NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 19 "Penguin NAILS"

I don't know what the hell happened to my BCD Nail Art Challenge, but after the detail-intense Plant Cell Border Nails (here) from September, I kind of got caught up with other things, but like I have said before, I feel like these challenges to create or the only real time I feel like I am in my element. I'm not the best nail artist out there, but I love trying things that entertain both you and me and hope that I can relay how much fun nail art can be! I was a girl that never painted her nails or could even grow them out as recently as 2011 so to be able to have claws like this now is kind of an achievement!

Picking up where we left off, Week 19 was "Penguin Nails" which fittingly goes with Christmas so even though I did do penguins at coincidentally the same time last year (here), I didn't do them with HOLO polish! 

NAILS | #BCDNails CHALLENGE WEEK 18 "Plant Cell Puzzle Nails"! #MANIMONDAY

Apologies for not having this up earlier today, but these nails took a wee bit longer than I had anticipated last night and it was just too late to type up the post! I have now taken on two nail challenges though I am not intense enough to have a different set of nails every day! For Week 18 of the #BCDNails Challenge, the theme was "Border Nails". I was about to do a traditional set of border nails with a solid colour outlined with black when suddenly inspiration hit me. Aren't all cells "bordered" by a cell membrane? Thus, inspiring these "plant cell nails"! I had no idea how these were going to turn out as I have NEVER seen these done before, but I am very pleased! 

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 17 "Bracelet Nails" for #MANIMONDAY

This is as naked as I will ever be. I am of course referring to my nails in my attempt at the latest in South Korean nail art trends - "bracelet nails". When I first saw this trend cropping up on Instagram, I wasn't sure what to think, but like a lot of nail art trends (with the exception of crackle polish) this has grown on me. It was also the PERFECT opportunity for getting back on the BCD Nail Art train which has derailed all of us in the last month. I always have so many polishes to get through as I don't do plain swatches here as there are numerous other bloggers that provide that service and do a great job of it! I personally hate massive swatch sessions as they take the fun out of nail polish for me. I'm sure you all can tell that I can paint my nails so why not let this be a space for something a little fun?

NAILS | BCD Nail Art Challenge Week 16 Fox Nail Art #ManiMonday

Today's Mani Monday falls on a holiday here in BC and for once I am home and enjoying the day off! I'll probably be blogging, but it'll be nice to sleep in a little. The girls and I have been falling behind when it comes to the BCD Nail Art Challenge, but if we can all get it done this year, I think we can say challenge achieved! I could never do the 31 Day Nail Challenges just because I take a long time creating certain designs and to see them have to disappear after just one day seems so sad!

This week's challenge is "Fox" and lemme tell ya, foxes are hard to draw! My fox's tail still came out looking like a baseball bat, but oh well (inspo for this mani here).  

I started off with two coats of Ceramic Glaze - Pure* and then handpainted my fox and paws with CND Vinylux - Brick Knit*. The white details were done with acrylic paint and the black eyes and nose with Essence - Black is Back*. I added some top coat and then I was done!

For those having a long weekend, enjoy the extra day!

Check out Naomi (@bellezzabee) and Traci's (@drinkcitra) creations for this week and stay tuned for 16 more weeks of #BCDNails! Tag us if you feel like joining in!

Click here to see the rest of my BCD Nail Art!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 15 Has Me Water Spotted on the Beach!

Today's nail art was on my bucket list ever since OPI released the France-only 'Black Spotted" in 2012 as part of the Spiderman collection. I didn't feel like paying a ridiculous amount on ebay for this polish and now years later there are a number of ways to get a similar effect using alcohol with any polish. This week's BCD Nails Challenge is "Beach" which gave me the chance to finally try this technique using this tutorial by ElleandDish to create a beach with some crazy cool white waves!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 14 "Sweet Tooth" aka "Donut Love"

I am about a month out with the BCD Nails Challenge, but all three of us are still at it and I know we will finish it by year's end, I know it! I love having weekly inspiration as I get incredibly overwhelmed with what to try and or do because let's face it, THERE IS SO MUCH AWESOME NAIL ART IN THE UNIVERSE! One awesome manicure I have always wanted to try was donut nails (doughnut?)! This week's theme was "Sweet Tooth" and while there were a number of things I wanted to try, donutticures kept calling to me!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 12 - The Negative Space Chevrons #BCDNAILS

I absolutely love the nail art designs that Mari, from Mari's Nails, comes up with and when I see a soft sweater and perfectly executed nails in the photo I know it's her hand! Last year, she had a really chic negative space mani on her blog that fit perfectly with Week 12 of the BCD Nail Art Challenge which was CHEVRONS!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 11 - The Blue Skittlette #BCDNAILS

