claire in Laser Light Show (green), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow (yellow) and Sally Hansen Xtrme Wear in Sunkissed (orange). I applied all four colors on a cosmetic sponge and dabbed it on my nails I repeated it 3 times to get a more solid color. Then, using a nail art brush and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out, I drew stripes on each of my nails. Then I randomly filled the upper part of my nails with black to give it the equalizer look. Here it is:

I'll see you on Day 24!

Day 22: Inspired by a Song (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

I have something cute for today's challenge. I was trying to think of the songs that I like to use as an inspiration for today's challenge, but I can hardly think of anything. Then this song just suddenly popped in my mind. A few years ago, I used this song as my ringing tone. I think the song is really cute. I honestly don't have any idea about Strawberry Shortcake, but it's a great inspiration for today's challenge. This is the lyrics of the song by the way:

You're my Honeybunch, Sugarplum Pumpy-umpy-umpkin, You're my Sweetie Pie You're my Cuppycake, Gumdrop Snoogums-Boogums, You're the Apple of my Eye And I love you so and I want you to know That I'll always be right here And I love to sing sweet songs to you Because you are so dear

So for my Strawberry Shortcake Cuppy Cake Song nail art, I used Essie in Russian Roulette as my base color. I know, it would look a lot better if I used pink. But I already used pink in yesterday's challenge and I don't want to repeat it consecutively. I have a different design for each of my nails which are as follows:

Pinky and Thumb: Musical Note
Polish Used: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On

Ring finger: Cupcake
Polishes Used: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On
                        Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow
                        China Glaze in Secret Periwinkle
                        China Glaze in Hanging in the Balance
                        Finger Paints in My Art Belongs to You

Middle Finger: Strawberry
Polishes Used: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow
                         Zoya in Holly

Index Finger: Heart
Polishes Used: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On

I'll see you on Day 23!

Day 21: Inspired by a Color (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

It's day 21! Just 10 days left till the end of this challenge, whew! Today's challenge is inspired by a color, and, of course, the first color that came to my mind is my favorite color... PINK!

I used 2 Sally Hansen polishes here. My base color is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On. For the pink color, I used Nailgrowth Miracle #230 in Pretty Petunia. I used the splatter technique to incorporate these 2 colors. So first, I painted my nails white. Then I wrapped my fingers surrounding the cuticle area with tape for easy cleanup. I had a newspaper laying on the floor  because this technique can be kind of messy. Now, using a straw, I dipped it in Pretty Petunia. I sipped just a little bit so that there would be some polish in the straw. I put my hands on the newspaper, placed the straw above my hands at least 6 inches higher, and blew through the straw quickly. Blowing it hard makes the polish scatter on my nails. What's exciting about this technique is that you get random designs on your nails. Just make sure to keep a good distance between the straw and your hands so that you won't get a blob of polish on your nails, that happened to me before, lol!

I'll see you on Day 22!

Day 20: Water Marble (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

I have to be honest. I'm not really happy with this challenge. Water marble technique is my least favorite nail art design because of the tedious work. I've tried it twice before. I can say this 3rd attempt is much better than the first 2, but it is still far from those who are experts in water marbling. If you are looking for tutorials for water marbling, the best tutorials can be found in Colette's Youtube channel. She has tons of water marble designs and you will learn a lot from her. Her Youtube channel is called My Simple Little Pleasures.

For today's challenge, I used 3 polishes, Sheswai What, Maybelline Chiffon Chic and The New Black (it's the red polish the I got from my February Glymm Box). I've used Sally Hansen and China Glaze polishes in my previous water marbles and they worked really well. As for this challenge, I wanted to try new brands of polishes to test them as well. Out of all the three polishes that I used, Maybelline Chiffon Chic was the best. It spread out so fast unlike Sheshwai What. I tried to do uniform design on all of my nails but this is what I got:

I'll see you on Day 21!

Day 19: Galaxies (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

I'm so excited about today's challenge I've never done Galaxy Nails before. It's really fun building your colors to create galaxies, but you also have to be careful in adding colors to avoid overpowering one color with another color. I used a make up sponge in building the color of this design.

So I started with a black base color. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out. Using a small sponge, I dabbed China Glaze First Mate at the middle of my nails diagonally. Then I dabbed Icing by Claire Exotic Orchid at the remaining black spaces. After that I played around with 2 polishes, Icing by Claire 4am Dance Party and L.A. Girl Punk. 4am Dance Party is a violet and silver micro glitter polish while Punk is a black jelly base polish with blue micro glitters. I randomly dabbed this 2 colors on my nails. To finish the design, I used and L.A. Colors Nail Art Deco White striper to add some random dots that would seem like stars. Here's how it looks:

I'll see you on Day 20!

Day 18: Half Moon (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

Half moon manicure is not a new nail art trend. In fact it used to be just bare nail bed on the "moon" part and one shade of polish for the rest of the nail bed. For modern half moon manicure, it is best done using 2 contrasting colors. This will make both colors stand out. Others also use a combination of glitter polish and crème polish.

