Here's the list of daily challenges!! enjoy :)
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Day 1: Red Nails
So it is finally 2012 which means it is time to start working on the 31 Day Nail Challenge!! Today was Red Nails and I chose to keep it simple using Orly Red Carpet. It was a real challenge trying to capture the micro glitter suspended in this bright red jelly, and unfortunately my nails are pretty nubby right now, but here goes nothing! Day one, complete! enjoy :)
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Day 2: Orange Nails
This post is going to be pretty brief, but today I completed Day Two of the Challenge and it was Orange Day! So I used Essie Brazilliant for today's manicure. enjoy :)
Here's a picture in a more yellow light, it's less focused, but it is closer to the real color of the polish.
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Day3: Yellow Nails
Hello all my lovely readers! Today I have completed the third day of the challenge. It was Yellow nails today, and I am not really a fan of yellow nails. Even writing it feels weird... who wants to have yellow nails?? They look weird with my skin tone, and yellow polish tends to stain my nails. So today I used the only yellow polish that I own and spiced it up by sponging some gold glitter on the tips. The yellow I used is ULTA Sun-Sational, and the gold glitter I used is OPI Bring on the Bling. Here are some pictures! enjoy :)
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Day 4: Green Nails
Hello again :) I am pleased to tell you all that Yellow Nails day is over, and that today I completed the fourth day of the challenge!! Today's challenge was Green Nails and I chose my absolute favorite green polish, Essie Going Incognito! This beautiful forest green creme polish is so rich, deep and glossy and I love love LOVE it!! Ok, enough from me, time to let the pictures do the talking. Happy Day 4! enjoy :)
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Day 5: Blue Nails
Aahhhh!!! This one was so hard because the majority of my polishes are either blue or purple, so it was really really hard for me to choose because they are all so beautiful!! But I chose a blue that I have been really loving recently which is OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It! from their Miss Universe collection :) :) This intensely bright and deep cobalt blue is absolutely gorgeous!! It has an awesome metallic foil-like shimmer, and I just adore this color! I just left this one alone like I did with the green from yesterday because this polish doesn't need any spicing up :) Here are the pictures that I know you are all DYING to see!! enjoy :)
Day 6: Violet Nails
This day of the challenge was probably my favorite thus far. I have two gorgeous purples to show you guys; A-England Avalon and OPI DS Temptation!! Avalon is a beautifully deep royal purple with a pink-leaning shimmer, and Temptation is a crazy concoction of glitter that creates a very similar royal purple color. There are also pieces of pink/magenta glitter in there that match the shimmer in Avalon,with bits of blue, silver, green and yellow thrown in for that extra blingy sparkle! :) I wasn't able to capture all of the glittery goodness as it appears to the naked eye, so just trust me, it is one of the sparkliest polishes I have ever seen!!!! Both of these colors are MUST HAVES in my opinion, but don't just take my word for it, take a look at these pictures! enjoy :)
These first three are in a light that brings out the blue tint to these royal purples
The next two are in a yellow light to try to bring out the magenta shimmer and some of the other colors of glitter
This last picture that I have for you guys combines both of the light sources to attempt at giving you the full effect, but sadly it is still better in person :P
Day7: Black and White Nails
Hello again, it is day 7 and all of this cold weather and the polish remover is really drying out my cuticles!! :/ Anyway, today I used Revlon Black Satin for the black nails (this is by far my favorite black creme polish that I have tried, though the brush is a weird shape and is difficult to work with) and I used OPI Alpine Snow for the white nails. I added the hearts with acrylic paint, they didn't come out exactly as I had hoped, but Day 7 is complete! haha enjoy :)
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Day 8: Metallic Nails
Hello there, short post for today :) Today was Metallic Nails so I used OPI Designer De Better from the Muppets Collection. It is a foil silver with a hint of gold mixed in! It's really unique looking :) Unfortunately though in these pictures it just sorta looks like silver, but here they are anyway! haha enjoy :)
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Day 9: Rainbow Nails
Day 9 is Rainbow Nails day, and I sat staring at blank nails for a while wondering what to do. I eventually settled on white with rainbow polka dots, and I think they're kinda fun! haha enjoy :)
Ok, here's a color break down:
For the base, I started with OPI Alpine Snow. Red: ULTA Red Carpet Red, Orange: Essie Brazilliant, Yellow: ULTA Sun-Sational, Green: ULTA Limelight, Blue: Essie Mesmerized.
