Nail Art January 2016: Day 11

Welcome back!

Today's Prompt: Recreation

White: Essie Blanc
Black: Essie Licorice
Dark Purple: Essie Haute Tub
Red: Essie Shall We Chalet?
Light Red: Essie Altitude Attitude
Blue: Essie Virgin Snow
Pink: Essie Peak Show
Silver: Essie Apres-chic
Yellow: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Sizzlin' Saffron

Every year for my birthday, I do some birthday nails for my birthday. Last year for this challenge, I redid those nails for this prompt as my recreation day. I decided to do that again this year! Last year, I used a Nicole by OPI collection so all of the colors went together. This year, I used the entire Essie Winter Collection to recreate the manicure. I love the way it turned out! They all went together, but were so much fun!

Thanks for reading <3

Nail Art January 2016: Day 08

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Today's Prompt: Animal

Black Glitter: OPI Center of the You-niverse
White: Zoya Purity
Black: Zoya Willa
Orange: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pumpkin Queen

These were super simple penguin nails that I did! My favorite animal is a penguin, so I really wanted to do them. If you are worried about work, because you can't wear something like this, you can totally do them without the eyes and beak, and just make it a Ruffian manicure that is inspired by penguins!

Thanks for reading <3

Nail Art January 2016: Day 04

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Today's Prompt: Sparkles

Pink: Essie Peak Show
Blue: Essie Virgin Snow
Glitter: Essie Luxeffects Frilling Me Softly

For this look, I sponged on the glitter on my whole ring finger nail. On the other nails, I used the small end of the sponge and sponged it on at the tip and slightly up. To make the gradient look a little better, I wiped a decent amount off of the brush, and then lightly brushed it toward my cuticle.

This glitter was also another glitter that my friend gave me for Christmas. It was one of the new Essie polishes that they released as part of their Luxeffects line. I loved it!

Thanks for reading <3

Nail Art January 2016: Day 02

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Today's Prompt: Fresh

This starts my second take at Nail Art January, created by Californails. She created this one last year, and I did it then. I decided to try it again, and try to make it a yearly event, kind of like the 31 Day Challenge that I do in September. No one else is really doing it this year, as far as I know. But I like to complete it so I can see how much I improve over a year!

Nude: Essie Brides to Be
White: Essie Blanc
Glitter: Essie Luxeffects A Cut Above

The first prompt, being fresh, made me think that French tips were the best way to go. I ended up doing an accent glitter nail, too, because it makes it more fun.

This glitter is also special to me, because one of my best friends bought it for me for Christmas, so it was the perfect time to use it! I had been considering buying it, and thinking strongly about it, and then she surprised me by getting it for me when I hadn't even told her I thought about it!

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 31

Welcome back! Again!

Today was the final day for this challenge, and I successfully completed it! This post is a little late, because I did have to finish The Nail Art Guild prompt for today, too.

The prompt was "silver," and I took it seriously! I used Essie No Place Like Chrome and did a little negative space mani. I used Nail Vinyls from here again, and put them down before any polish, then painted the polish over them. Once I took them off, I put down some rhinestones that were in a nail wheel I got from Icing.

That was it! They were super quick, simple, and unfortunately messy. I like the idea, I just need to be a little neater next time. I think it would be fun to play around with some different colors and studs/rhinestones.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 28

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Today's prompt: Match OOTD! (Outfit Of The Day)

Today, I wore one of my favorite outfits to work. I have been wanting to create this shirt pattern on my nails, and I finally had the chance and reason to!

The white and red polish were Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt and Please Red-cycle, and the black polish was Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Fright. The stripes were done using Salon Perfect Nail Art stripers in Red Laser and Black Ink.

Here is a picture of my shirt that inspired it. With it, I wore a red cardigan, and plain black pants.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 25

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Today's prompt was "studs!" I don't own a lot of studs, because I really just don't use them much. I have to use my hands all day at work, and I wash them all the time. I just worry about losing them or having them fall off and I hate the look with top coat on top.

The studs I used were from Sally's Beauty Supply and Icing. The orange-y polish is OPI Can't aFjord Not To from their Nordic collection this past fall. The blue-gray polish is Essie The Perfect Cover Up, also from their fall 2014 collection.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 22

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The theme for today was "Favorite Design." I chose to do chevrons, because I am completely obsessed with them.

I decided that I wanted to do a different base color on each nail and a then add the same color on top. I chose five colors from the China Glaze All Aboard collection for my base nails, and then added white polish on top of the chevron stickers.

The polishes I used were...
Thumb: Don't Get Derailed
Index: Mind the Gap
Middle: Well Trained
Ring: Lug Your Designer Baggage
Pinky: Choo-Choo Choose You

The white polish that I used to top them was China Glaze White on White. To create the chevrons, I used nail vinyls. They can be purchased here.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 20

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The prompt for Day 20 was "Favorite Color." My favorite color is pink, so I decided to keep it simple and just pick a polish I had not tried yet.

