I have done this challenge in 2012, 2013 and now 2014! As usual, I will be going at my own pace and not doing a new set of nails every day, but I am aiming for a new design every 3-4 days. The theme for Day 1 is red so I chose to go back to my “roots” and do some molecular-themed nail art all about LYCOPENE! Lycopene is a bright red, antioxidant, carotene pigment that is found in tomatoes, watermelons and a few other red fruits and vegetables and among other health benefits, has been shown to be preventative against cardiovascular disease by protecting the blood vessels around the heart (How Stuff Works, Sept. 2014).
I started with two coats of Julep-Martha, a creme baby pink, and actually created the VERY LONG lycopene molecule by making a sandwich baggie decal, peeling it off, then cutting at the appropriate carbons and applying the molecule to each nail. The tomatoes and hearts were all drawn with acrylic paint and sealed in with top coat. The red dots represent CH3 groups.
Thank you to everyone for coming along for the ride! Until next time!
The challenge is finally over for me! My wedding shower on Sunday wiped me out even though I spent the whole day at a spa! For this challenge, I have always loved Naomi’s gradients and her red and gold gradient from Day 25 really caught my eye so here is my recreation! I used two coats of China Glaze-Red Satin and dabbed on China Glaze-Blonde Bombshell for an extra sparkly, chunky gradient!
Thank you to my wonderful team mates in this challenge! We must do this again much much later! All three of you have inspired me to be a better nail artist! THANK YOU!!!
Naomi @ Bellezza
Traci @ drinkcitra
Masha @ Lost in Lacquer
Oh my goodness, I’m almost caught up and the challenge is almost at a close. I cannot believe it! So for today’s challenge, I decided to have another go at watercolour nails since I loved them way back when I did them on Day 15 of this challenge! My wedding shower is tomorrow and I wanted some fun, bright nails to match the supposedly sunny day that is tomorrow! I started off with three coats of OPI-My Boyfriend Scales Walls and top coat. I then used Julep-Mackenzie, Julep-Abbie and Julep-Avery to create a neon watercolour design. I topped the whole design off with a coat of China Glaze-Fairy Dust and more top coat and voila!
Today’s manicure was incredibly hard to decide on as there are so many wonderful nail artists out there with beautiful nail creations. I chose one that I have been wanting to try for a long time and matched a green dress I was wearing that day! I decided to try my hand at a Waki Laki watermelon design that I thought was adorable!
As a base, I used two coats of Julep-Jackie and created the tips using a neon green, silver and white striper polish from Art Deco. I should have used striping tape to create more crisp tips, but I thought I would be a hot shot and do it freehand. For the watermelon “seeds”, I used L.A. Girl Glitter Addict–Uninhibited and China Glaze-Fairy Dust for some extra sparkle.
When it comes to nail polish, it is VERY hard to choose a favourite colour, but if someone was threatening to destroy all of my nail polish if I didn’t make a decision, I guess I would have to say, it’s PINK! As much as I love blues and greens, pink always resonates well in any environment and with everyone. I started off with two coats of this absolutely GORGEOUS polish from Born Pretty that goes by the name of BK Fashion Nail Color in 24. This could have been a one coater, the opacity and formula were both amazing.
For today’s manicure, I too decided to re-create my very first attempt at nail art based on a tutorial by cutepolish from about 2 years ago. Forgive the blurry picture, I think we all have humble beginnings when it comes to taking pictures of our nails! To be honest, I think I may have done a better job the first time around! To create this look, I used China Glaze – Too Yacht to Handle, which I am currently in love with, Sally Hansen XTremeWear – Celeb City and Art Deco-Silver Glitter.
I haven’t given up the 31 Day Nail Challenge yet! I am determined to finish with my teammates so without further ado, Day 26 is all about being inspired by your country and so I thought I’d have a little Canadian fun and showcase our very good sense of humour ;-)
We say “Eh?” and apologize all the time so of course that had to make it on to my nails! We also love our Royal Canadian Mounties, hockey and live in igloos! I would actually love to try living in an igloo. It seems quite cozy. The only polishes I really used were OPI-My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Cult Nails-Evil Queen and sponged on China Glaze-For Audrey for my thumb. The rest of this design was done in acrylic paint.
Close up of the igloo which I am quite proud of!
Be sure to check out the other wonderful ladies also participating in this challenge!
Naomi @ Bellezza
Traci @ drinkcitra
Masha @ Lost in Lacquer
My very first trip as a child was to Osaka, Japan and although my memories are few of my visit, what I do remember was how magical the scenery was since we went in winter. I was still living in Malaysia at the time so seeing snow for the first time was incredibly exciting. Even though cherry blossoms were far from blooming while I was there, every time I see them, I am transported back in time to Japan and my surroundings feel magical once more.
Even though this is a not a new idea, I have always wanted to try cherry blossom nail art because the final result looks so elegant yet you don’t have to be Van Gogh to achieve it. To make my design a little bit different, I gave my blossoms a purple background with two coats of Lime Crime-Lavendairy and sponged on Julep-Anne for a slight gradient. Then I used black acrylic paint and a small nail art brush and drew some random branches. For the blossoms I used Sally Hansen XtremeWear-Bubblegum Pink and Sally Hansen XtremeWear-Fuchsia Power. A coat of top coat and we’re done!
