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Archive for the ‘Nail Art Challenges’ Category

30 Day Challenge Day 14 – Flowers: A-England Iseult

I figured from the get-go that I wouldn’t be able to pull off anything too extravagant for Day 14 of the 30 Day Challenge. But I didn’t want to do just basic dot daisy flowers, so I looked around for some other options. I found this video tutorial on a modified dot daisy and decided to use that but in a different design.

Flower Nail Art with A-England Iseult

To satisfy the 30 Days of Untrieds challenge that I’m doing simultaneously, I started with three coats of A-England Iseult, a pale shimmery pink creme. This is a great, versatile color. It’s pretty on its own but also provides a great backdrop for nail art.

Flower Nail Art with A-England Iseult

For the flowers, I started with Zoya Jolene, a bright pink creme, and used the head of a pin as a DIY dotting tool. I started with five dots to create the flower, and then used a toothpick to drag from the center of each dot to the center of the flower to create some lines on the petals.

I then used the same technique with Sonia Kashuk Smoke and Mirrors  to create a smaller silver metallic flower with a small dotting tool.

Flower Nail Art with A-England Iseult

I applied one coat of regular top coat and then added clear and pink rhinestones, some bigger some small. I sealed them with one coat of Poshe.

Flower Nail Art with A-England Iseult

It wasn’t too challenging but I think it’s cute. A nice easy way to do a fun design.

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30-Day Challenge, Indies, NOTD

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30 Day Challenge Day 13 – Animal Print: Zebra French Manicure

It’s Day 13 of the 30 Day Challenge and we’re on to animal prints.

They say there’s a first time for everything. Today, it’s my first time with animal print on my nails. I trolled around online for inspiration and saw several zebra french manicures. I liked the idea but added some color instead of just going for black and white.

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

For the french manicure I used Kiss Nail Art Paint White (untried) for the tips, and then two coats of OPI Care To Danse? (untried), a light sheer pink.

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

I then used Sinful Colors Nail Art Sour Grapes, a neon magenta striping polish, to create the stripes. I stuck to the tips for all of my nails except on my ring finger, where I painted the stripes on the whole nail. For a little something extra I added one coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, silver matte hex glitter with silver shimmer in a clear base. I finished with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

Not sure this is something I would ever have tried without this challenge, so I guess it’s good to expand my horizons!

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 12 – Stripes: Three Shades Of Gray

Day 12 of the 30 Day Challenge brings us to stripes. I used three colors of gray to do some horizontal stripes and then added some silver striping tape to help differentiate the colors.

Sinful Colors Hot Wired, Sinful Colors Slate, OPI My Pointe Exactly

My original plan was to use four different shades but the spacing worked out better with three. I started with the lightest color and went to the darkest shade as I moved toward the tips.

Sinful Colors Hot Wired, Sinful Colors Slate, OPI My Pointe Exactly

The colors in this manicure from lightest to darkest are:

OPI My Pointe Exactly (sheer light gray)
Sinful Colors Slate (medium gray creme with a subtle shimmer)
Sinful Colors Hot Wired (dark metallic sparkly gray)

Sinful Colors Hot Wired, Sinful Colors Slate, OPI My Pointe Exactly

I started with three coats of OPI My Pointe Exactly followed by a coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat. Once it was dry, I used some striping tape about one-third of the way down the nail and added one coat of Sinful Colors Slate. I followed that with another coat of Poshe. Finally I used the striping tape one last time to mark off the tip and painted that with one coat of Sinful Colors Hot Wired. To top it off, one coat of Gelous and one coat of Poshe. Definitely time-consuming waiting for all of the layers to dry, even with the fast-dry top coat.

Sinful Colors Hot Wired, Sinful Colors Slate, OPI My Pointe Exactly

Hot Wired is part of the new Sinful Colors Hot Flash Metallics line. It is very sparkly, but not sure I’d call it metallic. Still, it’s very pretty. This was my first time using it — to satisfy the 30 Days of Untrieds challenge I’m participating in simultaneously — so I definitely want to try it on its own. I think it will be a go-to polish for me this fall and winter.

