#31DC2013 Day 16: Tribal Print

Todays challenge is Tribal Print. When I searched for 'tribal' in Pinterest, I came across a cute bikini by Mara Hoffman, which inspired me to make this nail art.

Mara Hoffman Embroidered Tribal Bikini - Source

Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet as a base, then I used scotch tape for the white triangle and stamped - also with the tape - using BM-423 and Essence Stamp Me! Black.

I wish I had taken more pictures of this manicure, but unfortunately I had to work that day and when I came home, the manicure was all wrecked because of the activities that day.


Next time I'll show; GLITTERS! That will be a hard challenge, cause boy!, have I some really pretty glitter polishes to choose from!
AND! That will be a great opportunity to review OPI Glitter Off Peel-able Natural Base Coat!

#31DC2013 Day 15: Delicate Print

Hello sweeties!

It has been over 2 months since I updated my blog. Isn't that a shame? It is...


But today I have for you the 15th challenge, also known as Delicate Print. I find this challenge hard to do, because the term is so broad, you can interpret it in so many ways! I wanted something simple, something quick. So I chose for a nude background with white delicate stamping. Here's what I came up with.

It was indeed super quick. As a base I used 2 coats of Essie - Ballet Slippers and for quick drying I used one coat of Seche Vite. I stamped the lace using image plate BM-323 and the little flower is a part of an image from an Essence stamping plate. Polish I used was Stamp Me! White by Essence. Once again sealed in with a coat of Seche Vite.

Though I like how it turned out, I find it just a bit too simple for my nails. But the next challenge will be more 'me', I promise!

#31DC2013 Day 14: Flowers

Today I have for you day 14, flowers! I have many floral stamps to choose from, but I wanted to do some free hand nail art. So I did. I made some poppy's, or 'klaprozen' in Dutch. I painted two nails with poppy's and the rest of the nails are painted with two coats of W7 Lava Flow.

The three colours of Lava Flow are the same three colours I used in my poppy design. 

Essie Blanc as a base, for the red I used a mix of Essence Kiss On Top Of The Rock and Catrice Fred Said Red, and the black is Essence Black Is Back.

This polish remind me of poppy's because the black glitter looks like the seeds of a poppy and the red glitter comes really close to the colour of the poppy flower petals.

I really enjoyed painting these floral nails free hand. I did quite some stamping and tape manicures lately, so it was nice to put my painting skills in the design for a change.

#31DC2013 Day 13: Animal Print

I have for you; Snakeskin Print Nails! For the 13th challenge I didn't want to do cheetah or zebra nails, because I think those are too mainstream. I wanted to do some snakeskin print nails, but I wanted them to look as realistic as possible. So I got onto the web and searched some snakeskin images. I found some white/beige/gray prints that I really liked. So, here are the nails!

These nails took some serious painting! I used a few different techniques, which I'll show below.

These are the equipment I used for this manicure. From left to right, top to bottom: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier Base Coat, Essie Blanc, OPI My Vampire Is Buff, Catrice ASHley, Only You Mirror, Mirror, OPI Nein, Nein, Nein! Ok, Fine!, ball of plastic wrap, image stamping plate MLS-09, Essence stamper, old gift card, kitchen towels.

First, I painted my nails with two coats of Essie Blanc, let it dry and used the saran wrap method to dab on the colours OPI MVIB, Catrice ASHley and Only You Mirror, Mirror.

Then I stamped on a snakeskin print using image stamping plate MLS-09 and OPI Nein, Nein, Nein! Ok, Fine!. Topped it with Seche Vite and voilà! Snakeskin Print Nails!

I like how the colours come together in this manicure. These are quite realistic looking, as I say so myself!