For today's challenge, I used 2 China Glaze polishes. For my base color, I used 2 coats of China Glaze Swing Baby. I already used this polish in my Day 8: Metallic Nails Challenge. I used 2 coats of China Glaze Rich & Famous on top of it. It's the perfect pink polish for me. It is not to pale and not too bright. Although, layering it with Swing Baby made it look a litter darker. I've tried using it just by itself and it never fails to make me happy everytime I use it.

I used stencils in achieving this design.  The combination of metallic and crème polishes makes this Half Moon manicure glamorous.

I'll see you on Day 19!

Day 17: Glitter (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

It's time for my favorite time of nail polish... glitter polish! I know, glitter polish can be very stubborn to remove, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it. I love the sparkles and it really makes me happy. Plus, if I'm not in the mood to do something creative on my nails, I just use glitter polish, and my nails would look so fab in no time.

So, for today's challenge, I decided to use Orly in Androgynie. It is a black jelly polish with multi-colored hex and micro glitters. First I put a coat of Zoya Zuza on my nails. It doesn't really matter what base color you use because it will not show after you put Androgynie. For me, it is a good practice to put 1 or 2 coats of base color before putting your glitter polish. These helps in easier polish removal and it also prevents staining your nails especially with those chunky glitters. I used heart-shaped glitters before, and it after removing it, I had heart-shaped stains on my nails. This is 2 coats of Orly Androgynie:

I decided to put matte top coat as well. I used one coat of China Glaze Matte Magic. I got this at my local Sally Beauty Supply store. I was so happy to see this in their flyer because I thought China Glaze already discontinued Matte Magic. This is how the "mattified" Androgynie turned out:

I'll see you on Day 18!

Day 16: Tribal Print (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

Today's challenge is all about lines and shapes. It's all about Tribal Print. Doing this challenge takes a lot of patience. I decided to do different patterns on each of my nails as there are lots of different tribal prints, it's hard to pick a certain pattern. I just googled tribal print to get ideas and then I put the designs randomly on my nails.

There are 2 polishes used for this challenge. For my base color, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow. For the prints, I used Fingerpaints Sketchy Character. I used a nail art brush and dotting tool to do all the prints. Here's my tribal print:

I'll see you on Day 17!

Day 15: Delicate Print (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

Time for another exciting challenge! Today's challenge is about delicate prints. The first thing that came to my mind was lace pattern. Lace is so intricate and needs a lot of details. I also thought of flowers, but because yesterday's challenge is about flowers, I thought of doing a different one. I don't want to do the same theme 2 days in a row. Now, when you think of flowers, what's the next thing that you would probably think of? Butterflies! So, that's how I got my inspiration for today's challenge.

I started with a white base color, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On. Then, using the tip of a cosmetic sponge, I put a little of China Glaze Hanging in the Balance which is a blue crème color. I just dabbed a little on my nails, diagonally. Third step, using a black polish, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, I painted the right side of my nails on a curved manner. This serves as the edge of my butterfly wings. To add a little detail on the edge of the wings, I drew small yellow lines using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow. For the details of the wings, I just drew a black outline using Black Out and a dotting tool. After doing the outline, I realized that the blue gradient was too faint so I decided to add a little more blue polish near the yellow polish. Here's my Butterfly Wings:

I'll see you on Day 16!

Day 14: Flowers (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

I totally enjoyed yesterday's challenge, and I didn't even want to remove it! But then, it's another day, time for another challenge. I'm a little frustrated with this challenge. I wasn't able to do what I really wanted. I've been practicing doing vintage rose pattern. It looks really cute. After a lot of tries on nail art wheels and twice on my nail, I gave up (sigh). So I just did a simple flower design for this challenge. I just made 2 big flowers on each of my nails.

For my base color, I used China Glaze Hanging in the Balance. It's a blue crème polish, so for the flowers, I picked a color that will really pop. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow for the flowers. Then, I also put brown dots at the middle of the flowers. I used Finger Paints Sketchy Character which is the same brown polish that I used in yesterday's challenge. After the flowers, I just put white spots in the remaining space on my nails and I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On for those.

 

I'll see you on Day 15!

Day 13: Animal Print (31-Day Nail Art Challenge)

Today's design is not your average animal print. I like to call it Glam Giraffe Print! I've done zebra print and leopard print nails before and for today's challenge, I want to do something different. So I looked up online for other animal print nails. I decided to do the giraffe print nail art.

The only problem is that I don't have the appropriate yellow polish for this design. The ideal shade would be something like a pale yellow for the base color and then brown for the giraffe spots. Good thing I'm resourceful, lol! I have Angel Wings  from the China Glaze Holiday 2012 Collection. It's like a sand glitter with a matte finish. It is so easy to apply. I used 3 coats of this for full opacity. What I also like about Angel Wings is that it is a "friendly" glitter polish. I used this by itself before and it wasn't hard removing it. So here's my base color:

For the spots, I used Finger Paints Sketchy Character. It's a chocolate brown shade. I bought this polish a while ago but it's the first time that I will be using it. I used the smaller end of a dotting tool to create the spots. It is easy to do the spots because it is so random. I start with one big spot and then I just work my way around it. Here's my Glam Giraffe Print:

This is my favorite design so far. I can't stop staring at my nails. I'm so sad that I have to change this design right away :(

I'll see you on Day 14!