Have you found a favorite among the new fall polishes yet?

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 11 – Dots: OPI Berlin There Done That

I think technically Day 11 of the 30 Day Challenge is supposed to be polka dots, but I just did gradient dots and realized it a little too late. I actually like it quite a bit, so I hope you do too even though it’s not quite what was called for. I’m simultaneously doing 30 Days of Untrieds, so I fit a few new polishes in as well.

Gradient Dot Manicure: OPI Berlin There Done That with Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

This mani includes three polishes:

  • OPI Berlin There Done That (untried)
  • Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby (untried)
  • Orly Rage

Gradient Dot Manicure: OPI Berlin There Done That with Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

I started with two coats of OPI Berlin There Done That, a taupe creme, on everything but my ring finger, which has two coats of Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby, a bright red jelly-leaning polish.

For the dots, I used the head of a straight pin to do the large dots, starting with Orly Rage, a rose gold foil. I layered over that with large dots in the opposite color of the base nail, and then added some smaller dots with a small dotting tool down the nail to create a gradient effect. Then I want back and added some base-color dots inside the large “opposite dots,” i.e. added red dots to taupe dots, taupe dots to red dots.

Gradient Dot Manicure: OPI Berlin There Done That with Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

I overlapped the dots a bit and also made sure some hung over the tips. My inspiration came from this gradient dot manicure from Chalkboard Nails. I finished everything off with a coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Gradient Dot Manicure: OPI Berlin There Done That with Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

Shade

I was a little sad to have to take this one off to move onto the next challenge!

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 10 – Gradient: Cult Nails Untamed with Zoya Lotus

It’s day 10 of the 30 Day Challenge, which means I’ve survived one-third of it. Woo hoo for me. Today’s theme is gradients.

Since I haven’t done this kind of gradient before, I tried to keep it simple. For the gradient, I used two colors, Zoya Lotus and Cult Nails Untamed. The latter satisfied the 30 Days of Untrieds challenge I’m doing simultaneously with this one. I also added China Glaze Luxe And Lush, a layering polish with holographic flakies, to make it a little more interesting.

Gradient manicure: Cult Nails Untamed with Zoya Lotus and China Glaze Luxe And Lush

I started with two coats of Cult Nails Untamed as the base, then a coat of Poshe fast dry top coat. I let it dry completely before starting the gradient. Untamed is a medium pink sheer-ish polish with a fine shimmer. Zoya Lotus is an amethyst purple with a stronger pink/gold shimmer (click to see it on it’s own).

Gradient manicure: Cult Nails Untamed with Zoya Lotus and China Glaze Luxe And Lush

I know there are several different techniques for doing gradients; I used a makeup sponge and brushed the polish directly onto it, then dabbed it onto my nail. I dampened the sponge a little with water before I started so it wouldn’t absorb quite as much polish … not sure if it made a difference or not. I put the darker color on first and then the lighter one, making sure they overlapped some in the middle. As I dabbed the sponge on my nail, I moved it back and forth a little, tip to base, to make sure I got Zoya Lotus where I wanted it, and also to help with the blend a bit.

Gradient manicure: Cult Nails Untamed with Zoya Lotus and China Glaze Luxe And Lush

I added another layer of Poshe, then one coat of China Glaze Luxe And Lush, followed by one coat of Gelous since the flakies are chunky in the CG, and finally another coat of Poshe.

Gradient manicure: Cult Nails Untamed with Zoya Lotus and China Glaze Luxe And Lush

I wasn’t able to achieve as much of the blend in the middle as I wanted, so perhaps this technique wasn’t the best for that. It also might have been my polish choices: the Cult Nails Untamed was sheer and light in color, so it didn’t blend into the Zoya as much is get absorbed into it.

Still, I’m glad to have my first sponge gradient under my belt. Any tips you can share would be greatly appreciated.

