Day 21: Scaled Gradient

 I've seen multi-gradients like this around the web and always loved the effect, so I had to try it for myself. It's so fun, and definitely eye-catching!

 I began on a white base of China Glaze White on White. On three nails I decided on a green China Glaze Four Leaf Clover and yellow OPI I just Can't Cope-acabana combination. The other two were done in purple China Glaze Plur-ple and neon pink China Glaze Pool Party.

 I used a sponge to apply the first gradient to the base of each nail. Once that was completely dry, I used a chevron nail guide sticker to block off the edge. I haven't got my hands on nail vinyls yet, but I hope to get some soon! In the meanwhile, nail guide stickers seem to do the trick. I repeated twice to space the design across the nail.  Next time I'll have to do alternating colors for something different, but I do love the effect of repeating the same colors!

Colors Used:

China Glaze White on White

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover

OPI I just Can't Cope-acabana

China Glaze Plur-ple 

China Glaze Pool Party

Day 19: Water Marble

 Woohoo, water marbling! I do so love water marbling. I had a tough time thinking of a good color scheme, but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.

 My chosen colors for this were dark teal OPI Amazon, Amazoff, light green Sinful Colors Mint Tropics, yellow Morgan Taylor Doo Wop, and China Glaze Peachy Keen. I realized the Peachy color was breaking up a little, so I decided to prime my nails with a coat of Peachy Keen to make the patches invisible.

 I'm going to have to do more water marbling this summer. It's still one of my favorite techniques. Yay!

Colors Used:

OPI Amazon, Amazoff

Sinful Colors Mint Tropics

Morgan Taylor Doo Wop

China Glaze Peachy Keen

Day 13: Magic!

 I decided to go the nerdy route and instead of being esoteric and mystical for the 'magic' prompt, I went with mana symbols from the Magic: The Gathering card game. It's still one of my favorite games!

 I actually started this by putting down the bright base color for each symbol. Starting from my thumb: green Essence The Green & The Grunge, blue Color Club Chelsea Girl, yellow Morgan Taylor Doo Wop, red Revlon China Flower, and white China Glaze White on White.

 I then used a small brush and some black acrylic paint to draw out each design. The environments on each were done in acrylic paint as well. I debated on whether or not to match the source image and do black for the rest of the nail or try something more ambitious, but I rather like the start contrasting effect.

Colors Used:

Essence The Green & The Grunge

Color Club Chelsea Girl

Morgan Taylor Doo Wop

 Revlon China Flower

 China Glaze White on White

Day 6: Hamblen Landscape

Today's theme is 'Inspired by Art', and I decided to try and replicate one of the stunning landscapes by Matthew Hamblen. It's just so dynamic and colorful! This was a bit of a speed paint as I started late, but I tried to at least make it recognizably based off the painting. Woo!

  So this is a bit different for me in that I used very little nail polish! The entire design is painted in acrylic paints. Of course, I learned from this that I really need to buy some more paints. Only after I started did I realize that my bold orange paint was dried up, and I had the hardest time getting a good vibrant orange from mixing the reds and yellows I had on hand.

 Even if it didn't turn out as an exact match to the colors of the painting, I had a lot of fun with it!

 Colors Used:

Acrylic Paints

Day 5: Traditional Easter Eggs

 I love the design of traditional easter eggs or 'pyansky'. I've always wanted to actually learn how to do the wax and dye designs. I figure painting nails inspired by them is the next best thing!

 I know I didn't pick the most traditional designs, but I wanted bright colors for Easter. No stamping here, these were entirely hand painted! Scroll down to see the actual eggs I based these on. Because of the detail scale quite a bit of this was done in acrylic paint.. However, I still used nail polish for the base and some details.

 For the polish colors, I used Sally Hansen New Wave Blue (thumb),  China Glaze Gaga for Green with some OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me (Index), Morgan Taylor Doo Wop (Middle), Sinful Colors Black on Black (Ring), and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue sponged with Essie Where's my Chauffer (Pinkie).

The rest of the patterns were painted with various acrylic paints. It was just too small to work with thicker polish!

Colors Used:

Sally Hansen New Wave Blue

 China Glaze Gaga for Green

 OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me

 Morgan Taylor Doo Wop

 Sinful Colors Black on Black

 Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

 Essie Where's my Chauffer

Day 2: Cute Chickies

Doing two themes at once today! Fortunately, the "Cute Animals" theme we had planned out for the month-long challenge matched up well with NPQ's '"Chicks" theme of the day. Woo!

