#31dc2014 Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

I can see the light! The light at the end of the challenge tunnel! Only one more mani to go and it will all be over for another year. I look forward to Day 30 and 31 as I get really inspired by the daily themes, tutorials and honouring nails you love. For today's nails I really wanted to try and work on my dry marbling skills. I love swirling polish randomly, I think it looks floaty and gel like. So to challenge myself I decided to try to make an actual dry marble pattern. 

I turned to Youtube for guidance and came across a tutorial by Sveta Sanders Nails. Wow, she is amazingly talented. The video made it look so easy!  It took me a while to find 2 polishes that worked well together. I'm no expert at this technique but I found creally (jelly/cream) polish that has decent opacity seemed to get the best results. I used Picture Polish - Candy and Picture Polish - Mad Magenta. 

I took my first attempt off and totally redid them because the first lot were horrendous. These ones made the cut...just. Go check out Sveta's if you want to see this design done amazingly well. 

#31dc2014 Day 29: Inspired by the supernatural

Well this is what happens when I sit down to do nails without a plan. NEON! These kind of came out of nowhere. I really liked the skull decals I made the other day and that same stamping plate (Sugar Bubbles SB029) was still sitting on my desk. Skulls say supernatural to me and Drama Queen Skull with her little crown was just begging to get stamped and of course she wanted to be neon pink. 

Polish:

• Mundo de Unas - 29 (neon pink) * Restock for Mundos is happening in October - please keep your eyes on our Facebook page for more details *
• Mundo de Unas - 27 (neon yellow)
• Sugar Bubble Plate SB 029 - available here.
• Cici and Sisi 12 - pink collection - swirl pattern

On the back of the stamper decals I used white polish to make the neons pop. The Mundos worked awesomely for making the decals, they came out so vibrant! My eyes burn! I made the swirly stamping decals on my stamper. Head to my original stamper decal tutorial post HERE for the full details on how to do this. Below is a super condensed version with the basic idea.

My top tips for making decals and applying them are:

1. Dont let them dry too much. Leave them 30 min - 45min. The longer you leave them the more brittle they become making it harder to curve to your nail and get clean edges.

2. When you peel off and apply the decals they should be sticky enough to stick to the nail without basecoat. I don't use anything to stick mine on any more. If you peel them off the stamper when they are still pliable and a tiny bit sticky they apply like a sticker...yes really! 

3. Try not to "pull" on the decals when you are peeling it off the stamper, work from all sides and roll the stamper as you are pulling the decal off so you don't stretch the design in one direction. I have killed many decals doing this.

These nails are so me. Supernatural funk! xx

#31dc2014 Day 28: Inspired by a flag

If I had to pick my least favourite day of the challenge it would have to be today. Flags! Ugh! Not very inspiring, but soldier on I must so I went for a cool colour combo this year and took artistic license. Greece...stripes....Olympics....doves!

Polish:

• China Glaze - Wait and Sea
• China Claze - Foe Audrey
• Kleancolors - White strier
• Kleancolor - Silver striper

The stamp is from the Winstonia 2nd gen collection, plate 205, stamped with Konad white. So glad this day is over and I can get to work on something a little more me tomorrow xx 

#31dc2014 Day 27: Inspired by artwork

Weee bubbles! Everything is better with bubbles! When I was thinking of something for today I went on a mind tangent reminiscing about the types of artwork I learnt how to do at school. One of my fav techniques was bubble painting and I remember many crafty afternoons making invitations and letter writing paper to send to friends (in a distant pre email life). So this was the catalyst to go searching for some bubble art online and I was spoilt for choice...so many sparkly colourful bubbles. 

Polish:

• OPI - Skull and gloss bones
• Picture Polish - Mad Magenta
• China Glaze - Liquid Leather

The stamp is from a Dashica Stamping Collection, plate Dash 7 stamped with Konad Powder Silver. This is the bubble picture that really jumped out at me, I love how the bubbles get smaller in a gradient.

To create these nails I started with a grey base. I sponged on magenta with a little piece of sponge, then repeated the sponging on the tips with black. Add on the bubble stamp and that's it. 

The accent finger looks so dreamy to me, I love how it came out. To create the bubble look I dotted on random blobs of magenta over the black base with a dotting tool. I then used a cotton tip soaked in acetone and placed it in the centre of the dots to spread out the polish and create the bubble "ring" look. To get the bubble shine I added different shades of purple crystals over the bubble rings and applied topcoat over the entire nail.

