Behind the Scenes and Overview of the 31 Day Challenge

I wanted to take the time to write up a recap and reflection on the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge. This was the first longer term challenge I have completed, so I wanted to share my thoughts and insights. After first getting into nail art, I got really excited about doing challenges, but often found myself not completing them. I really wanted to make an effort to complete this one! I started four days late and finished one day late, so I had a lot of double post days. I hope that didn't annoy you all! I am really elated that I finished though and proud that I have expanded my body of work. Below, I will go over different aspects of the challenge and show you my complete collage!

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 31 Honor Nails You Love

My last 31 Day Nail Art Challenge post!! I was inspired by someone I have mentioned on this blog before! The Nailasaurus is amazing, and I love her work. She does beautiful work and has a wide variety of designs. Her line work deserves much respect and I attempted to recreate one of my favorites! When I first saw this, I thought it was achieved with tape, but no, she freehand painted it! She just painted with all nail polish, but I did my lines with acrylic paint first because it is easier to control, then I went over it with Lancome Ginger Swing. The black I used was Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Black Satin (discontinued), but it doesn't matter what black you use. 

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 22 Inspired by a Song

This challenge was extremely difficult for me! I love music and listen to it every day, but I have a difficult time putting music into visuals. I remember feelings I get when I hear songs, but not images. I didn't want to recreate scenes from music videos either, because that felt like cheating. Finally, after scouring youtube for ideas and rediscovering music I haven't listened to in ages (Chuck Berry!) I came across Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood. I have embedded the video at the bottom of the page, just so you can listen to it! I don't know why I love it so much, but it just makes me happy in the way that cinnamon perks up my coffee. When the song was new, it was one of those I had to listen to over and over again. So I did a loose interpretation of sweater weather nails. I used Essie Rock the Boat and Color Club Abyss as well as Maybelline Bold Gold as an accent. I used matte top coat, again.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 29 Supernatural

So, today is the day that everyone is finishing up the daily nail art challenge, as today is day 31. I, however and still finishing up a few, so stick with me here, I'll be finished soon! It will feel so great to complete this! Today, I have day 29, which was to be inspired by the supernatural. I've been watching Witches of East End, so that kind of influenced my decision here. I created a purple sky and hand painted one witch, but after doing so, I realized I had decals...lol. So, guess which one I painted! :) 

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 30 Jellyfish

I love Oh My Gosh Polish's designs and her awesome accent. She does tons of YouTube videos showing us how to do her nail art, so I definitely recommend taking a look at her videos and subscribing. She has inspired me in the past and today I decided to try another of her designs. She recently did a video featuring a jellyfish design, so I did a re-creation here. I embedded the video at the bottom of the post, but be sure to check out her channel, linked above! I must apologize, my photos are quite up to standard because I was loosing the light and they just aren't quite right. I also turned them differently so you can see the jellyfish correctly. 

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 17 Glitter

I have another late post to share today. Day 17 for the daily nail art challenge was glitter. I thought this one over so many times and I didn't want to just do a simple glitter polish. I've had Sally Hansen Mermaid's Tale for a long time and have only used it once, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to pull it out. I decided to do a matte finish on this gorgeous jelly and add a stamp (Born Pretty Store D14).

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 28 Inspired by a Flag

For the "Inspired by a Flag" prompt, I had to think about it a bit. Since I paint some version of the American Flag on my nails every year, I decided to go for something different. I have always wanted to try to paint a Union Jack, but I wanted to make it pastel, because wanted something non-traditional. I decided to just paint it on as accent nails and I think this turned out really nice! I started with a base of Sinful Colors Sugar Rush and then I painted the white stripes with acrylic paint. I then added the pink and used Color Club Endless. I really liked the pastel effect of it all. I couldn't think of what else to add to the other nails, so for once, I left them alone!

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 13 Animal Print

As you can see from the title, this post is really late! I just missed this one a while ago and never made it up. I had high hopes of doing something atypical for animal print, but I just ran out of good ideas and just did something simple. I started with a base of Pure Ice Darkside, a deep maroon with gorgeous gold shimmer and stamped leopard print on a portion of my thumb, middle and ring fingers. I also added some stripes and called it good. 

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 27 Inspired by Artwork

I love Alphonse Mucha. I have been a fan of his work since the first moment I saw it, and have been lucky enough to visit the Mucha Museum in Prague, Czech Republic. I knew that his work was what was going to be my inspiration for today's "Inspired by Artwork", but I kept lamenting over the fact I can't paint like Mucha. Finally I realized that inspired by doesn't mean reproduce or copy. Therefore I based my design on the tones and shapes I saw in two pieces of which I have small prints: Poetry, from the Four Arts (1898) and Lorenzaccio (1896). I started with a base of Color Club Mod in Manhattan, a favorite off white. Then I stamped with Born Pretty Store plate QA90, which I have had problems with in the past, but served it's purpose here. I used Maybelline Bold Gold for that stamp. Then I stamped another image from Born Pretty Store plate QA88 in Revlon Trendy. I think the tones and shapes mimic what I am seeing in these two pieces.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 26 Inspired by a Pattern

For the nail art challenge today the prompt is inspired by a pattern. I had pinned this images of fabric a long time ago as inspiration, so I used that for my pattern inspiration today. The original picture is from Chronographia on Etsy. I started with a white base (Pure Ice Superstar) and painted blobs that resembled the shapes of the feathers with Zoya Dove, Rocha and Rooney which seemed to be perfect matches for the colors!I then painted black stripes with acrylic paint to make them look like feathers and gave it a matte top coat. I'm really into matte finish lately.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 19 Galaxy Nails

I have an overdue post today, day 19 of the nail challenge was galaxy nails. I love galaxy nails and have been wanting to try a pastel version. It was a really simple process with high impact. I love it! I started with a base of NYC Robin's Egg Blue, then I sponged on NYC Mimosa Bouquet, Jacaranda Flower, and Sally Hansen Blue-Away. I then painted little stars with white acrylic pain and added OPI Pirouette My Whistle for a glitter topper. I love it as a glitter topper for galaxies because it has both small and larger glitters which look like stars. 

