31 Day Nail Art Challenge! Day 1: Red Nails

Hi there! So, you can probably guess from the title what this post is about. I've been struggling with art-block for a little while now, unless it's some kind of event or movie I'm going to. So to challenge myself, I'm going to start the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge! It'll be fun, and I have plenty of designs to go with. Of course, I don't paint my nails every day, so it won't be a 31 consecutive day kind of thing. It'll probably span several months, and I'll have other designs in between if I'm going to some event or if inspiration strikes me suddenly. But anyway, here's the list:

So Day 1 is Red Nails! Honestly, I had something much more detailed in mind, but I had almost no time to paint my nails, so I had to go with something simple. Of course, I could always go back and do the detailed design now that I do have time, but I'm lazy and I don't really want to wear red for too much longer. So I'm sticking with this one.

See? It's pretty simple. I did two coats of China Glaze Surfin' For Boys (which is definitely a neon red in reality, but it kind of looks coral in photos) and then went over it with one coat of Orly Rockets Red Glare, which is one of my all time favorite glitters. It's so perfect. I was worried that the glitter, which is a basic red, wouldn't match the base color, but I think it works perfectly! It actually reminds me a lot of watermelon, for some reason. But it's both great for summer and it satisfies the first day of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge! :) 

As for the rest of the challenges, I have several designs planned out already, and the only one I'm worried about is the water marble. I am terrible at water marbling, and I've been practicing forever. So I will be attempting the water marble, because that's the very definition of a challenge... but I don't think I'll enjoy it. But I promise I'll have fun with the rest of it! So thank you for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Marina and the Diamonds Nails

Hey there! So a couple of days ago I got really bored and wanted to paint my nails, but I had no idea what to do, and I didn't feel like having anything too flashy or too plain, so it was a difficult choice. I was listening to Marina and the Diamonds' album Electra Heart and then I was struck with inspiration! Marina and the Diamonds nails. But not based on any of the nail art she wears (because she is known to wear some pretty unique designs in her music videos), it was just based on the colors I saw in some of her music videos and I just took creative license, basically. But it still looks Marina Diamandis inspired!

On my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers are two coats of Love & Beauty Baby Blue (one of the recurring colors in her videos as well as a color on the album cover). Then off to the right side, I painted a small black heart with acrylic paint like she wears as her character Electra Heart (the character she named the album after) on her face:

Then on my index finger, I painted a coat of Sally Hansen XTreme Wear Celeb City, one coat of Essie Set in Stone, and one coat of Pure Ice Dazzle Me. That's a lot of sparkle! But I needed the coverage of the Essie polish, and the holographic silver glitters of the Pure Ice polish. So it was necessary.

Then on my ring finger, I picked colors based on the lipstick she wore in her music video for Fear and Loathing:

I did two coats of China Glaze Life is Rosy and I sponged on the tip and up the center with China Glaze Thataway. 

And that's it! I don't know if it necessarily matches the blue and the silver, but it does add a touch of warmth to the look. So I hope you like it! And if you don't know who Marina and the Diamonds is, go look her up! She's absolutely fantastic. Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Neon Coral and Sparkly Blurple Nails

I honestly have no idea what I'm doing with my post titles anymore, guys. Sorry, haha. But I think it accurately describes these!

Unfortunately, the pictures just won't be accurate because the coral polish is too neon. It just turns a crazy orange color in photos! But it looked great in reality. On my index, middle, and pinky fingers I did three coats of China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, and on my thumb and ring finger, I did two coats of China Glaze Fancy Pants and one coat of Finger Paints Easel-y Entertained over that. Then I stamped with Flip Flop Fantasy and Pueen plate 48 over the blurple nails. 

I loved this a lot, and it was perfect for going to a blacklit mini-golf course where the neon polish glowed as I played! It was very motivating. So I hope you like these as much as I did! Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Turquoise and Teal Swirl Nails

TURQUOISE AGAIN! Yep, I love turquoise. It's lovely. So I did some teal stamping over it. Muahahahaha....