Man I wish I didn't have to keep taking these off each day! xx 

#31dc2014 Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

The end of the challenge is in sight and Im spurring myself along with the thought that soon I'll have my life (and clean nail room) back. Its not that I'm not enjoying the challenge, I really am, but it is very time consuming and I don't get to keep any of the designs for more than a day! Anyway, today's inspiration is a pattern and there are few patterns more recognisable than paisley. 

Polish:

• Zoya - Carter (Deliciously rich purple pixie)
• OPI - Angel with a lead foot 
• Stamped with some fab new Aussie indie stamping polishes that I will reveal more about at a later date.

The stamping plate is from Bundle Monster 300 series, plate 315 - available here. 

I think these turned out really cool and I'm excited to be able to show you some more of these amazing stamping polishes in the future xx

#31dc2014 Day 25: Inspired by fashion

I think its ok to say.....best nails of the challenge so far! These are funky, I love how they turned out. Which is good because they took flippin ages to do.

Polish:

• OPI - The "It" colour (yellow)
• OPI - Hey Baby (pink)
• OPI - Angel with a lead foot (white)
• Barry M - School of hard knocks
• China Glaze - Wait and sea
• OPI - Red my fortune cookie

The dress I was inspired by is from this really odd website (just go look at it...lol the translation) www.becauseclothing.com I have never shopped there but this dress is super gorgeous and rainbow-y...it was begging to be turned into nails! 

To create these nails I used a medium striping brush to layer on the colours. No need to be super precise with the crossover lines because you can cover them with striping tape. Then apply lots of strips of black striping tape and use good scissors to cut them precisely. I always apply 2 layers of topcoat over striping tape in an attempt to make it last longer. 

I hope you guys like these as much as I do xx

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#31dc2014 Day 24: Inspired by a book

Not a big fan of this day in the challenge...it always tests my freehand skills which then leads to mini meltdowns and nail fails. This year I took a different approach and gave freehand the flick in favour of stamping decals. The tutorial for how to create these decals can be found here. The book I chose is The Book of Skulls which is a compilation book of unique skull art and skull collecting. 

Polish:

• Zoya - Chyna
• OPI - Angel with a lead foot
• China Glaze - Liquid Leather 

Both stamps are from Sugar Bubbles plate SB 009 which is available here. If you love skulls with a girly edge you need this plate. 

The above pic is the front cover and below is one of my fav skulls in the book. Look at that sparkle! Isn't this skull just so special...wow!

Here is a pic of the Sugar Bubbles plate. A must have for all skull crazies xx 

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#31dc2014 Day 23: Inspired by a movie

I can clearly remember the first time that I watched Jurassic Park. It was at the cinema with my Mum and brother and I was about 13 years old. It was all so exciting, dinosaurs coming back to life..I mean come on now...its the stuff of kids dreams! But then it all got terrifyingly real. The ripples in the cup and the tap tap tap of a velociraptors nails on the kitchen bench. Aaaaargh! 

Polish:

• Picture Polish - Mad Magenta
• China Glaze - For Audrey
• Lime Crime - Lavendairy
• Zoya - Pippa

These nails were inspired by @nailsalonavarice 

I'm super excited for the Jurassic Park reboot, I hope they don't ruin it. I wonder if Blingasuarus Rex will make an appearance? 

#31dc2014 Day 22: Inspired by a song

......Like a black widow, baby. Iggy you so hawt right now! It was a toss up between Fancy and Black Window but it was always going to be an homage to Iggy day. 

Polish:

• OPI - Angel with a lead foot
• OPI - Over and over a-Gwen
• China Glaze - Liquid Leather

I created a gradient then lined each nail using a black striping polish. I wanted today's design to represent Iggy's hair and also both outfits. Check out the vid to see Iggy kicking some butt with her badass balayage.

And so the challenge continues xx

#31dc2014 Day 21: Inspired by a colour

I feel so lucky every day that I live in Australia and can get my grubby mitts on all the amazing Aussie indie polishes that are on offer. Glam Polish is a big time fav brand of mine. In fact my GPs are my biggest Aussie indie collection, with Gloss n' Sparkle coming a very close second.  For today's colour prompt I browsed my indie racks waiting for something to jump out at me and it was GP Maleficent that caught my eye. It occurred to me that I did purple this time last year also. It was obviously meant to be...purple! 

