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31 Day Challenge
Today is the start of the #31DC2014 and until just a few hours ago, I was planning to sit this one out as I’ve just started a new job and and struggling to fit in time for blogging every 3 days, let alone every single day! In the early hours of this morning, I started contemplating it and I knew I’d be missing out if I didn’t even try to complete it again this year. In the end I decided to just dive in and take each day as it comes! If you want, you can catch up with my efforts from the challenge in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
This year, I’m not going to commit myself to completing every single day but I’m going to try my damnedest to finish them all anyway! If I do have to sit out a day here or there, it’ll be very hard not to feel guilty about it!
Big thanks to Chalkboard Nails for basically organising the annual gathering of 31 Day Challengers single-handedly. If you want to find out more about the challenge or even take part yourself, she wrote a great FAQ on her blog.
We’re kicking off today with red. I’m going to be taking full advantage of the first 6 days where no nail art is required to ease myself in. It’ll also give me chance to use plenty of my glitter polishes that don’t get enough love. Today I’ve gone with a glittery jelly/topper from Pahlish over a few coats of my boldest red polish.
Polishes Used
Rimmel Raw as Night
Pahlish Thunderous Sparks
The 31 Day Challenge is over for a another year and I’ve rounded up all 31 manicures in one place in case you missed any or you want to take a look back through. The challenge always pushes me to be a little more creative and it’s so hard to choose a favourite, I’m so happy with some of the nail art that I created! I think my top picks would be the geometric metallic nails, Cath Kidston inspired florals, the rainbow waterfall and the henna inspired pattern.
You can also see all these manicures on my 31DC2013 Pinterest Board.
Click on any picture to be taken to the full post!
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So here we are! The 31st and final day of the challenge. I definitely enjoyed it more this time around than I did in previous years. I know that because not once did I consider giving up part way through! It’s always so satisfying when you get to the end of a big task like this that you commit yourself to and see through to the very end. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m very proud of myself right now!
For the last prompt of the challenge, we have to honour nails we love. There’s one manicure that I’ve loved since the moment I saw it and it’s by Deniz, a now-retired nail blogger, at Emerald Sparkled. This particular manicure is titled Look Rich, Be Cheap and since I first saw it back on that day in February 2012, it’s been burned in to my memory. I have a long standing love of glequins and I think I can pinpoint Deniz’s mani as the one that sparked it! Black and gold is a favourite of mine and I think Deniz’s design is so timeless. It’s jazzy but very elegant at the same time.
I used W7 Black as my base colour and used round glequins from Born Pretty Store to frame my nails. (Video tutorial here)
The Chanel decal is also from Born Pretty but they don’t seem to be selling them any more.
I topped it all off with two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.
In other news, I’m headed to London tomorrow for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards where I’m nominated in the Best Established Beauty Blog category. I’ll be teaming up with Allie, Lucie and Alice; all my fellow nail blogger nominees and I’m so excited to get there and meet everyone but very nervous at the same time. I’m still at a loss for something to wear on my nails and I only have the rest of the evening to decide! Can you say #nailbloggerproblems?
Day 31: 2011
Catch up with the 31 Day Challenge on Pinterest!
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Today’s inspiration comes from Storm and Stars who created this nail look a while back for Blog Fest. Click here to see her post with the tutorial. I went through a phase where I was completely obsessed with chevrons so when I was searching for an inspiring tutorial for today’s nails, this look reignited that flame in me. I immediately pulled out my funky scissors and scotch tape and set to work!
I chose a different colour scheme than you’ll see in the original and added a glitter accent nail because GLITTER! I’m really really in love with these nails, it’s a very simple technique for such a striking look and although it’s quite time consuming to do the whole hand, it would make an excellent accent nail in any mani.
To see how this is done, hop over to Storm and Stars HERE for an amazing tutorial.
The colours I used for the gradient are Barry M Guava, NYC Blue Sky and Essie Navigate Her. The glitter on my ring finger is H+M Jo Is In The House applied over Navigate Her.
My top coat is No7 Stay Perfect.
Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial 2012
Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial 2011
See what’s coming next in the 31 Day Challenge 2013!
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Inspired by The Supernatural has always seemed to me a very uninspiring prompt. As far as I’m aware, Supernatural refers to ghosts and the paranormal which isn’t a subject I have much interest in. So this year, I’ve deviated a little and let myself explore mythology and folklore to search for some inspiration.
The topic I chose for today’s nail art is Runes. There’s a huge history attached to Runes and their uses which I know very little of so I won’t pretend to be an expert but I do know that they appear in a lot of myths, legends and magical stories! I took these particular runes from The Mortal Instruments book (and now film) series, kind of a 180 from the old legends I’ve been harping on about but still Runes nonetheless!
Check out the image on Cassandra Clare’s website HERE to find out what they all mean.
I used Barry M Lychee as my base colour and painted on the runes using a nail art brush with black acrylic paint. I topped it with one coat of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat, then one coat of Rimmel Matte Finish for the umm… matte finish!
Day 29: Inspired by The Supernatural 2012
Day 29: Inspired by The Supernatural 2011
See what’s coming next in the 31 Day Challenge 2013!
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I can’t believe we’re so close to the end of the challenge already! In 3 days it will all be over and I can move on with my life. I admit it will be nice not to have to worry every day about slotting in time for blogging but I’ll be a little bit sad when the challenge is over.
For today’s prompt: Inspired by a Flag, I knew I wanted to choose a fictional flag so I decided on the flag of the Tenenbaum family as seen in The Royal Tenenbaums! You get a very clear shot of it a few minutes in to the movie and glimpses of it throughout. Coincidentally, I bought a new pink polish today which turned out to be the perfect light pink for the subject!
The colours I used were Barry M White, W7 Baby Pink and Sally Hansen Razzle Dazzler.
For the ‘T’ I freehanded on the white circle using a nail art brush and then the T with black acrylic paint.
For the ‘tails’ I started with a white base, then used scotch tape to mark off the triangles and painted over it in Baby Pink.
It’s all finished with two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.
Day 28: Inspired by a Flag 2012
Day 28: Inspired by a Flag 2012 Bonus!
Day 28: Inspired by a Flag 2011
See what’s coming next in the 31 Day Challenge 2013!
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