33DC: Recreate/Freestyle

Finally! My last post for this challenge. My New Year’s Resolution definitely needs to be to keep up with challenges and this blog better!

I’d wanted to try tie dye nail art for a while, had saved a couple of tutorials on YouTube and thought about doing it for the “something from your inspiration board” day of the challenge. However that day I had to go to a fancy dinner and didn’t want to do a mani which I knew would take absolutely ages and then have to take it straight off and paint my nails a more sensible shade… Interestingly another blogger did choose tie dye nails on the “inspiration board” day and I absolutely loved Meg’s Manicures version of tie dye nails.

So this final one is half a recreation and half freestyle as I’m not recreating Meg’s exactly but taking my inspiration from hers and a couple of YouTube videos – I especially liked this one by knailart

Mine didn’t come out as blended as I’d hoped and look a bit more like candy swirls than tie dye but it was a fun and very bright mani to do!

I used: My Boyfriend. Scales Walls – OPI, 420 – Flormar, NA07 – Flormar, Blue Collar – Orly, Violet Femme – Picture Polish, Notting. Hill Gate – Nails Inc, Westbourne Grove – Nails Inc

33DC: Shapes

I was inspired by nail studs for this one! I don’t actually own any nail studs myself but love the look of the single line of studs down the middle of the nail, so thought I would try a colourful, hand painted version of this with various shapes.

Some shapes have come out better than other but overall I quite like this mani. It’s fun and bright and a little different.

I used: My Boyfriend Scales Walls – OPI, Dreamer – Revlon, Do You Lilac It? – OPI, Notting Hill Carnival – Nails Inc, Boudoir – Ciaté

33DC: Featuring My 3 Favourite Polishes

Oops! I forgot to post the last three days of the 33DC! Here’s day 31 of the challenge. Choosing my favourite polish is easy as I do have one all time favourite – Tristam by A England. choosing the other two was not so easy but I finally went with Where’s My Chauffeur? – Essie and The Last Trial by Anny. These are two polishes I’ve used over and over and always love, on their own and in nail art.

Unfortunately I don’t think my design does any of these polishes justice as it was done in a bit of a rush. The three colours together made me think of the northern lights – Tristam has always made my think of the night sky and the other two polishes reminded me of the colours I’ve seen in the photos of the northern lights I’ve been looking at (and will hopefully see in 3 weeks time on my wedding day!) I wanted to do streaks of colour in the night sky but it didn’t quite work out and looks a bit messy.

Still – three beautiful polishes which I love having on my nails.

33DC: The Same Pattern in Different Colours

I’d always wanted to do cupcake nails and although they’re not exactly a pattern I thought they were a good choice for a design that could be done in several different colours. It was fun and simple to do and I was pleased with the results. Perhaps I went a bit wild with the dots and should have embraced a less is more approach but never mind.
I used loads of polishes doing this, which I really enjoyed. Sometimes it’s nice to line up 15 polishes for one manicure!

I used: Don’t Pretzel My Buttons – OPI, Kalahari Kiss – China Glaze, Hook Up – Orly, Pineapple Juice – Rituals, Elizabeth Street – Nails Inc, Hottie – Orly, Pomegranate – Barry M, Violet Femme – Picture Polish, Do You Lilac It? – OPI, I Scream: Ice Cream! – Catrice, Don’t Mess with OPI – OPI, Def Defying – China Glaze, Mojito – Rituals, Matte Aqua – BYS, If I Were a Boy – Essence, Play it Blue – Catrice

33DC: My Favourite Pattern

There wasn’t one pattern that immediately sprang to mind for this day of the challenge, but after browsing back through some of my old photos I remembered how much I loved this scalloped pattern which tried almost a year ago.

This time I’m not sure I actually did as good a job as I did the first time round! The purple I picked looks very bright in some lights but here with the black outline and the gold glitter looks really dark and not how I imagined it turning out. As it didn’t look quite right I started experimenting with some bits if sparkly pink polish over the top.

