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 - B&W and Metallic Nails

Days 6 & 7 of the 31 Day Challenge were a little more involved that previous days. First up Black and White. My other half mentioned I should do Humbug nails, but didn't have the time or patience to do the stripes so I did THIS! 

For the base I used Revlon's Parfumerie polish in 'Espresso', it was a toss up between this and China Glaze 'Liquid Leather', but I've not used the Revlon Polish so another one checked off my untried list. Great polish, goes on so smoothly and finishes to a lovely shine without top coat. For the white splatter I used Color Show's Acid Wash Effect in 'Top Splatter'. Really quite happy with the effect and will definitely do this manicure again and try the Splatter polish over other colours.

Day 7 was Metallic Nails and I totally ripped off this idea from Lou is Perfectly Polished. Her manicure is amazing and much neater than mine, I need to practise stamping more! Here's my efforts...

Smudgy at best, but you get the idea! check out Lou's Blog to see how it should have been done.

For this I used Barry M 'Denim' as the base, pretty much opaque in one coat and sooooo pretty. It's a dark blue with a silver shimmer running through it. I have worn this before but not on it's own, it's good to go without the smudgy stamping! The pattern is from Konad's m65 plate and stamped with Barry M Foil Effect polish in Silver.

Wedding Manicure

On Saturday my friends Steph and James got married in a lovely country pub in Cheshire. I love a good wedding I do, and this was certainly an eventful day.

The weather was a bit wet and windy, but we didn't have to venture out and it was lovely a toasty in the pub, especially after a bit of wedding dancing, looking like a fool.

Anyway down to details, I wanted something to match this amazing dress I bought from Debenhams, and although you probably can't see it from the picture the detail on the top half of the dress has green and purple in it. So I painted my nails in OPI's 'Don't Mess with OPI', a polish I hadn't used and broke out my Konad stamping polishes in White and Black Pearl.

I used Konads stamping plate M82 and alternated two of the different flower designs on each nail. I'm hiding my ring finger behind the polish as I broke this sometime Saturday night. It was already half broken, but quite far down and I'd cobbled together a fix with some nail glue and part of a tea bag, something I saw on You Tube.

You also can't see my thumb in this picture as I've just purchased the most amazing polish by Color Club called 'The Uptown' and I'd tried it on my thumb to see what it looked like. I can't describe it, I'll have to do one of my next manicures in it and show you just how amazing it is. I caught a first glimpse of it on Nail Call's Blog. The polish looks nothing like the colours on her swatches here as it does on my nails and I think that it's going to be one of polishes that changes colour depending on what you layer it over. So let's see...

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Stamping Duty

So nail Bloggers and Vloggers tell me that Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes are super-amazeballs for stamping and much cheaper than the Konad polishes you can buy for the same purpose.

However these aren't readily available in UK stores, but you can source some online and of course eBay, colours are limited though if you're looking for something in particular.

I recently purchased 'Just in Lime' from eBay for £2.29 and 90p postage so still cheaper than Konad which the cheapest I've seen is £4. Actually NOT that much cheaper on reflection, but every little helps.

So I broke out the 'Blueberry Muffin' scented Polish from Models Own scented range I recently purchased and used Konad plate m83 to stamp this green leaf pattern over it. Two coats of 'Blueberry Muffin' and it does actually have a faint fruity smell that is still detectable on day two.

I've bought 3 Insta-Dri polishes in all, the other two are a light and dark purple, looking forward to stamping with those soon. Nail Art is NOT dead, not yet! Anyway I'll probably still be stamping when it's no longer cool...