The base color is Finger Paints Art Dealer Teal-er, and I stamped over it with the swirly image from Pueen plate 26 using China Glaze For Audrey. You'll have to pardon the smears - it was stamped perfectly, but then I put top coat on, and it ruined it. My middle finger nail was the only one to escape the smudging. But regardless, it was one of the best manicures I've had in a while. At least, it was one of those designs that I wanted to last forever. So I hope you like it! Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Pink and Yellow "Snowfall" Nails

Hey there! Yeah, I don't know what I'm thinking. Snowfall nails? It's summer, and I live in the deep south. There isn't any snow. But I do happen to have a polish called Snowfall, and it seemed like a good idea. So this is what I came up with:

See, it's summery! But the glitter polish is Sonnetarium's Snowfall, which is great for a lot designs, not just for snow/winter. You could also recreate the look with a white polish and a dotter tool. Pretty simple! The gradient was done with Sinful Colors Unicorn and China Glaze Strawberry Fields. It was super pretty, but it was a little thick for my liking. I put too many coats of the gradient polishes on. But it was pretty and bright! So I hope you like it as much as I did. Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Neon Sunglasses Nails

Hey there! I'm finally getting into the summer spirit... now that it's almost over, anyway. Maybe it's because the weather has been awful here. In the month of June, we had more rain than we had in the entirety of 2012. That's ridiculous! But I guess it's never too late for some bright colors!

These practically scream SUMMER! The polishes from thumb to pinky are China Glaze Surfin' For Boys, Sun-Kissed, I'm With The Lifeguard, Towel Boy Toy, and Beach Cruise-r. I flipped it on my right hand, so that Beach Cruise-r was on my thumb and so on. Of course, you're welcome to put them in any order you want. :) The stamp is from Cheeky plate 37. I dabbled with the idea of doing something different on the accent nails, but I figured that would be too much with the different colors and I ultimately decided to keep the design consistent on all the nails, as you can see. So I hope you like it! I thought it came out pretty well, and I've even painted it on my friends' nails because she liked it so much. So let me know if you try them too! Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Neon Lightning and Drip Nails

Hello again! So for this post, I'm sharing my sister's nails again. She wanted something bright, but straight up neon isn't really her style. So we went with this:

I started with a base coat of Sally Hansen XTreme Wear Black Out on all the nails and then on the pinky, middle, and index fingers I created a paint drip effect with a dotter tool and Sally Hansen XTreme Wear White On. I then went over the drips with my neon yellow, China Glaze Sun-Kissed. And on her ring finger and thumb, I used scotch tape to make a lightning bolt and then I painted a quick layer of the white polish and gave it a few seconds to dry before I put on a coat of Sun-Kissed. Remove the tape and there it is! The pictures definitely don't do it justice, over that white polish it's incredibly, blindingly bright. Everyone stares at her nails because they're so freaking bright! And on top of that, she's been at band camp all week and they're out in the sun all day and I can't even imagine how she's getting anything done since these are so distracting. Anyway, I hope you like them! Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Tentacle French Tip Design... Inspired by Robin Moses! :)

Hi there! So, I don't know if you know who Robin Moses is, but you should. She's on YouTube, and she's probably one of the most creative and talented nail artists out there, and you should go watch her videos. She did one design that I absolutely loved, so I decided I had to recreate it! Here's a link to her video. And here's what I created based on that:

Alrighty, so here's what I did. I started with two coats of Orly Déjà Vu and then made a french tip with the dark blue end of Revlon Moon Candy Galactic. Then I used acrylic paints (two different shades of blue and a light teal for the suction cups) for the tentacles. I went for a more literal approach whereas Robin made more abstract tentacles. She also used an opal polish to make the tentacles two-toned, but I don't own any opal polish so I substituted with a darker shade of blue paint. Then I went over the tentacles with a quick swipe of OPI I Juggle... Men. It gave it the slightest sparkle and definitely made it elegant. So I hope you like it! And definitely check out Robin Moses, because she's incredible and she's much better at this than I am. Thanks for reading, have a nice day, and happy painting! :)

Pink Bow Nails

Hi there! The title may be misleading... I painted my nails pink and stamped a bow on them, they're not pink bows. They were so cute!! And also, this design set a record for me - they lasted a full seven days without chipping once. It was awesome! I didn't do anything differently, so I'm not sure what made them last, but I was so glad they did because they were freaking cute.

Aren't they fantastic?? So cute. I did three coats of a nameless hot pink Bon Bon polish (I probably could have gotten away with two coats had I been patient about it) and then one coat of one of my favorite glitter polishes (I use it all the time, seriously) OPI Pirouette My Whistle. Then on my thumb and ring fingers, I stamped the bow image from Pueen plate 29 with Sally Hansen XTreme Wear White On. I usually stamp with Sinful Colors Snow Me White, but I could not for the life of me get it to stamp properly. I had to redo my ring finger completely twice because it wouldn't work. So I used another, thinner white that I wouldn't use over anything darker. But I think it turned out great anyway! Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Monsters University/Monsters, Inc. Nails!!