Polish

• Glam Polish - Maleficent over Dance Legend - Anthem
• China Glaze - Liquid Leather
• Magenta/Purple holo linear foil

I am super fantastically happy with how the foil worked for the gradient tip. It's so interesting looking, like crinkled up lolly wrapper. And Maleficent..oooh how she sparkles!

The next part of the challenge will require some thinking and creativity with the prompts referencing bookies, movies and songs. Thanks to everyone who has been cheering me along by commenting on the blog, IG and FB. Your comments really help me want to keep going xx

#31dc2014 Day 20: Water Marble

OMG! I did it. I water marbled and I didn't even cry once! These nails are inspired by the fabulous @lilyandjinks. She did a kitty version and they are ridiculously awesome. I am digging the super fly ducklings! 

Polish:

• Barry M - Bright Purple
• China Glaze - Wait and Sea
• OPI - Angel with a lead foot 

I fully appreciate the skill involved in water marbling and it looks unique and beautiful but gosh it is so messy, I always end up with polish all over myself. It's far from perfect but I am very satisfied with this year's water marble. And to get to the end of it with no tears...BONUS! xx 

#31dc2014 Day 19: Galaxy

Ohhh eeee, pastel galaxy! Day 19 is always awesome, I will never get tired of galaxy nails. 

Polish:

• Milani - Hi Res
• OPI - You're such a Budapest
• Barry M - Bright purple
• China Glaze - For Audrey 
• China Glaze - Fairy Dust
• Essie - Set in Stones
• OPI - Angel with a lead foot 

I seriously adore this polish, its a total sparkle fest and the most amazing shade of mauve. Pink rhinestone bow is available here.

#31dc2014 Day 18: Half Moon

A quick check in today. It's my first day of holidays and I have plans to catch up on some trashy TV and sleep. These came out really groovy and they were super easy. I used those white stickers you put around holes on loose leaf paper...hole protectors? You know..those little round sticker things! 

Polish:

• Glam Polish - High Priestess
• China Glaze - Liquid Leather
• OPI - Angel with a lead foot

Now to watch some Face Off and enjoy my first day of hols xx

#31dc2014 Day 17: Glitter

It's glitter day...Make it rain, make it rain, throw some glitter make it rain! My What's Indie Box for September just arrived and there was PLENTY of glittery goodness to choose from. Gasp this polish is beyond amazing! In fact you could say its out of this world.

Polish:

• Glam Polish - Falling galaxy
• OPI - Don't pretzel my buttons

I could just stare at it for hours. Its such a gorgeous deep purple with a heap of rainbow sparkle just waiting to pop!

Glitter day is one of the best days in the challenge. I'm off now to go and drool over everyone's glitter manis xx

#31dc2014 Day 16: Geometric

So today is the half way point of the challenge and I have got to the stage where I almost cant see the surface of my nail art table. There is tonnes of polish and bits and pieces of random junk (striping tape, glue, polish dribbles) littering my work area. It's time for a big clean up, so today I'm going for something simple so I can reboot and start fresh and so clean, clean tomorrow.

Polish:

• OPI - Skull and Glossbones
• Zoya - Sunshine

These colourful geometric decals came with my Cici and Sisi pink stamping collection. I had forgotten all about them until yesterday when I was flipping through trying to find something delicate. You beauty! xx

#31dc2014 Day 15: Delicate print

I was flipping through my stamping plates looking for a delicate print, something swirly or floral. Nothing was really jumping out at me until I stumbled across an image in my Cici and Sisi collection and it hit me like a train...there's nothing quite as delicate (or deadly!) as a spider's web! 

Polish:

• China Glaze - Wait and Sea
• China Glaze - Sweet Hook
• China Glaze - For Audrey
• Barry M - Silver Foil
• Konad - Black

To create the colour mix I put a few different colours randomly onto a sponge then dabbed the polish on over a white base until I was happy with the coverage. I love how the background came out, its like an early morning sky.

I rolled on the stamped image from different starting points so not every finger looked the same. The web design from the Cici plates (pink collection) is great, I love how its imperfect, just like a real web. The spider image is from Konad plate m82. Don't you just hate it when you accidently walk into a spider's web? For something so delicate its amazing how it can stop you in your tracks! 

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#31dc2014 Day 14: Flowers

Something you might not know about me is that I am a huge shinnichi. Huh? A wha? A Japanophile! I love Japan, so much so that I went there on my honeymoon and my house is full of Japanese photos, knick knacks and yes I have a whole shelf of Totoros!  For some reason I have never done cherry blossom nails so today's theme was the perfect opportunity to have a go.