And here is a close-up picture. Sorry for the blurriness. :P
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Day 10: Gradient Nails
So I am already a third of the way through this 31 Day Nail Challenge. I can't believe it!! I had a lot of fun with this one :) Here are the colors I used:
From left to right: Zoya Trixie, Essie Watermelon, ULTA Celebutant and ULTA Blue Streak
So for my pointer finger, middle finger, and pinkie I started with Essie Watermelon. Then I sponged ULTA Celebutant and then ULTA Blue Streak. Then I stamped some tiger print from stamping plate BM16 with Zoya Trixie.
I reversed this technique on my thumb and ring finger by starting with Zoya Trixie for the base, and using all three of the other colors on the stamping plate so that this time the stamp was a gradient instead of a solid stamp on top of a gradient nail. It's kind of hard to tell the difference, except for the fact that the blue looks lighter when it's stamped over the silver than when it's sponged over the purple. Here are some more pictures! enjoy :)
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Day 11: Polka Dots
Hey everybody! Today's challenge was Polka Dots, and I'm happy with how this one turned out :) It's cute, but very simple. See for yourself! enjoy :)
The darker blue is Zoya Breezi, the lighter blue is Zoya Yummy, and the stamp is from plate BM19. Thanks for looking! <3
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Day 12: Stripes
Hello again :) I am having so much fun with this whole daily challenge thing! I thought it would be a lot more exhausting and irritating redoing my nails every day, but it is forcing me to be more creative and do something different on a more frequent basis. Anyway, today 's challenge was Stripes! I was stumped on this one and it took my quite a while to decide what I wanted to do, so I hope you guys like what I've come up with! My freehand painting abilities are slightly less than desirable which is apparent in the close-up photos, but from further away I think I've created a pretty cool mani. enjoy :)
First of all, these are the colors I used (from left to right):
OPI Planks A Lot, OPI Alpine Snow, China Glaze Urban-Night, A-England Elaine and A-England Merlin :)
So I started with a base of two coats of OPI Planks A Lot, then added the lines with all of the other colors.
Here are a couple more pictures, the colors aren't as accurate as in the two pictures above, but they are a little bit closer up.
Thanks for stopping by! :)
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Day 13: Animal Print
Ok so pretty quick post tonight because I am running late for movie night with the friends haha I hope you enjoy Animal Print Day! :)
Ok for this manicure I used the gorgeous Zoya Tallulah as a base, stamped on some leopard print from m57 in Sally Hansen Forbidden Fudge, and filled in some of the spots with A-England Holy Grail! :)
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Day 14: Flowers
Hello again! Day 14 was Flowers. I am sorry for the picture delay, but I was having formatting issues last night and I have finally resolved them. enjoy :)
I used NOX Citrus, OPI Alpine Snow, and Essie Brazilliant. I stamped flowers from plate BM16.
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Day 15: Delicate Print
Hello again, I have completed today's challenge just in time to post it before it is already tomorrow :) I have had a whirlwind kind of a day, so I'll keep this brief haha here goes...
Today I used NOX Wine & Dine (a neutral light pink with a foil-like shimmer) as the base color and stamped lace from plate m57 using OPI Alpine Snow. enjoy :)
Day 16: Tribal Print
Hello again! This one had me stumped for a while and I repainted my nails several times before I got them to look like this. enjoy :)
I used OPI Alpine Snow for the base, ULTA Red Carpet Red, ULTA Sun-Sational, Essie Brazilliant, love & beauty Green, and Revlon Black Satin for the free handed nail art.
Day 17: Glitter
Hello again, before I get started with today's Glitter Nails post, I just wanted to quickly thank all of the people that have been stopping by to check out my work. I really do appreciate it :) With that said, tonight's post will be a short one because I have had a very long day and need to get some sleep for my Geology Lab Class very early tomorrow morning...ugh :/ Anyway, today I used an unnamed hot pink/magenta sparkle polish from Destined, and topped off with Essie luxeffects Set in Stones. enjoy :)
Day 18: Half Moons
Hello, I am extremely exhausted again tonight so this one will also be a short post. :P
I am not a huge fan of the Half Moon style of manicure, but I think that the one I've created is a little fun and classy without looking tacky. I hope you think so too, enjoy :)
This is sort of like a tape manicure, except I used binder hole reenforcement stickers instead of tape to get the rounded line. I started with Glitter Gal Dark Purple Sparkle, and painted Revlon Black Satin over the purple.