#31DC2013 Day 12: Stripes

Wauw, long pause... December in Holland is such a busy month! Especially because we celebrate 'Sinterklaas' as well as Christmas. I did not even have time to post or even paint my nails! Now that the holidays are over, the calm is back again.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and received fun presents! I did! I was spoiled with 3 OPI polishes, a cute sweater, a day at the spa for two, a xmas mug with candy in it and lots of love from my family and friends!
As Christmas present from my boss, I got a beautycard, which I spend on buying more new nail polishes! I bought nine polishes from the brand Only You, which they sell at Ici Paris XL. I also bought two polishes from Barry M, sold at River Island, which I show you one of them today.

Today I have for you the 12th challenge, stripes!

As a base I used Blue Velvet from Only You (one of the polishes I got this Christmas). When completely dry, I used two pieces of tape to create a gap in the middle of each nail for the glitter polish, which is Amethyst Glitter from Barry M (also bought during Christmas). I topped everything off with Essence Soft Touch top coat.

#31DC2013 Day 11: Polka Dots

Oh wow, though I love fall for its colours, I hate it because of the cold weather. For this challenge I used pastel colours to brighten up my day, and it did. But when I went outside to take pictures it started to rain which ruined my good mood. It also ruined my pictures, as there was not enough light to capture the manicure correctly. I fixed it a bit with Photoshop, but I'm still not very pleased with the results.

Anyway, here are te photos.

 

The lilac I used is NYC Lavender Cupcake and the white is Essie Blanc (- my all time favorite!)

So these are my polka dots for today! Let me know in the comments what you think!

#31DC2013 Day 10: Gradient

Hey guys! Today I have for you the 10th challenge, that means gradient! A while ago I saw a tutorial for textured gradient nails by Adventures in Acetone. I did them and changed the colour scheme a bit as I don't own the Sugar Coat polishes. Here's my take:

I took Herome W.I.C. San Francisco as a base colour and for the textured gradient I chose Barry M Kingsland Road and China Glaze Unrefined. The colours make a soft gradient.

I like the outcome and I really like the feel of it. It feels kinda like sandpaper. I touch my nails all day because of that! ;)

When you feel like something different, you should definitely try out Jacki's tutorial for these nails!

#31DC2013 Day 09: Rainbow

Yay! Today’s challenge is rainbow! I was looking forward to this challenge because I had already a design in mind.

I recreated this manicure from Missadelinne. I found it on Pinterest, but had a hard time finding out whose it was originally, because this picture was all over the web without a name or watermark. I find it disturbing that people just use pictures without giving credit to the nail artist who made it. So here you go Missadelinne, I got my inspiration from you. You are a wonderful nail artist which I admire.

Here’s my take on her Colourful Dots and Stripes manicure.

I used quite a few polishes as you can see. The base is Essie Blanc. For the rainbow colours I used Catrice Abloom (red), Catrice Orange Utan (orange), Kiko 279 (yellow), Catrice Miss Piggy’s BF (green), China Glaze Sunday Funday (blue) and China Glaze Man Hunt (dark blue). I created the lines using striping tape.

This is such a fun and colourful manicure! I love how these were originally inspired by a rainbow cake!

If you wonder what is on my index finger, well that was the cut which I told you about in my stash update. Although the cut is healed, it left a little scab behind. I know I could have photoshopped it out, but I was lazy, hehe ;)

Maybe I need to paint my nails more often with those bright colours. They're so fun and sunny in these cold days!

#31DC2013 Day 08: Metallic

First I'd like you to know that I will try to post approximately once per week, instead of trying to post more than once. I do that because I don't want to disappoint you if I do not fulfill my promises.

For the eighth challenge I wanted to try out one of my new OPI shatter polishes that I got on sale for €1,99.

I chose China Glaze Call Of The Wild for the base colour and picked OPI Gold Shatter to paint the diagonally half of my nail.

I thought that the warm colours would fit in today’s autumn weather.

 

It’s simple but chic! The next challenge will be: Rainbow!  I can assure you that you will like that post, at least I do!

If you want to let me know what you think about this manicure, please leave a comment below.