31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 19: Galaxy Nails.

 

I love the look of galaxy nails. Plus they’re fun to do. It’s been a while since I’ve done one, so I was excited to give it another try.

galaxy galaxy2

 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Mary Kay Nail Lacquer in Blue Knight — dark background.
  • Color Institute in gold (no official name on it.)
  • Color Institute sparkles (no official name on it.)
  • Revlon in I’m Electro.
  • Revlon in Spidey Sense.
  • Revlon in Orchid.
  • Pure Ice in Get in Line.
  • Pure Ice in Over You.
  • Salley Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat

These didn’t turn out exactly like I imagined in my head, but I think it’s because the polishes I used were very pigmented, and I was a little too heavy-handed. I wanted to use metallic polishes, because I’ve never tried using them for galaxy nail art before. Never the less, I loved the sparkle that it give my galaxies! And even though I wasn’t sure if they looked a lot like the galaxies I wanted them to, but I did get lots of compliments which always makes me feel proud of the manicures I’ve done.

What do you think of galaxy nail art?

And what to you think of my attempt at metallic galaxies?

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 14: Floral.

floralnailart

A few weeks ago, I picked up the new OPI sheer tints minis that have been floating around on nail art blogs. I was super excited when I found them, and so there was no question I needed them. The only thing I wasn’t sure was what I should use them for! After some serious consideration I realized they would be perfect for a water-color floral print for day 14 of the challenge.

floral

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For this manicure, the polishes that I used were:

  • Revlon Nail Polish in Minted — the mint green polish on my thumb, pointed and middle finger.
  • China Glaze’s White on White — white base color on my ring and pinky finger, and dots on my mint base color on other fingers.
  • OPI Sheer Tints in Be Magentale With Me — pink-ish colored flowers.
  • OPI Sheer Tints in I Can Teal you Like Me — blue-ish colored flowers.
  • OPI Sheer Tints in Don’t Violet Me Down — Purple-ish colored flowers.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat.

These turned out so perfect. The OPI sheer tints are a little weird to work with, because they dry quickly on the nail art brush. I also found myself having to grab more polish more often than when drawing with regular polish. However the outcome is gorgeous. I’m such a fan of floral print in general, and this manicure just screams spring to me. It makes me want to wear pretty floral dresses, and flats, and not have to worry about freezing to death. Hopefully the weather starts to agree soon. Summer is my favorite season, and I’ve been longing to break out my maxi dresses again. Every time I walk past my closet I see them hanging there… and I just want to wear them SO bad.

So what’s your favorite go-to nail art for Spring?

 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 13: Animal Print?

I went in a different direction for the animal print prompt of this challenge. I’ve already done leopard print, and I wasn’t feeling zebra print, so I tried to think of something I could do that would be different. I’ve been wanting to do feather nails for a while. I’m a huge bird lover, and so I thought why not try doing feather nails. Okay, it’s not technically an animal print, but it’s pretty close!

 

I was trying to figure out how I want to do about doing feather nails. I considered doing a real feather manicure, but in the end decided to try out some new polishes I picked up, and draw on my own feathers. These didn’t end up exactly how I pictured them in my head. I think my main problem was that the colors I chose for my feathers were too close to the base color I used.

feathers

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Color Club’s Silver Lake (from the Girl About Town collection) — the base color on my nails.
  • Nicole by OPI’s My Jay or The Highway — the brown outline of the feathers, and accent dots on the feathers.
  • Art Club Nail Art Duo in Baby Blue — Light blue strokes in the feathers.
  • Revlon’s Minted — Mint colored strokes in the feathers (which kind of got hidden within the other colors.)
  • Nicole by OPI’s Oy Oy Oyster — Sheer shimmer layered over feathers (which didn’t show up in the pictures I took, but are much more visible in person.)

This is not my favorite–nor best–nail art. I’m actually pretty disappointed with how these turned out, if only because I imagined them looking a little different in my head when I started. I was especially disappointed when the boyfriend told me they looked more like branches than feathers. However, I’m still showing them off because if anything, it just means more practice will make perfect. I think a different color combination would make a world of difference. I’m definitely going to try these again now that I know what I needed to avoid–and that, to me, is the whole point of this challenge! To try new things, and work at improving my nail art skills.

 

What do you think of these “animal print” nails? What tips would you suggest for better feather nails next time?

 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 10: Gradient nails.

So you’ll recognize the base of my gradient from my swatch post of Rimmel Salon Pro in Reggae Splash.

I’ve just started doing gradients in the last little while. I got discouraged because I’ve never been the best at getting my colors to blend the way that I want. But I’ve been working on getting better at the technique, and my blend between colors seems to be getting more seamless.

gradient

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The polishes used were:

  • Rimmel Salon Pro in Reggae Splash — my lighter peach base color.
  • Relvon Nail Enamel in Siren — the darker orange gradient.
  • Layla Soft Touch Collection in Golden Touch — gold polish layered on accent nails.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

Not only am I really impressed with how my gradient turned out, but the colors totally remind me of a sunset–especially with the added gold on my accent nails. I thought about adding the gold to all the nails, but the boyfriend told me I should just leave it as accent nails. (He may, or may not, have just said it so I would come to bed haha.)

These were the perfect burst of color on what was a dreadful, grey day. It may have been raining like heck outside, but I just had to look at my nails and I was instantly somewhere warm and sunny. It makes me even more excited for what will (hopefully) be a gorgeous summer, full of bright colorful manis! Plus I love wearing orange–it brings out my Olive under tones, and instantly makes me look SO tanned.

So what’s your technique for getting gradients just right? I’m always looking for tips and tricks, so I’d appreciate any wisdom the internet has to offer.

 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 8: Metallic Nails.

Okay so for day 8 of the challenge, I may have cheated a wee tiny bit. Technically, these aren’t really metallic. I had just picked up three of the new Amazing Spiderman 2 polishes by Revlon, and really, really wanted to try them out! So I grabbed two of them, Superpowered and I’m Electro, and got started.

(The third one I bought, Spidey Sense, was also gorgeous, but it’s a reddish color and didn’t really fit into the manicure I was going for. I will have to do a swatch post soon with all three!)

metallic

 

The polishes I used were:

  • Revlon’s I’m Electro (from the new Amazing Spiderman 2 collection) — Lighter blue color on accent nails.
  • Revlon’s Superpowered (from the new Amazing Spiderman 2 collection) — Darker blue color.
  • ACO by Ardene in Golden Luxury –the gold accent’s on my accent nails.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

I had to take the picture with my flash off because it was so shiny I couldn’t take a picture well enough to capture the nail art. I really love these two colors. Each one is a duocrome, shifting between colors, although it’s not as evident on the nail as much as in the bottle. Of the two I think I’m Electro is my favorite.

Also, how much do you love the quatrafoil look? It’s another nail art technique I’ve never tried before, but have been seeing around on youtube, and pinterest. I will definitely need some practice for it to look right though. While these Spiderman polishes are awesome, they’re a little thin for application which made getting the pattern right a little difficult.

Plus Superheroes! I am a huge Superhero fan girl–usually for the DC Universe (I have a Batman tattoo). I just watched the first Amazing Spiderman movie the other night with the boyfriend, so I can’t wait for the next one to come out. You can count on me to be there opening night, no doubt rocking some kind of Spiderman themed nail art.