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 9 – Rainbow: Laser Tape Nail Art

For Day 9’s rainbow theme, I tried a laser tape manicure. I actually had to use Google to find out what this type of manicure was called, but it’s pretty basic: lay down a base color, apply striping tape to the nail, paint over it with another color, remove the tape to expose the underlying color.

Rainbow Laser Tape Manicure

The lines didn’t come out as cleanly as I had hoped. On some it seemed I waited too long to remove the tape; others seemed like it was too soon. It depends more on the consistency of the top color. If it’s a runny color you need to wait longer; if it dries faster, remove sooner before it sets too much.

Rainbow Laser Tape Nail Art

Since I’m doing 30 Days of Untrieds simultaneously with the 30 Day Challenge, I was able to work a few untrieds into the mix as well.

Here are the polishes used in this manicure:

Pinkie
base: Zoya Jolene
top: Ulta Steppin Out (untried)

Ring
base: Zoya Jancyn
top: China Glaze Riveting

Middle
base: Sinful Colors Let’s Meet mixed with NYC French White Tip
top: Sinful Colors Let’s Meet

Index
base: Sinful Colors Exotic Green
top: Sinful Colors Last Chance

Thumb
base: Zoya Robyn
top: Nails Inc Baker Street (untried)

I used three coats of all of the base colors except the blue nail,which is two coats. The top colors are all one coat except the blue nail, which is two coats. I topped everything off with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Rainbow Laser Tape Nail Art

Not sure rainbow nail art is my thing, but I did like the idea of this one, if not totally in love with the execution.

Are you a fan of rainbow nails?

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

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30 Day Challenge Day 8 – Metallic: Layla Magneffect Purple Galaxy

It’s metallic day in the 30 Day Challenge, so today I’m showing you Layla Magneffect magnetic nail polish in Purple Galaxy. This was my first time using it, so it fits the bill for 30 Days of Untrieds too.

Layla Magneffect Purple Galaxy

I picked this up with my Ulta Rewards last month had have been anxious to compare it to Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color, which I recently tried.

I used one coat of Loreal Jet-Set in Nightlife as a base to reduce the amount of the Layla Magneffect I would need to use (at $15.50 a bottle, it’s not cheap). Loreal Nightlife is a grape purple shimmer polish that’s similar in shade to Purple Galaxy.

Next I applied a thick coat of Layla Magneffect Purple Galaxy to one nail and held the magnet as close to the nail as possible for about 10 seconds. The directions say to do it for 5 seconds, but just wanted to be on the safe side. I finished it with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Layla Magneffect Purple Galaxy

The magnet is attached to the top of the the brush handle so you just turn it upside down to use. The magnet creates a straight line pattern,and there’s a line across the magnet to show you the direction of the pattern. So if you want vertical lines instead of horizontal or you want them at a diagonal across your nails, just turn the magnet accordingly before you use it.

Layla Magneffect Purple Galaxy

The polish went on very smoothly, but I did have a little trouble with the magnet. On one nail the pattern didn’t show very well the first time, so I did another coat and tried again. Turned out better the second time.

The magnet wasn’t able to cover my full thumb; perhaps the curvature was too much but the pattern just didn’t show up on one side of my nail, even after I tried it a second time. Next time I’ll try rotating my nail as it’s under the magnet to see if that helps.

Layla Magneffect Purple Galaxy

I do like this polish quite a bit; the color is deep and rich, very eye-catching. I’d be curious to try it with different magnet patterns. I thought this one was a little harder to use than the magnet that comes with Sally Hansen Magnetics. Sally Hansen includes the magnet as part of a separate cap that goes over the top of the bottle, so it’s not attached to the brush. I like that better: no worries that the polish will run or drip down the brush as you turn it over to get to the magnet. Sally Hansen also has added a small lip to the magnet cap that rests against your finger and acts as a guide. It makes it easier to hold the magnet steady and shows you how far away to hold it for best results.

What’s your take on magnetic polish? Have you found one that’s easy to use?

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30-Day Challenge, Swatches

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