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 23 Inspired by a Movie

The movie I chose for the nail art challenge, inspired by a movie, was Alice in Wonderland (2010). I actually chose a dress that Alice wore in the court of the queen of hearts. I would love to put a photo of it in this post, but I cannot find an original source for the photos I am finding so I won't, but if you google Alice in Wonderland Red Court Dress, it will come up. It was a tulle poofy dress with a red to black underskirt and a sheer white overlay with stripes and hearts on it. Ever since I first saw this dress in the movie, I have loved it. It is so out there, but girly and sort of steampunk it inspired me. I loved it enough to remember it years later and recreate it on my nails!

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 25 Fashion Inspired

I am back at it today with some more nail art for the #31DC2014 challenge! I had to have self imposed "work appropriate" nails today, so I started off the day with a base of China Glaze Foie Gras from the Hunger Games Collection. That has to be one of my favorite collections of all time. No joke, go check it out. Foie Gras is a really nice brown/taupe creme. In some lights it is completely brown, in others it looks grey or taupe. I love colors that change like that. The challenge prompt for today is fashion inspired, and I could totally do some beautiful crazy things for that, but I am feeling the simple plaid today. It may be because it is officially fall or because it is raining here, but I love a good plaid.

Above The Curve Nail Lacquer Harry Potter Collection!

Press Sample

Today I have a new to me indie brand to share with you! Above the Curve Nail Lacquer recently released their Harry Potter Inspired Collection and I couldn't be more excited to play with these! I love Harry Potter and have been a fan for a really long time. I was send Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Patronus Charm, and Wingardium Leviosa for review. There are others in the collection, and I suggest you take a look at their Etsy shop. I added a bit of nail art as well to be able to count this for the daily nail art challenge! Today's challenge is inspired by a book.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 21 Inspired by a Color

Inspired by a color is a fairly easy challenge for me. I've had something on my mind lately though. My friend posted on my wall asking what nail polish could match the teal for Ovarian Cancer Awareness, which happens to be this month. It got me thinking and I wanted to create a design for Ovarian Cancer Awareness. I picked a polish that isn't quite teal because it holds a special meaning for me. For Audrey is almost teal, more of a blue really, but it is one of my favorite colors. My Aunt Audrey passed away from Ovarian Cancer. Needless to say, I miss her a lot. Thus brings up the topic of Ovarian Cancer, it is something all women need to be aware of, so check out the website and learn about the symptoms and risk factors.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 20 Water Marble

The dreaded water marble day! I of course am a day late, but I  technically had these done on time. I just had to take photos today. Anyway, water marbling is really cool looking, but really difficult to do well. I think water marble was one of the things that got me hooked on nail art. For this challenge, I wanted to do three colors that looked very fall, but one refused to cooperate, so I changed my plans. I used OPI Miami Beet (my first OPI ever!), Vant to Bite My Neck?, and San Tan-Tonio. San Tan-Tonio was the difficult one. It would spread really well on the water surface, but then when I went to add another color it wouldn't let it spread. Oh well, Miami Beet and VTBMN worked really well together, and I just added San Tan-Tonio by dotting it on along the lines. 

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 18 Half Moons

Press Sample

Last post today, I promise! I created some nail art with all three polishes from the Northern Star Macbeth Collection in conjuction with the 31 Day Challenge. I just reviewed the Macbeth Collection, so be sure to take a look at that! The challenge today is half moon mani, so I created one with these beautiful fall colors! I started with a base of Hurly Burly and added a coat of Cauldron Bubble and finally added dots of Toil & Trouble.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 16 Geometric Print

Hello! Sorry my posting has been a little sporadic lately, I am trying to keep up with the nail art challenge posts, but it takes time! For today's post I am doing yesterday's challenge. The theme was geometric print. Funny enough I was wearing a geometric print dress to work yesterday, so I used that as my inspiration for my nails. It has a Mondrian feel to it, but not exactly a copy. I did some Mondrian nails a little while back and loved the result, so these were a lot of fun and reminiscent of that design.  I started with a white base coat and free hand painted with Zoya Ling for the blue, Zoya Dove for the grey, and Color Club Sunrise Canyon for the chartreuse.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 15 Delicate Print

I am still behind in the #31DC2014 challenge, but not by much! Day 14 was delicate print. I went the easy route and stamped. I'm not sure if some might call this cheating, but I don't care, stamping is hard and I'm pressed for time! I started with a base of the beautiful Orly Flawless Flush. I think Flawless Flush really is flawless, it is such a gorgeous soft shade that I think everyone needs. I then stamped a fleur-de-lis pattern over that. The stamp I used was from the MoYou Tourist Collection 07 plate, man I love that plate! I then added some dots that kind of look like studs. I really wanted to use studs but the square gold ones I have a re just a bit too big for my nails. 

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 14 Flowers

For today's nail art challenge, I did a mani swap with a friend on instagram! Her username is @beautyintact, so be sure to go follow her! The challenge for today is flowers. A mani swap is where you take a design from someone else and copy it, they do the same with you. It was my first one and I thought it was really fun!