31 Day Challenge Completed!

Day 31 was to Honor the nails you love. So I'd like to give a shout out again to The Nailasaurus who's blog and Youtube tutorials have given me constant inspiration for nail designs and this challenge in particular. She has completed this challenge many times before and I was originally going to do her Underwater Gradient that she did for inspired by a tutorial.

But instead I did this. It's a Saran Wrap technique and although I picked different colours I used her Textured Saran Wrap Tutorial to help me with the effect.

Again my picture doesn't do this manicure justice and I think this may possibly be my favourite one out of the whole 31 Days. It's certainly a manicure I'm looking forward to sporting for more than just one day. And one I'll definitely do again with different colours.

Although I completed the challenge 12 days late, I was determined to finish. I've really enjoyed it. It's pushed me to try all the nail art I've wanted to try for ages and also get some real use out of my ever growing nail varnish collection.

31 Day Challenge - Inspired by The Supernatural and a Tutorial

I wimped out the supernatural, conscious that I am nearly two weeks late now with this challenge and have too many other things going on. Significant birthday party to plan and have also started a new part time course which I have DONE no course work for as yet. 

So my Supernatural for Day 29 was inspired by the film Poltergeist. The ghostly being communicates with the young girl through the static in the TV and this polish reminds me of that. I picked this up from Urban Outfitter and is part of their polish range called W.I.P. This one is called 'Blue Beaded' and I have this in purple to, I think there was a grey too.

Bit patchy I think I could have done with another coat, or maybe next time paint over a base colour. Not to keen on the polish to tell you the truth, drys matt and slightly textured, I supposes as you'd expect. I popped some top coat in after this picture which evened it out a bit, but it may need to go in my swaps pile.

Day 30 was inspired by a tutorial. One of the first videos I saw on Youtube that really got me into Nail Art was by PackAPunchPolish and is her Star Burst Water Marble. Take a look at this tutorial, she makes it look sooooo easy, and it really isn't. Also when I saw this video, I was like, you can make your nails look like this? I need to know how!

I did pick out similar colours to what she used, but some of my polishes just didn't want to spread, so I had to work with what I had and here's my attempt...

My pictures suck at the moment and my thumb nail probably came out the best and was the first nail I tried. I just can't get my crappy phone camera to focus. By the way this Revlon Scented polish in 'Raspberry Scone' was the best polish to work with for marbling. I can't say the same about the rest...

31 Day Challenge - Inspired by a Artwork and a Flag

I've been wanting to try a splatter manicure for a while and now was my chance. It's not so much inspired by a painting, but you could say an artist and reference Jackson Pollock. So here it is! I checked out a few tutorials first to get an idea of what I needed to do and opted for the dip a straw in your polish method and blow it on your nails.

Some worked better than others and I ended up with a few splodges where I probably had too much polish in the straw, but again happy with my first attempt. 

That's what I've really enjoyed about this challenge that it's actually got me round to having a go at all the great nail art I see on the Internet.

So that was Day 27. Day 28 was inspired by a flag, and I chose Cuba! Cuba is one of those places I'd love to go and I read a really great autobiography called 'Waiting for Snow in Havana' a few years ago. It really intrigued me about the history and the still Communist Government that it's ruled by, that has helped the country retain it's unique culture and society.

Here's what the Cuba Flag looks like (incase you didn't know):

And here's what my manicure looks like:

Stamped stars are a little wonky, I'll admit that, and I supposed I could have coloured them in. Reminds me more of Captain America or Wonder Woman I think.

Only three more challenges to complete and I'm only two weeks behind!

31 Day Challenge - Inspired by Fashion and a Pattern

Day 25 was a design inspired by fashion, so I took the design from a scarf I purchased recently as my inspiration rather than something from the catwalk. I've found it hard to find my own style over the years but something that always sticks with me and that also goes in and out of fashion is Grunge. I grew up in the 80's not really finding any music I liked or could identify and then in 1992/93 I found Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. This music scene, largely from Seattle had it's own signature fashion style too. The boys wore ripped jeans, band T-Shirts and lumberback shirts with green army Eddie Vedder style jackets. Whilst I wore DM's tie die tights and denim shorts with big baggy jumpers, and wishing I could carry off the Courtney Love Baby Doll dress. But looking more like a fat member of L7. 

Anyway, Grunge on the catwalk now tends to refer to these type of non coloured patterned items, and to my delight there is a lot of this about at the moment. This scarf looks like tree branches very similar to these nail wraps I bought a wee while ago.

So I tried to recreate this on my nails after seeing a similar manicure on Instagram by nailblazer and asking them how they created the effect. Using a fan nail art brush apparently, so that is what I did.

  

Similar to Day 25, I took inspiration for Day 26 'Inspired by a Pattern' from a dress I own from a company called Amari. There is a little shop in the town that I live and this is one of the brands they stock. This dress is made out of a light fleece like material and is just the best thing to wear in winter. I wear it over a pair of skinny jeans and it's so comfy and warm.

Anyway you can see the pattern here, and my attempt to replicate it. I'm thinking I need a lighter hand and also Mr Blobby springs to minds.

I'm massively behind with the challenge having been away for a long weekend during the last week of the challenge, and I was already 2, maybe 3 days behind then. I am however going to continue until I finish all manicures, I'm keen to do this again next year, like many nail blogger do and see if I've improved. I do hope so from the above attempt!

31 Day Challenge - Inspired by a film and a book

The last week or so of the 31 Day Challenge is a series of manicures inspired by different things. Day 23 was a film. One of my favourite films for ages directed by Spike Jonze is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. With my limited nail art skills how was I going to interpret the film on my nails though? So I Googled and I Pinteresed until I found this:

So I used the background of this Poster or DVD cover as the inspiration for my manicure and this is how it came out...

I do love a good gradient and the lines give it an added something. I wore this all day without the clouds as I was running out of time and added these the next day. Pretty pleased with how they came out!

Day 24 was inspired by a book, and I thought I'd use the book I was currently reading. I run a monthly book club at work and we've all put our suggestions into a hat and picked out a book to read each month. This month is The Crow Road by Iain Banks. The cover is black and white and I wanted to add a bird or birds, or even a feather to the design. But my tests looked rubbish and my birds like ticks. So I did this and left it how it was, I guess this could be inspired by any book...

I used Models Own 'Coconut Cream' as the base, this smells LOVELY. One of the better scented polishes I own.

31 Day Challenge - Inspired by a colour and a song

It was always going to be purple, I have a thing for purple and why complicate things when the colour says it all. I never really thought of purple as a girls colour, that is pink, but turns out it is. I don't care, it's a great colour and the below is pretty much the perfect shade of purple.

This is Illamasqua 'Faux Pas' and stupidly enough a polish I have never worn since purchasing it. This pic has no top coat as it dries matt, and I kinda like it.

Day 22 was inspired by a song and one of my favourite songs is 'Seasons' by Chris Cornell. The manicure doesn't reflect the songs lyrics, but the title and I tried to theme each nail around the four seasons.

So blue and white if for the Winter, red and orange is for the Autumn, yellow and orange is for the Summer and shades of green is for the Spring. 

I ended up using glitter top coats for extra effect, as my nail art painting of snow flakes and leaves didn't go according to plan. It kinda works except for the Autumn I think.

Going away to Berlin this weekend to run the marathon so the challenge will have to continue when I'm back!