HI! I'm super excited. Know why? Because of Monsters University. Yes, I know it came out a few weeks ago. That's okay, because I never showed you what I painted on my nails. So let's just pretend it's the night before the movie comes out, and we're getting our nails all ready for the movie premier...

Look at those cuties! For the record, Monsters Inc. is my favorite Pixar movie. And I really was beyond excited for Monsters University, which was fantastic!! And you know me, I love to have an occasion to paint my nails. These got a little flubbed, but that's okay, they were still awesome. On my thumb, I painted Randall Boggs (he's the dorkiest villain ever) using China Glaze Tart-y for the Party as my base color and mixing it with white for the lighter dots and using China Glaze Spontaneous for the darker dots. His eyes and glasses (which he wears in Monsters University) with acrylic paint. On my index, I painted Mike Wazowski using China Glaze Tree Hugger as the base color, and the rest was done with acrylic paints. I know he looks weird, but I wanted to paint young Mike from MU. On my middle finger, I painted James P. Sullivan (pffft, Sully) with a base coat of Sally Hansen XTreme Wear White On and then two coats of China Glaze Towel Boy Toy (his face, of course, was painted with acrylic paints). 

Now here's where it gets weird. I painted these before the movie came out, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. And I was also painting these at like 4 in the morning, so I got a little lazy. My favorite character in Monsters, Inc. is George Sanderson, and most of you probably don't know who that is. He's the monster who always managed to have the sock on him and the CDA (Child Detection Agency) guys had to shave him a lot. (23-19, 23-19!!) And I saw a picture that showed he was in Monsters University as well. Had I known that he didn't even have a speaking part, I probably would have painted someone else. But nevertheless, on my ring finger is George Sanderson. I used China Glaze Life Preserver as my base color, and his face and stripes were done with acrylic paints. And finally, on my pinky, is the Monsters, Inc. logo, which honestly has almost nothing to do with Monsters University. But it was 4 in the morning and I was lazy, so that's what happened. A better person would put the MU logo on there, or maybe one of the Greek Life symbols (like Oozma Kappa!) (A better person would also probably be asleep at 4 in the morning instead of rushing Monsters University nails).  But that's it, that's all it takes! Super easy. I did most of mine with a dotter tool. So let me know if you try it out, or if you like it! 

Thanks for reading, have a good day, and happy painting! :)

Dinosaur Egg/Rock Nails

Hey there! I have another design for you done on my little sister's nails. Her nails are much longer than mine, so I'll try to keep posting what I paint on her nails, so you can get both long and short nail designs. My sister wanted me to paint her nails to look like a rock that she has:

It's a rock, but it's called a dinosaur egg at the museum she got it from. This is what I came up with:

The base color is Sally Hansen XTreme Wear Black Out. I sponged a little bit of Ulta Concrete Evidence on the nail in random spots. Then I did the water spotted technique (where you start off the same as a water marble, except instead of doing multiple colors and swirling it around, you do a few drops of one color and then spray it with perfume or any other alcohol-based spray - it breaks the polish up on the water and makes it speckled like you can see there) with Funky Fingers Like Clockwork. The polish was the right color, but I wasn't using the right spray, so it ended up a little more chunky than it looks on the "egg." So if you try it out, don't use perfume. Maybe use spray hand sanitizer, or rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. And of course, this can be done with any colors you like, I just used these colors because that's what my sister wanted. And if you're catching a glimpse of my nails in the third picture, I'm wearing OPI Can't Find My Czechbook with a single coat of Sephora Spark-tacular. I don't have a post for that because I seemed to have misplaced the pictures. So oh well! Maybe another day. Anyway, thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Blue and Grey Chevron Nails

Hi there! :) So today I have a quick design for you... er, maybe I should say simple. It uses scotch tape, and apparently it takes more skill than I thought to do this quickly and efficiently, haha. But even though it took me a while (maybe it's just because I wanted it to be perfect), it's still pretty easy.

(This is the most accurate to the color)

My base color was China Glaze Frostbite, then I used scotch tape to make different sized chevrons and then I painted on China Glaze Stone Cold, which is a matte polish. The design looked great without a glossy top coat, because the contrast between Frostbite and the matte polish was awesome. But I needed to keep this design for a while because I was staying at a cousin's house for a week and I needed it to last me. For the record, it didn't. I was volunteering at an art camp for a bunch of kids and I couldn't keep it from chipping, haha. Oh well, it still looked nice! Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Tiger Nails

Hi there! Yes, I know what you're thinking. I've done tiger nails before. But these aren't blue and green, these are traditional tiger nails! I painted my friend Jasmine's nails in tiger print because she loves tigers and wants to work with them in the future - she's definitely going to do it too!