Now, I know this isn’t specifically a game, but as a kid I definitely created a lot of games in my head involving Hot Wheels cars! Specifically the ones that changed colour in cold and hot water! I knew they were considered “boys’ toys” at the time and as a 5 year old Asian immigrant, it was a little unusual that I was attracted to such a toy, but thankfully my parents indulged me.
Seeing as how I love Pretty & Polished colour changers, I thought Flip Flop Fuggetaboutit was the perfect homage to one of my favourite toys before computers entered the picture. When cold, Flip Flop Fuggetaboutit is a GORGEOUS coral with blue and orange hex glitter and *gasp* magenta circle glitter! What I’m wearing is two coats with a top coat.
I actually have two designs for today’s challenge, but I have yet to take pictures of the second set so I will go with this flowery creation. This is a picture taken from a Birks advertisement that spurred my creation. It didn’t turn out quite like what I had hoped as the diamond butterflies didn’t show as nicely as I had hoped, but it was fun to wear while it lasted. I can’t really draw so the flowers were a bit lost on me, but oh well! You can’t win ‘em all in nail art!
For my blue base I used an unknown blue Quo polish and the rest was down with acrylic paint and nail crystals. I finished everything off with my favourite glitter China Glaze-Fairy Dust.
Be sure to check out the other wonderful ladies also participating in this challenge!
Naomi @ Bellezza
Traci @ drinkcitra
Masha @ Lost in Lacquer
I totally forgot to take a picture of the fabric I was trying to copy, but because I am already so late with this post I just wanted to share as quickly as possible! I have a tank top with these really cool mosaic pieces in orange and I thought it would be neat to replicate the design in a bright blue. This manicure took a VERY long time to do for one hand…about 1.5hrs…outlining each shape was definitely what took the longest. To do this, I painted three coats of OPI-My Boyfriend Scales Walls as “underwear” and then hand-painted all of the shapes with blue acrylic paint and a small nail art brush. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed how it came out!
I’m still a day behind on this challenge, but I swear I’ll catch up this week! Today’s challenge was a little bit of a screw-up which I will get to shortly. I started with three coats of China Glaze-Too Yacht to Handle from the new Sunsational Collection and I MEANT to use China Glaze-Beauty Within, which is a hot pink, BUT I reached for China Glaze-Bump & Grind and was so confused the first three nails over why my nail polish was so gritty and uneven! So, for this manicure I inadvertently combined “melting” with “texture” and here it is!
Be sure to check out the other wonderful ladies also participating in this challenge!
Naomi @ Bellezza
Traci @ drinkcitra
Masha @ Lost in Lacquer
I know you all must have thought that I had abandoned the challenge for a bit, but never fear I will see the next 11 days through! It was a ridiculously crazy two weeks filled with LOTS of things to do at work and VERY little sleep combined with running on pure adrenaline. I’m just glad things have quieted down and I can breathe again!
To save myself a little bit of time AND because I was too damn excited to try these out, I am wearing two of the new China Glaze Texture polishes: Itty, Bitty & Gritty, a beautiful coral polish and for my accent nail a bright fuchsia called Bump & Grind. I honestly thought that not having top coat would result in massive chipping, but after 2 days they’re still intact!
When you have a collection of around 500 polishes, it gets progressively difficult to choose a favourite, but I definitely have a soft spot for holographic polishes AND the colour purple so Layla-Ultra Violet is an appropriate compromise. I always forget how patchy holo polishes can be too apply, but at three coats I got this polish to work and is it ever pretty! I never get tired of how stunning holo polishes look and I hope that I can rock them even if I’m 95! And now for the nail porn ;-)
My oldest untried nail polish is from almost two years ago when I first discovered my love of “the polish” and it is OPI-DS Extravagance! What I’m wearing here is two very easy coats with fantastic opacity. The entire DS line is one that I find quite fascinating and this was the first one that grabbed my attention and remains my favourite to this day, so why I waited so long to wear it as a full manicure is beyond me!
Be sure to check out the other wonderful ladies also participating in this challenge!
Naomi @ Bellezza
Traci @ drinkcitra
Masha @ Lost in Lacquer
Today’s manicure is all about trying a new technique which I feel is pretty much the theme of this entire challenge! I just picked up the Limited Edition Ciate Colourfoil Manicure Set and decided to give nail foils a go! I started with three coats Ciate-Pepperminty (provided with the set) and once my nails were completely dry, used the provided foil glue and rubbed random pieces of coloured foil onto sections of my nails. The fun part was ripping off the foil almost like when waxing! Seeing the foil get transferred was oddly satisfying and I do enjoy the end results. The only thing that didn’t work out so well was that once I applied top coat, the colour from the foil started to bleed…but other than that I actually love the results!
Blogging since 2011. Beauty with a drop of science. Career woman by day. Nails to perfection. Sheet masker.