 I started with the obligatory base color of OPI Alpine Snow. I then made a shimmery gradient using Sinful Colors Hip to be Square, Essie Rock the Boat, and a touch of Sephora by OPI Fancy Schmancy. I concentrated the gradient toward the base of each nail and left the tip white.

 Next, I added loose shapes in bright yellow Julep Lexie, then gave each some more dimension with macaroni yellow Flower Eye of the Tiger Lily. Beaks and feet were added with China Glaze Life Preserver. I then used a small amount of Life Preserver diluted with some acetone to continue shading the chicks. Tiny dots of Wet n Wild Black Creme gave them all eyes. After all of that, it still looked a bit empty. So I used a small brush and Essence The Green & The Grunge and Sephora by OPI It's Totally Karma to add some grass, then tossed a daisy onto my thumb and ring nails for good measure.

Colors Used:

OPI Alpine Snow

Sinful Colors Hip to be Square

Essie Rock the Boat

Sephora by OPI Fancy Schmancy

Julep Lexie

Flower Eye of the Tiger Lily

China Glaze Life Preserver

Wet n Wild Black Creme

Essence The Green & The Grunge 

Sephora by OPI It's Totally Karma 

Day 1: Pastel

 Starting another 30 Day Challenge, because I'm crazy like that! The first theme of the month is Pastel, which is fun because I don't normally find myself grabbing pastels. For this design I did a skittle-ruffian with what ended up looking like a pastel galaxy effect.

 I began by laying down the plain pastel cremes. Starting at my thumb, the colors are as follows: China Glaze Lotus Begin, Butter London Jasper, Finger Paints Dream I Can Fly, Icing Watermelon, and China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener. Once that was dry, I blocked off the ruffian and painted the remainder of the nail in OPI Alpine Snow. I then used a sponge to blot on more color and tried to make it look like water color.

 I then decorated the border with a thin line of white and small flowers in white as well. At the center of each flower I added a little nail art gem in a color that corresponded to the preceding nail. Mix n' match all around! Because that clearly was not enough, I added matte white glitter from Sally Hansen Eyelet, followed by scattered holographic glitter from ORLY Shine On Crazy Diamond.

 For my dominant hand, I just had fun with the handful of pastels and glitter toppers. Yay! Semi-unrelatedly, I really can't figure out why the orangey color was named 'Watermelon.' Seems an odd choice!

 Colors Used:

China Glaze Lotus Begin

Butter London Jasper

Finger Paints Dream I Can Fly

Icing Watermelon

China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener

OPI Alpine Snow

Sally Hansen Eyelet

ORLY Shine On Crazy Diamond

Aztec Serpent

 I really haven't tried tribal nails before! It's a rather fun idea, and of course a great chance to use bright and bold colors. I decided to do something different and also added in an aztec double headed serpent because it looked fun. Whee!

 I began with a base of China Glaze Peachy Keen. I really rather like this color, it's like a less-pink coral. It's not a color I normally wear, but after putting it on I was really impressed! Next, I taped off a pattern on my index, middle, and ring nails. I filled in alternating triangles with Julep Lexie, which is a nice yellow.

 I then added dark teal sections to each finger using OPI Amazon...Amazoff. This is one of my favorite teals of all time. Next, the serpent was painted in a range of teals. From darkest to lightest: Sally Hansen New Wave Blue, Essie Where's My Chauffeur, and China Glaze At Vase Value. The red details were done in L'Oreal Devil Wears Red.

I used a nail art striper polish, Sinful Colors Bad Chick, to add the line details to the tribal pattern. I then had fun with my dotting tools. Dots were added in China Glaze Capacity to See Beyond, more Julep Lexie, more Devil Wears Red, and some more Peachy Keen.

Colors Used:

China Glaze Peachy Keen

Julep Lexie

OPI Amazon...Amazoff

Sally Hansen New Wave Blue

Essie Where's My Chauffeur

China Glaze At Vase Value

L'Oreal Devil Wears Red

Sinful Colors Bad Chick

China Glaze Capacity to See Beyond

Butterfly Marble

 I still really love water marbling and have resolved to do it more often! For this I was participating in a challenge to try dried water marbling, where a design is marbled on water and then allowed to dry completely before putting it on the nail. It's fun! It's a lot more controlled than the marbling I'm used to, though I do miss the anticipation and unknown factor of regular marbling.