The base color is China Glaze Orange You Hot? and I sponged a little bit of Fresh Paint Hot Lava in the middle to make it darker where the stripes meet. Then I used Wet n' Wild Black Creme to stamp the stripes using Mash plate 41. They turned out great! They were surprisingly bright because of the neon polish. So thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Neon Mesmerizing Swirl Nails

Hi! How's it going? Today I'm gonna show you my friend Lindsay's nails instead of mine - she asked for neon red polish with crazy swirls... for a wedding she was going to! Haha.

She chose China Glaze Surfin' For Boys as her base color - which is one of my absolute favorite polishes. It's soooo lovely. And the stamp is from Pueen plate 37, stamped with Wet n' Wild Black Creme. She loved it and so did the rest of the wedding guests. Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)

Wizard of Oz Nails

Hey there! So I have another very long, pic-heavy post for you. But it's worth it. I decided a while back that I wanted to paint my own Wizard of Oz nails, because I couldn't find too many tutorials or anything that was simple to paint and still represented the movie really well. Mine didn't turn out too simple, now that I think about it. But they still look pretty! And there's always ways to make it simpler if the design is too difficult.

The Emerald City - Well isn't that sparkly? Alright, I used like 7 polishes for this finger alone. So just bear with me, haha. The base color is China Glaze Bahamian Escape. Then I painted the Emerald City first with L'Oreal The Temptress' Power and then with stripes of Zoya Logan. Then I painted the yellow brick road with Sinful Colors Let's Meet. And for the poppies, I just dotted them in with China Glaze Pink-ie Promise, China Glaze Life is Rosy, and Sinful Colors Soul Mate. And finally I painted in the clouds and the brick lines on the yellow brick road with with and black acrylic paint.

Poppies - Poppies are some of my favorite flowers, and I couldn't resist giving them a nail all to themselves. I used a cup of mine that has a poppy design on it as a reference. The base color is China Glaze Pink-ie Promise. Everything else was done with acrylic paints.

The Wicked Witch of the West- Hey, she needs some love too! Instead of doing anything complicated, I just decided to do a witch silhouette. The base color is China Glaze Gaga For Green, and the witch was painted with black acrylic paint. It's much easier than it looks, because you can pretty much just push the acrylic paint in the design you want, if that makes sense. You don't have to be too precise since she's just a silhouette, is what I'm getting at.

The Flying Monkeys - Again, I didn't want anything too difficult. So instead of painting a full monkey, I went with their little outfits. The base color is China Glaze Bahamian Escape, and the rest was done with acrylic paints.

The Wicked Witch of the East - Her stockings! The base color is Sinful Colors Snow Me White and the stripes are black acrylic paint.

Here's a little picture of my workspace. You can see all of the polishes and paint I used - plus a few of my scribbles on paper before I painted it. I don't usually plan it out before I start painting, but this was different because I had multiple ideas floating around in my head for each nail, so I needed to draw them out. And if you look really closely, you can see that I wrote down some Batman characters, because I was originally going to do that before I finally settled on Wizard of Oz. I'm glad I changed my mind! :)

Dorothy - Her gingham dress! This is super simple, even if it doesn't look like it. The base color is China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around. Then I painted overlapping stripes of light blue with acrylic paint. Then you just fill in the square parts where the stripes overlap with a darker blue (I used acrylic paint for this as well), violá! You have a simple gingham dress.

The Scarecrow - He was always my favorite character! The base color I used is e.l.f. Emerald, which was a little too dark for my taste. But I didn't have a dark green at the time, so it worked! The straw and rope are painted with acrylic paint.

The Tin Man - The base color is Sally Hansen XTreme Wear Celeb City and the heart and lines are painted with acrylic paints.

The Cowardly Lion - The base color is e.l.f. Nude and his main and red bow were painted with acrylic paint.

Even though you can see it in this picture, I guess I didn't get a close-up photo of my other pinky, which was the Ruby Red Slippers - The base color was China Glaze Hey Sailor and I went over it with two coats of Orly Rockets Red Glare (aka my favoritest glitter polish in existence). And there you have it! Wizard of Oz nails. They're sure to catch some eyes and get lots of compliments, because mine sure did! So let me know if you try them out, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading, have a great day, and happy painting! :)