I still love the pattern but think I can do better than this!

I used: Violet Femme – Picture Polish, U07 – Flormar, Miami pINK – Catrice, black acrylic paint.

33DC: Lines

I didn’t wanted to do just stripes for this day of the challenge so I went on a bit of a trawl through google images for some inspiration. I came across this mani and loved the heart design on it so I thought I’d give it a try myself. My hearts were probably more successful and recognisable than my stars and it was a really fun one to try. I enjoyed wearing these and was slightly sad to take them off.

I used: Just Gorgeous – Anny, If I Were a Boy – Essence, Azure – Rimmel, Life is a Freeride – Essence, Elizabeth Street – Nails Inc, Sensation – Color Addict, Miami pINK – Catrice, Pineapple Juice – Rituals, Bring Me Peach – Catrice, Secret of Love – Anny.

33DC: Featuring three patterns

I have to say this one was done in a bit of a rush and without much of a plan. I divided my nail into three parts with striping tape and then used the first three patterns that came into my head with the first couple of colours I grabbed that wouldn’t look strange with the pale blue I already had on.
For such a rushed job I don’t think it looks too bad. A bit chaotic with three clashing patterns but in some ways that was the idea (or so I’m telling myself!!!) it was quite fun to do and a relatively quick mani, which we all need now and again!

I used: Play it Blue – Catrice, Artificial Sweetener – Orly, Where’s My Chauffeur? – Essie

33DC: Something from my Inspiration board

I’m not really into Pinterest – I’ve tried using it but it just isn’t my thing. I don’t have an inspiration board as such either. I’m more of a list maker and I do have lists and lists of things I want to try, links to blogs, pictures, ideas that I like so this is my version of an inspiration board. One of the things on my list was to buy a matte topcoat and to try a design that contrasted matte and shiny textures in one colour. I’d seen a lot of people do this with black polish but not that many in other colours. I was going to an important work dinner on Friday so I thought this would be a nice subtle manicure for the event. I didn’t feel that black was right for it though and chose a dark purple instead.
In hindsight I should have chosen a simple pattern like dots or stripes but went with something a bit floral which just didn’t work that well. I don’t think the purple polish helped either. I didn’t really like the result and think I should have spent a bit more time thinking this one through.
A bit of a disappointment but something that will stay on my inspiration/to try list for another day.

I used: Franklins Row – Nails Inc.

33DC: A new technique for me

Oh dear, still a week behind on my posts. Next challenge I’m going to be so much more organised!

Anyway, a technique I’d been meaning to try for ages was water spotted nails. I probably should have used a nice bright base colour with black over the top like most of the tutorials I saw showed but I’d seen someone do a dark blue over light blue that was really pretty. By this point I had had blue nails for well over a week and was just craving a completely different colour so decided to go with pinks.

I think the colours were a bit too close and not contrasting enough to really make this technique work plus I struggled to get big water spots and either got tiny ones or the whole lot disintegrated! I don’t think it was a complete disaster and I quite like that there’s a way of using this technique in a more subtle way but next time I’ll try fluoro colours under black! It’s a technique I definitely want to return to and experiment with getting interesting patterns and bubble sizes with the alcohol spray.

I used: Grosvenor Street – Nails Inc, The Last Trial – Anny.

33DC: Featuring the colour I own most of

Well the colour I own most of is easily blue. Not only has my collection of blues increased rapidly with my recent mission to find the perfect blue for my wedding but it’s always the colour I feel I need more of and am missing shades that are essential to my collection!

Doing the gradient manicure a few days previously reminded me how much I enjoy gradients but also how much I need to work on getting them smooth and perfect looking. I think I should have used a medium blue in the middle of this gradient as the pale to dark looks a bit grainy and isn’t as smooth as I’d hoped for.
Still, I think the gradient was fairly successful and let me use one of my favourite techniques as well as my favourite colour.

I used: My Boyfriend Scales Walls -OPI, Dreamer – Revlon, Southwark – Nails Inc, Belgrave Place – Nails Inc.