Angel Feathers

Apparently today is my 5-year blogaversary. I keep forgetting that it’s in September! I’ll have to arrange something fun when this challenge is over…This mani is a bit simpler than some of my other recent manis, but a lot of that is because I can never figure out what to do with the “supernatural” prompt for Day 29 of the Challenge!

This time, I settled on something related to an angel. I wanted to do a gorgon, but I am still seeing patients so I can’t really have green scaled nails. Angel it is! I didn’t have time to free-hand lots of tiny feathers and I didn’t own an angel wing stamp, but I did own a feathery stamp!

I ended up starting with a blue-grey base with gold flecks and lots of holo shimmer. I then advanced stamped (aka colored in) the feather image using a ridiculously shimmer-gold polish that is a muted white under indirect light. This polish was one of those that once I got it, I regretted it (although it was free, I got it years ago in a contest)…and now am really glad I held onto it! I’ve used it a number of times for coloring in stamps when I don’t want to go straight for insane gold.

Colors:
~ Blue: ILNP – Timeless Vow
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Gold shimmer: OPI – Ski Slope Sweetie
~ Stamp: BM – XL209

Only a few more days in the Challenge! And at least the last two prompts are easier than this. I think yesterday’s and today’s are my least favorite just due to ambiguity. I hope you enjoyed!

Marchesa Gradient Gown

Day 25’s theme is “fashion” which is a bit of a problem, as I am still wearing the same clothing I wore in high school (and I’m 29). That said, this years was a little easier than most! I’m also a little late in posting since I was traveling all day, oops!

While searching for fashionable gowns on google, I stumbled across an absolutely stunning dress by Marchesa. I want it. The colors and the pattern and the fabric and most especially the cut of the skirt. So, of course, I had to try and recreate it on my nails!

This mani took two days, mostly because I wanted a completely dry base color before I was willing to attempt to make a gradient using metallic polish. Usually, I end up with bubbles and messes galore, and I happen to be attending a wedding this weekend so my nails need to be flawless! So, I painted on the hot pink metallic base (Petites Color Fever – Raspberry Ice), waited a day, and THEN did the gradient (OPI – Cute Little Vixen and Confetti – Masquerade Ball). Success!

Initially, I was not going to put anything over my accent nail (which was going to be a black jelly with a pink-to-black stamp, but I gave up and grabbed one of my favorite glitterbomb polishes instead, The Unloved by Emily de Molly), but it looked too bright next to the completed gradient so I added a stamp that reminded me of the top of the Marchesa dress (BP – L049). I think it came out really well!

I am going to consider the fashion day a success this year, which might actually be a first for me! Also, my nails are super glittery and metallic. But I have to admit, I am not looking forward to trying to remove that glitter polish!

A P!nk Reason

For Day 22 of the 31 Day Challenge, the theme was “song”. I’ve always had trouble with this one, since I can never decide if I want to do music in general, or the theme of a song, or something about the music video.

This year, I decided to be inspired by both the artist (P!nk) and the visuals of the song. I went with the song Just Give Me A Reason, which is depressing but I love the vocals! In the music video, P!nk sports her pale pink/white hair with a pink ribbon, and is wearing a pale pink lace dress. There are also a number of scenes featuring an off-white mattress. I just went with it!

My pinky, pointer, and thumb are all intended to be different bits of lace. My ring finger is a mattress (maybe, if you squint) although I should probably have used the quilting method. My middle finger is intended to be her hair, with the ribbon. I went a bit dark with the pink shade in the hair, but I still like it!

Colors:
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Pale pink: OPI – Be There In a Prosecco
~ Light pink: Wet n’ Wild – Tickled Pink
~ Pink: Revlon – Bubbly
~ Dark pink: Zoya – Ciara

This mani is brought to you by clear stampers (seriously, I double stamped/shadow stamped all the nails except my middle finger which is TRIPLE stamped)! And too many stamping plates. The lace is from plates BP-L008, BP-L020, and EdM01. The hair and ribbon are from BM-S108 and BM-317.  The mattress is from BM-209. Yikes! Hope you enjoyed, and go listen to the song!

Pool Floating

I know it is getting just a bit cold to go swimming, but I painted these back in August so it was appropriate then! Besides, there are totally indoor pools, right?

The design was inspired by pricelessnails. Unfortunately, I did not quite figure out the spacing for my inner tube (the pink thing) so it is a bit…squished…compared to hers.

This is another new polish for me! What you see here is two thin coats of Glee Ridden by Emily de Molly. I have so many manis that I want to do that need a neon teal, and this looked perfect! It is, as expected, a very nice opaque neon teal creme. The color is slightly greener than turquoise, but very very bright! I am a fan.

I think I maybe should have done a bit more of a subtle gradient (that blue is darker than I expected, the polish used to be a semi-jelly and I think its congealed a bit), but this still came out well! I love how the waterspotting worked. I got a new white polish not too long ago so it actually spread on the water!