 I love doing high-contrast marbles, so I decided to go with navy, seafoam green, and yellow. I first painted all of my nails in a base of OPI Alpine Snow to help all of the colors pop. In the marble itself I used Sally Hansen Nightwatch (a great navy blue), ORLY Gumdrop (the seafoam green), and Morgan Taylor Ahead of the Game (yellow). These worked great for marbling and stayed distinct without blending together, plus they spread nicely and I was able to get quite a few repetitions in.

 Once the water marble was dry enough to hold its shape, I transferred it to wax paper and gave it more time to dry. Because it was holding pretty well, I got the idea to try punching out some shapes! I had found cute little mini shape punches at Joann's earlier last year and originally was going to use them as a stencil, but they were perfect for this! I used a little clear polish and transferred the marbling and the butterflies to my nails.

 I really like the idea of dry water marbling or decal water marbling. It's nice to be able to utilize more of the polish in each design, and I'm excited to try new shapes and designs via cutting rather than blocking off with tape on the nail. Woo!

Colors Used:

OPI Alpine Snow

Sally Hansen Nightwatch

ORLY Gumdrop 

Morgan Taylor Ahead of the Game

Floral Paisley

 I'm catching up on my backlog! These nails were done for NPQ's Hippie Challenge and they were so fun to both paint and wear! I rarely wear yellow polish but this actually worked out well.

 To start I used Butter London Jasper, which is one of my favorite yellows. It's nice to find a yellow that applies so well and needs less than three coats. Once that was dry, I used nail guides to block off a half moon at the base of each nail and filled that with OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle. I decided on the moons to give some contrast to the pattern.

 The flowers were added with a small dotting tool.  I used quite a few different colors:
Sinful Colors Southern Belle (Fuchsia), China Glaze Capacity to See Beyond (Aqua blue), OPI Call Me Gwen-ever (Orange), Sinful Colors Poudre (Light orange), and Seche Delicate (Pink). A little acrylic white paint was used for the centers of most flowers.

This pattern was much easier than it appears, it just required a bit of patience. The hardest part was trying to make sure I didn't repeat the same shapes in the same orientation!

Colors Used:

Butter London Jasper

OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle

 Sinful Colors Southern Belle

 China Glaze Capacity to See Beyond

OPI Call Me Gwen-ever

 Sinful Colors Poudre

Seche Delicate

Three Little Kittens

 Time for some cute kittens! I decided to go all out and paint the cover to one of my childhood favorites, The Three Little Kittens.

 I started with a layer of Morgan Taylor Ahead of the Game over a coat of OPI Alpine Snow, since I didn't feel like doing three coats of yellow to get it bright. However, this yellow was surprisingly easy to work with!  My index and pinkie nails were then painted with Morgan Taylor Varsity Jacket Blues. I then started with the white cat on my middle nail. Her fur is OPI Alpine Snow, shaded with a combo of Varsity Jacket Blues and very watered down China Glaze Liquid Leather. Her dress was done with OPI Where Did Suzi's Man Go? and Sinful Colors Feel the Vibe. 

 The black cat was colored with more Liquid Leather tipped with Alpine Snow, and her dress was done in the slightly darker Morgan Taylor Doo Wop, shaded with watered down Sephora by OPI Metro Chic and with heart-shaped dots of the same color. Ears on all three cats were done using Where Did Suzi's Man Go mixed with Alpine Snow to make an orangey-pinky color.

The wash bucket between the white and black cats is a combination of Metro Chic and Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day, filled with bubbles in Alpine Snow and Varsity Jacket Blues. 

The tabby cat is a mix of Doo Wop, subtle touches of watered down Where Did Suzi's Man Go, Metro Chic, and Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day. He wears a shirt of SpaRitual Dreams Becoming Reality and pants of Liquid Leather.

On my index and pinkie nails, I used striping tape to cordon off a section, then filled it with Ahead of the Game. I then added mittens using Flower Good Bud-Dy, OPI Where Did Suzi's Man Go, and Spa Ritual Dreams Becoming Reality.

Colors Used:

Morgan Taylor Ahead of the Game

OPI Alpine Snow

Morgan Taylor Varsity Jacket Blues

OPI Where Did Suzi's Man Go?

Sinful Colors Feel the Vibe

Morgan Taylor Doo Wop

SpaRitual Dreams Becoming Reality

Flower Good Bud-Dy

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day

China Glaze Liquid Leather