Certainly not as beautiful as the real thing but so pretty. Check out a couple of cherry blossom pics I took the last time I was in Japan.

Polish:

• China Glaze - Diva Bride
• Lime Crime - Pink Parfait
• Zoya - Dahlia (pixie)
• OPI - Black spotted ( I actually love using this polish for nail art as its really runny and makes fine lines a bit easier)

This picture below truly captures the beauty of the cherry blossom tree. Looking at it makes me want to hop on a plane and go back so badly. Don't you just love how it hangs artfully over the building, like every branch was purposefully positioned into a cascading waterfall. Gorgeous! 

Hope you guys are enjoying my efforts in the challenge this year. I'm trying to take a few risks and try things I haven't done before whilst avoiding the dreaded nail fail xx

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#31dc2014 Day 13 - Animal Print

I'm not particularly fond of snakes but I can appreciate them for their beauty. When I was about 7 years old I went out into the backyard to go bike riding and there sitting on top of my bike was an Australia green tree snake. I ran back into the house and my Dad called the snake people and off he went to live happily ever after back in the bush somewhere. That was to be the first of many snake encounters in my backyard, we lived on acreage so there was always a couple lurking around eating the neighbours' chook eggs, mostly carpet snakes. I once saw one eat a whole possum, I filmed it and to this day it is the most disturbing thing to watch.

I'm so pleased with how these nails turned out. They really are slinky and shimmery just like a snake.

 

Australia Green tree snake

Polish:

• Kleancolors - Metallic Green
• Konad Stamping Polish - Green

The snake print is from the Bundle Monster 200 series, plate BM 215

I love how subtle the print came out and in different light it shifts between yellow and green. I had to add a touch of yellow bling, cause you know every snake likes to look a little fabulous every now and then.  

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#31dc2014 Day 12 - Stripes

I went into today with no plan in mind. I had a vague idea that I wanted to use my nail art pens somehow but they ended up dinging my base colour and annoying me so that idea went out the window. I had the red and orange polish sitting on my desk from yesterday's mani that I hadn't put away yet so I grabbed them and some striping tape and just started sticking bits on hoping it would come together. It turned out interesting enough, especially the swirl inside the outline decal. It looks like a flaming eye! 

Polish:

• China Glaze - Seas the day (red)
• China Glaze - Stoked to be soaked (orange)
• OPI - Skull and glossbones (grey)

Sometimes when you just cant figure out what to do...go the polish swirl and hope for the best.

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#31dc2014 Day 11 - Polka Dots

It was a hard decision on rainbow day because I had two ideas that I wanted to do. One was rainbow confetti, and if you have been following along you'll know that I went with the giraffe print/pool design instead. But luckily enough this part of the challenge delves into different techniques and today's is polka dots. So it was the perfect chance to sneak in some confetti!

Polish:

• China Glaze - Seas the day (red)
• China Glaze - Stoked to be soaked (orange)
• China Glaze - More Pacific (green)
• China Glaze - Sun upon my skin (yellow)
• China Glaze - Wait and sea (blue)
• Essie - Prima Ballerina

Yay! Confetti!

#31dc2014 Day 10 - Gradient

A super short post today to share the pics and attempt to keep up. I'm going to have a double mani day today to make up for missing yesterday. Whoopsie! 

Polish:

• China Glaze - Liquid Leather
• OPI - Angel with a lead foot
• China Glaze - Flip flop fantasy

To create this design paint a line of black on the end of your sponge, leave a small gap then paint another line of black. Fill in the space with white and apply the sponge to your nail. Use a small brush to add in your feature colour.

How is everyone else coming along with the challenge this year?

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#31dc2014 Day 9: Rainbow

One of my favourite days in the challenge is rainbow day. I look forward to it every year. When I planned out today's design in my book before the challenge started I was going to do rainbow confetti nails, but when I did my first big dot it accidentally turned into a pool/mosaic as the base colour underneath wasn't quite dry....so I went with it! It turned out a bit like a rainbow giraffe.

Polish:

• China Glaze - Seas the day (red)
• China Glaze - Stoked to be soaked (orange)
• China Glaze - More Pacific (green)
• China Glaze - Sun upon my skin (yellow)
• China Glaze - Wait and sea (blue)
• OPI - Samoan Sand

I love the next few days of the challenge, its getting to the good bit now!