Colors:
~ Blue: Maybelline – Shocking Seas
~ Teal: Emily de Molly – Glee Ridden
~ Pastel teal: Zoya – Tiana
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Red: Pure Ice – Siren
~ Yellow: OPI – Never a Dulles Moment
~ Dark blue: Sinful Colors – Endless Blue
~ Pink: Clinique – Pinkini
~ Dark pink: OPI – Malaga Wine

That’s all for today. If it is warm near you, go swimming! And if not…I dunno. Dream about Hawaii?

Bringing Tiger Back

Traditionally, animal print day of the 31 Day Challenge has been one of my least favorites. I don’t enjoy leopard print, and I’ve done the traditional tiger stripes far too many times for it to be enjoyable. This time, I found a design that is still tiger-striped, but in a different way!

This mani was inspired by Polish and Paws because I never even thought to use this stamp! The other ones on the plate still don’t speak to me, but this was fun.

I also used this to compare my two dark orange glittery shimmer polishes…but totally forgot to take photos before the nail art was done! Oops. Anyway, on my pinky and pointer is two coats of OPI DS Indulgence, while on my ring, middle, and thumb is two coats of A England Gloriana. Indulgence is much brighter with more of a golden shimmer to it, while Gloriana is darker and has distinct golden flecks. The end result is that Gloriana looks more understated and elegant while Indulgence pops more!

Colors:
~ Orange shimmer: OPI – DS Indulgence
~ Orange fleck: A England – Gloriana
~ Gold: Petites Color Fever – 24 karat Gold
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Stamp: BM – 613

Also I NEED polish thinner. 24 karat gold, which I used for the glitter gradient, is a dried up mess, useless for anything other than dab-on gradients! And even then it is painful to work with. Hope you enjoyed!

Sunflowers

This mani is the opposite of my post from Day 2 (the orange flowers) in that here I have a new OPI Washington DC polish which I love AND a floral stamp that works perfectly.

The design was inspired by @hdinails, because I never would have thought of floating sunflowers on my own! That said, the stamp I used is not actually sunflowers, but we can pretend that they are 😀

My new OPI polish here is Stay Off the Lawn, a deep vampy green creme with blue undertones (almost a deep green-leaning turquoise). This is two thin coats, and this polish is great! It self-levels nicely, and goes on smooth. I also love the color, although I do always love jewel-tone polishes. I am really glad I bought this one.

Colors:
~ Dark green: OPI – Stay off the Lawn!
~ Green: Zoya – Shawn
~ Light green: Zoya – Tilda
~ Dark brown: Zoya – Louise
~ Brown: Zoya – Dea
~ Dark yellow: OPI – Never a Dulles Moment
~ Yellow: WOW – #301
~ Stamp: Floral BPX-L018

I made these flowers with stamping decals (rather than direct application like I did two days ago) and honestly I like direct application better! It is more time-consuming because you have to go one nail at a time unless you have multiple clear stampers (I only have one that works) but you don’t end up with any dead space around the stamped design, or tons of bubbles. Hope you enjoyed! This is likely to be one of my favorites from this Challenge, we shall see!

Growing Flowers

Orange day in the 31 Day Challenge! I actually have other orange manis, but this used the MOST shades of orange so I think it goes here!

Unfortunately, this mani had a lot of problems. Neither plate I tried to use (the zig-zags and the flowers) actually stamps well at ALL, and I don’t know why I wanted to make the flowers appear to be growing when having them all the same height on my nail would have looked better! Moreover, the peachy-orange base looked super strange on my nails.

The Born Pretty Store sent me the floral plate, BP-L067 to use. And I LOVE the designs on it. That said, the first copy they sent me (the one I used here) was etched so subtly that almost no polish would work with it. I had to try with every black polish I own. I ended up contacting the store and they sent me a replacement (which obviously I did not have a chance to use with this mani) which is perfectly etched and makes me very happy. I don’t know that I’ll get around to posting it in the 31 Day Challenge, but if I do I’ll let you all know. The plate has some spectacular floral images, perfect for advanced stamping (aka coloring the designs in).

When the OPI Washington DC collection came out, there were a few polishes I really wanted, and Freedom of Peach was one of them. I didn’t own anything like it! Unfortunately, there was a reason for that. This is three thin coats of Freedom of Peach. The polish did not self-level very well at all, and the color looks quite strange on my nails! Almost a nude, but with orange in it. I don’t like it. I imagine on other skin tones it would looks better, but with mine it is completely meh.

Colors:
~ Peach: OPI – Freedom of Peach
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Lightest orange: KBShimmer – Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana?
~ Bright orange: Zoya – Thandie
~ Medium orange: ULTA – Sun of a Gun
~ Dark orange: Essie – Playing Koi
~ Green: Zoya – Tilda
~ Stamps: BP – L067 and X06

So, even though these are ridiculously complicated nails, I don’t love them! They are orange though, so here you go. If you want to buy the stamping plate (which again, watch for etching issues but the images are amazing) you can find it at the Born Pretty Store for $2.59. Enjoy!