This week's BCD Nail Art Challenge was a bit of a well, challenge for me as skittle nails are not my forte. Skittle essentially refers to the having a different nail design on each nail, but with a unifying colour scheme or theme. I am SO NOT GOOD AT THIS, but seeing as how the new OPI Alice Through the Looking Glass collection was out, I thought I'd try to cook something up with a few of the new shades!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 10 - Literal Money on Ma Nails! #BCDNAILS

Two weeks behind, but back at it with the BCD Nail Art Challenge! The theme for Week 10 was "Money"and though I was convinced I had this in the bag before I left for Toronto last week, the original design I had in mind is going to require a bit more time so I will have to save it for later. I hadn't meant to take the theme quite so literally, but I can honestly say that gluing coins to my nails had never occurred to me until this challenge!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 9 - Rilakkuma Nail Art #BCDNAILS

Sorry guys! Still running a bit behind with this challenge as I haven't felt all that motivated to do my nails other than painting them, but I am determined to keep this up! Challenges like these are amazing for stimulating creativity especially when you have other people participating with you. Week 9 of the BCD Nail Challenge was "Nude" so I decided to choose the "most nude" of all the Sanrio characters to base my next manicure on! Rilakkuma is the stuffed bear from the Sanrio-X world and is just one of the cutest and most cozy-looking characters.

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 8 - Pond Manicure #BCDNAILS

Playing catch-up again with Week 8 of the BCD Nails Challenge with this week's theme (really last week's) being the Pond Manicure which requires a jelly polish. I attempted this manicure 2 years ago (here), but decided to try the more classic "flowers in water" version. Let's just say that the polish I chose was far too dark, but it was too late to look for something new so I sort of improvised and hoped for the best!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 7 - Going Retro with Old School Pac-Man! #BCDNAILS

For this week's BCD Nail Art Challenge the theme is "Retro" which made me think of those old school arcade games like Pac-Man! I had my 13th birthday at an arcade playing Dragon's Lair and I still miss playing those types of video games to this day. For today's nail art, I used the Pac-Man tutorial from Meghan of Will Paint Nails for Food (here) as she is one of my favourite nail artists despite her absence from social media and blogging for almost a year now. I hope she comes back soon!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 6 - The "Grey"-dient #BCDNAILS

I am finally all caught up now with the BCD Nail Art Challenge with this week's theme being "Grey". It's a bit of a depressing colour for spring, but I promise next week's "Retro" will be filled with colour and smiley-faced emoticons! This grey gradient came from the depths of Pinterest (here) from one of my favourite nail artists, Carly Sisoka, who I consider one of the best when it comes to coming up with gradient colour combinations. When you see them you always go, "Why didn't I think of that?!"

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 5 - Moody Metallic Gradient #BCDNAILS

Last week's Mosaic BCD Nails Challenge (here) took a ridiculous amount of time to do and I was pretty proud of myself for putting in the hours so I decided to keep them for the weekend. It put me one manicure behind for this challenge, but I will hopefully be able to make it up this week! I had a bit of rough week at work and though nothing bad happened, I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed and with Week 5's theme being "Emotion", I thought that instead of being "social media happy", I'd do a manicure that showcased how much of a moody *ahem* witch I was last week.

Using mark. by Avon's new Precious Petals Trend Mini Nail Lacquers in Steel Magnolia* and Green Thumb* as well as some Avon nail studs, I thought I'd go with conveying how icy blue my soul felt all of last week. Dramatic, I know.

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART Challenge Week 4 - Mosaic Stained Glass Flowers #BCDNails

I am a little late with posting these as my nails needed a bit of polish break and I had house things to do which trumped gettin' ma nails did! Last week's challenge was "mosaic" and when I saw Cristine of Simply Nailogical's Youtube video on Stained Glass Nails, I knew this was what I wanted to attempt. Her nails turned out far better, but overall I really loved how this all came together and thought stained glass flowers were also a great way to welcome Spring!

NAILS | BCD NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 3 - Funky French #BCDNAILS

I seem to be all about the striping tape these last few months, but I have them in SO MANY colours that I am happy to be putting them to good use! This week's BCD Nail Art Challenge is "Funky French" which I translated to BRIGHT COLOURS! The new OPI New Orleans Collection is all about brights so it wasn't hard at all to find shades that were indeed "funky".

NAILS | BCD Nail Art Challenge Week 1 - Tie Dye #BCDNails

Welcome to the #BCDNails Nail Art Challenge with myself, Naomi of Bellezza Bee and Traci of Drinkcitra! In 2012 and 2013, all three of us embarked on the infamous 31 Day Nail Challenge and we lived to tell the tale! These ladies were the first friends I made in the blogging world and we each live in different countries which makes me feel extra warm and fuzzy when 3 years later, we are once again embarking on another nail art challenge! For the next 31 WEEKS (we're busier gals now!), we will be attempting to do our nail art "bucket list" and share with you all the fruits of our endeavors! Up first is TIE DYE!