Day 19: Galaxy Nails
Ok readers, I spent over three hours on this manicure and used 13 different colors, so this post is going to be kind of long and picture heavy in comparison to some of my latest posts. It took a lot of practice and a lot of messing around with the different colors in order to get nails that looked something like a real galaxy. And if you were wondering, yes; it is as difficult as it sounds. I started with a black base, then sponged on the other colors that you are about to see in different combinations until it looked the way I wanted it to, then I added extra "close-up stars" with dotting tools. This particular day of the challenge had me stressed out from the very beginning, so I am happy that it is done, and I'm actually pretty proud of the results! Let's take a look shall we? enjoy :)
First of all, I'm going to give you a break-down of all the colors I used.
From left to right: Revlon Black Satin, Essie French Affair, ULTA Coral Chic, China Glaze Purple Panic (Neon), OPI Alpine Snow, Zoya Julieanne, Sinful Colors Frenzy
China Glaze Fairy Dust, Zoya Charla, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Ozotic 528, ULTA Limelight, and A-England Holy Grail. whew!
And now for the pictures you've been waiting for..... :)
Thanks for stopping by!! :D
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Day 20: Water Marbled Nails
Yayy!! :D Water Marbling is one of my favorite manicures to do!! I hope you guys love this as much as I do! enjoy :)
I started with OPI Alpine Snow, then used OPI Alpine Snow, Essie Watermelon and China Glaze Urban-Night. I topped it off with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust and one coat of Seche Vite.
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Day 21: Inspired by a Color
So for today's challenge, I decided to follow some of the other nail bloggers' idea, and take "Inspired by a Color" to mean inspired by the name of the color. So today's manicure is inspired by Essie Watermelon! enjoy :)
I started with my inspiration color (Essie Watermelon) on three of my fingers, and Essie Going Incognito on my accent nails. Then I used Essie Going Incognito and OPI Mermaid's Tears to create the watermelon rinds, and black acrylic paint for the seeds. I also used OPI Mermaid's Tears for the squiggly lines on the accent nails to make the outside of the watermelon.
Day 22: Inspired by a Song
Hello again! I spent a lot of time going through all of my music trying to find a song that could inspire a manicure. I decided to take the suggestion of one of my cousins and attack "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles. I was nervous at first because I am not the best at freehand artwork, but I think this came out pretty cute. Let me know what you think! enjoy :)
Here are the colors I used. From left to right: ULTA Blue Streak, ULTA Limelight, ULTA Sun-Sational, China Glaze Urban-Night, Konad light blue stamping polish, China Glaze Turned UP Turquoise (Neon), Essie Brazilliant, Essie Mesmerized, Essie Watermelon and black and white acrylic paints.
I started Essie Mesmerized and freehand painted some ULTA Blue Streak squiggly lines to look like water. Then I painted the silhouettes of all of the fish, the jellyfish and the submarine with white acrylic paint so that the lighter and brighter colors would show (the details would not be as clear if I painted them directly on top of the blue). I used the Konad polish to make bubbles, and the rest of the colors to add some life to my white silhouettes :) Thanks to my cousin Melissa for the great idea!
Day 23: Inspired by a Movie
Hello lovely readers! Today's challenge was "Inspired by a Movie" and with the help of my little sister, I decided to use "Easy A" as my inspiration :) More specifically I based my design off of the black and pink corset Emma Stone's character, Olive Penderghast, wears in the movie. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it!! enjoy :)
Today I started with Revlon Black Satin, then layered on Essie A Cut Above to represent the pink accents on the corset. Then I freehand painted "A"s on all of my nails with white acrylic paint and then with ULTA Red Carpet Red. I also added little pink bows on my ring finger and thumb to represent the bows on the corset, and to make them look a little more girly and a little less like they were inspired by a horror movie :P. Here are the pictures :)
And this is my sweet little kitten Sammy holding ULTA Red Carpet Red: <3
Day 24: Inspired by a Book
Hello again :) today's challenge was inspired by a book, and I took one of my favorite books and was inspired by the cover artwork, so my manicure is based off of that. The book is "A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, and I will post the cover art below because I own a copy on my kindle, but the picture is in black and white so unfortunately I could not hold the book in my hand for pictures :/ oh well.. enjoy :)
For this manicure, I started with A-England Galahad because it is a beautiful creme teal that is very close to the color of the background on the book's cover. Then I added assorted colored dots on the tips of my nails to represent the many tiny colored sprinkles on the book's cover. Here is a list of the colors I used for the dots: OPI Alpine Snow, ULTA Red Carpet Red, Essie Brazilliant, ULTA Sun-Sational, ULTA Limelight, and ULTA Blue Streak.