I chose to use OPI Girls Love Ponies from their Mustang collection that released this past summer. I only needed two coats of this gorgeous polish. It applied beautifully, has a great formula and just looks awesome. It would be perfect for some Valentine's Day manicures, if anyone is looking for one!

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 17

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The prompt for day 17 was "gradient." I was really excited to do these for some reason. I'm not sure why, because I've done gradients before. I started by applying one coat of white polish, and then a quick dry top coat. I let that dry for a few minutes, and then taped off my finger to help with cleanup in the end.

For my colors, I chose three colors from the China Glaze All Aboard collection. From lightest to darkest, they were All Aboard, Nice Caboose! and Conduct Yourself. These colors worked so nicely together. They blended well, and were opaque enough that I didn't need to do two layers on my nails, which was amazing because it saved a lot of time.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 14

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The prompt for Day 14 was "new technique."

I originally tried to do the reverse stamping method, but that was an awful fail. So, I switched techniques! I ended up trying the spotted watermarble technique.

I started by painting a base color on my nails. I used OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid, from the Nordic collection. For the watermarble part, all you do it drop a few drops of polish in the water, just like you would with a regular water marble, but the polish drops are all the same color. I used OPI's OPI With A Nice Finn-ish from the Nordic collection. Next, take a spray bottle with something in it (I used water) and spray the surface a couple of times until you have the desired look. Then, you just have to continue like with any water marble. You dip your finger in, clean up the surface, and then pull it out!

It was simple, but look awesome! And I loved how easy it was.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 11

Welcome back!

The Nail Art January challenge, hosted by @Californails, continues. The prompt for Day 11 was "recreation."

January is a month full of birthdays for my family. Mine is the 9th, followed by my nephew, boyfriend, sister and my boyfriend's mother, all within the next week. For the recreation prompt, I decided to take it a little different direction than most people did. Most people that I saw recreated someone else's nail art. I had just done that for Day 08, though, so I decided to recreate my own manicure! I had done a similar manicure a year ago for my birthday, and the year before for my birthday.

I used all Nicole by OPI polishes for this, mostly ones from the Fall in Line collection. I wanted the colors to go together better than in the past, where they have usually been a jumble. The white was Yoga-Then-Yogurt, the turquoise was Poised for Turquoise, the purple was Did He Wink At Me?, and the pinky berry was Berry the Hatchet. I also used Please Red-cycle for the candles on the cake, but I wish I would have just used the berry color for it.

Just for fun, here is the picture from last year.

Thanks for reading! <3

#NailArtJan Day 08

Welcome back!

Day 08's prompt was "animal." Since it was the day before my birthday, I chose to recreate a design that I saw done by Christabellnails on Instagram. Her Youtube channel can be found here.

For the base color on the penguin, and the bows on the packages, I used OPI Suzi Has a Swede Tooth. The polka dot looking nails were done using Essie She Said Yes and Salon Perfect Flower Power. I put down two layers of the Essie, and then a couple of dabbed on layers of Flower Power. To finish it, I did a coat of She Said Yes again.

The penguin and balloons were done using different stripers by Salon Perfect and Sally Hansen.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 04

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The prompt for Day 04 was "Sparkles!" I chose to try a type of polish that I hadn't yet! For this, I used the Revlon Moon Candy nail art stick thing. This was in the color "Galactic." This is a double ended polish with a solid dark blue on one end, and some blue sparkles on the other.

I absolutely loved this polish! It applied fairly well, but it was beautiful. I did end up mattifying it with OPI Matte Top Coat. It was extremely hard to photograph without doing this, but it also gave it a completely different look, which I loved!

I have another one of the Revlon Moon Candy polishes, and I'm really excited to try it now.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtJan Day 02

Welcome back!

I decided to do what I do at the 31 Day Challenge with all of the challenges that I partake in. That way, I can keep track of what polishes I used to create each manicure!

First up, the Instagram challenge that I am doing right now, in January. I was on vacation during that day, so it was slim pickins'. Thankfully, the prompt was "Fresh," and I had some press on french nails.

The ones that I used this time were by imPress, and they were the short length. I have tried the Kiss brand press ons before this, and I liked those alright. But now that I've tried this, I absolutely loved these more. They go on much easier, and they stayed great, but they came off so easily! They looked better to me than the Kiss ones, because it was easier to stick them at the base, so it didn't look like two different colors on my nail beds.

Overall, I liked the shape and length better, too. They felt more natural and comfortable, where I remember the Kiss ones being less comfortable.

Thanks for reading! <3