Day 25: Inspired by Fashion
Today's challenge was Inspired by Fashion, I decided to use this dress that Sandra Bullock wore to a red carpet event. Unfortunately I am not sure which event, nor do I know who designed this dress... but I absolutely LOVE Sandra Bullock! She is by far my all time favorite actress :)
For this manicure I started with my favorite black polish: Revlon Black Satin. Then I freehand painted the blue accents with OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It!. Here are the pictures!! enjoy :)
Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern
Ughhh!! This is one of those manicures that make you want to scream at your stamping discs, "Why are none of these patterns big enough to cover my fingers?!" Anyway... I saw this pattern in my collection and thought of china for some reason.. ya know, not the country but the dishes like the white with blue designs china. I used OPI Alpine Snow and stamped this pattern from BM20 with Essie Aruba Blue. enjoy :)
Day 27: Inspired by Artwork
Well readers, unfortunately as I was leaving my babysitting job, I tripped off of the front steps and rolled/sprained my ankle... the silver lining here is that I have done this several times before as grace is not a quality that runs in my family and therefore have plenty of crutches, ankle braces, and ice packs, along with pretty good knowledge of how to deal with this situation haha! I will still be working on Day 27's challenge, though I know that by the time you see pictures it will in fact be the 28th, but that's ok. The challenge must go on! Thanks for your patience and I hope you'll enjoy this manicure when you finally get to see it :)
Here is my inspiration: "Composition II" by Piet Mondrian.
Ok, the pictures are here!! :D I used OPI Alpine Snow for the base, then used ULTA Red Carpet Red, ULTA Blue Streak, and ULTA Sun-Sational for the color blocks and a black nail art pen for the lines. Hope you like them :) Sorry the first picture is a tad blurry :/
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Day 28: Inspired by a Flag
So today, my dad came up with the genius idea to use the Olympic Flag as inspiration for todays, manicure... so here it is!! enjoy :) I used OPI Apline Snow (as always :P), ULTA Blue Streak, ULTA Sun-Sational, Revlon Black Satin, Essie Going Incognito, and ULTA Red Carpet Red.
PS: It was really difficult to hold my fingers like this so that the circles would be similar to the way that they are on the flag in terms of placement :P
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Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural
Hey guys, so today was Inspired by the Supernatural, so I did a vampire inspired manicure! I used two of the polishes from the NOX Twilight collection :) Each bottle has the Cullen family crest on the front. The red is really thin and jelly-like, it was the perfect "blood" color (NOX Red Velvet). The silver is one of the most fascinating and eye-catching silver I have ever seen!! The rainbow micro glitter in it is absolutely breathtaking in the sun, and theses pictures do not do NOX Disco Darling any justice!
Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial
So today I was inspired by this iPod manicure tutorial: http://www.polyvore.com/ipod_nails_how_to/set?id=36723755
I used Sinful Colors Cloud 9 (orange iPod), Zoya Tallulah (blue iPod), Zoya Trixie (silver iPod), A-England Avalon (Purple iPod), Sally Hansen Ivy League (green iPod), and OPI Alpine Snow (click-wheels and screens). I did, however for get to add the black outline to the screens that are shown in the tutorial, and frankly, I think hers are much better than mine haha but I hope you enjoy them anyway :)
Day 31: Re-Create Your Favorite Challenge
Hello lovlies! I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that I used an extra day to complete this challenge, but I am also pretty proud of the fact that I completed the challenge at all!! It seemed like such a huge feat at the beginning, but I actually had a lot of fun :) And I really want to thank everyone who's been reading my post, or liking my Facebook page, you guys are so great, and some of you have left me some wonderful feedback which makes me want to keep creating new manicures for you guys to check out! Anyway, let's move on to this last day of the challenge.
I was really stumped with this one... "Re-Create Your Favorite Challenge" so I took that to mean "take one of the previous days of the challenge and do it again, except different" :P So I was going to attempt another water marbled manicure for you (because that's my favorite kind of manicure) but I just really didn't have the time.. So, instead I chose to re-create Day 5 (Blue Nails). Granted, that day was not really my favorite, but I needed something quick and simple, and I've really been wanting to try out the ombre manicure, so without further ado, here it is; Day 31!! enjoy :)
Oh! PS: I apologize for the grainy pictures, unfortunately I had to go back to using my old camera, but I am hoping to get a better one again in the very near future (like after I get my next paycheck lol) Okay.. NOW enjoy :)
Colors from left to right: NOX Talon, Essie Mesmerized, ULTA Blue Streak, Zoya Yummy, and Essie Sweet Talker.
