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31DC2012

31 Day Challenge, Uncategorised

31DC2012: Day 31 Recreate Your Favourite Challenge (Part 2)

21st December 2012

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Here it is. The very last. The final day of my 31 Day Challenge 2012! It’s been a long and bumpy ride, we even lost a woman 5 weeks in but just like last year, I’m so glad we did it! I don’t really have much else to say on the subject so I’ll just leave you with my recreation of Rie’s Day 8 Metallic Nails.
I’ve never ever done a splatter mani before and I probably won’t be doing one again any time soon. The clean up on this took just as long, if not longer, than the mani itself! I think part of the problem was the metallic polishes. Whenever I touched acetone to the mess, it would send a million bits of shimmer swimming in to my cuticles and I just couldn’t get it all off! Saying that, I did grow to love the result and maybe a bit of practice will do me good.

I used A-England Lancelot as my base colour, then used Essie Penny Talk, Barry M Gold Foil and Barry M Silver Foil for the splatters. I topped it with one coat of Seche Vite to make it dry quickly and then one coat of Rimmel Mattifying Top Coat.

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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Studs, Uncategorised

31DC2012: Day 31 Recreate Your Favourite Challenge (Part 1)

18th December 2012

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It’s here! Technically, today is the last day of the 31 Day Challenge – Recreate Your Favourite Challenge. Although it’s not really because there’s another instalment of Day 31 coming very soon. I just erm… haven’t had a chance to do that mani yet!
Like last year, we decided to recreate our favourite challenges from each other for Day 31 rather than recreate our own manicures.

Today I recreated Cristina aka Let Them Have Polish’s Day 18 manicure – half moons which you can see here. What can I say, she used studs, so I had to!

I used Rimmel Heart on Fire as my base colour on every nail and then freehanded on the chevrons at the base using a nail art brush and W7 Black Cherry. For the accent nail, I painted everything but the chevron with the W7 polish. The studs are from Born Pretty Store and I finished with a top coat of NYC.

Head over to Cristina’s blog to see her recreations of her favourite from mine and Rie’s challenge manicures.

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31 Day Challenge, Studs, Uncategorised

31DC2012 Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial

13th December 2012

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Day 30’s nails have to be inspired by a tutorial. I gotta admit, I did these more than two weeks ago! When I was researching potential tutorials to be inspired by I came across this look and just couldn’t wait another day to do it.
The tutorial I followed for this look is a brief but brilliant one from Jen at The Polishaholic and it was inspired by a phone case. What I love about Jen’s nails is they really do look quilted. She really nailed the 3D texture but mine has come out a bit… flatter! Either way, it’s a great look. Thanks Jen!

The colours used here are GOSH Pool Party and Cult Nails Tulum. The caviar beads*, or studs as I like to think of them, are from NPW Nail Art. I used one coat of Seche Vite to finish off. To see a tutorial for this look, go to The Polishaholic.

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31 Day Challenge, Stamping, Uncategorised

31DC2012 Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural

12th December 2012

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This challenge has really gone belly up recently! We started out so well but unlike last year, when we were so regimented and determined, we’ve gone way off track and are all behind schedule. However, I’m determined to complete it before the end of the year if it kills me (which I’m sure it won’t, I’m just being melodramatic). I’m thinking of it as my end of year resolution! There are actually only 3 days left so I’d have to be reallllly lazy not to get it finished wouldn’t I?!

I spent so much time stressing about this challenge but in the end I just went for the obvious again to get it over and done with. It’s actually exactly the same as last year, I even used the same polish to stamp with!

Don’t worry, tomorrow’s challenge post is awesome!

I used 3 coats of Deborah Lippmann Fashion* as my base colour and stamped on the ghosts from Bundle Monster plate BM223 using Sally Hansen InstaDri Whirlwind White. I used two coats of NYC Top Coat for the glassy finish.

You can follow Rie’s challenge here and Cristina’s here.

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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

BONUS! Inspired by a Flag Take 2!

9th December 2012

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I had a brain meltdown when I was painting my Flag inspired nails and ended up doing two manicures so you get a bonus 31 Day Challenge post today! I’d had this idea written down for ages and was really looking forward to doing it. I got so excited that I kind of forgot it was part of the challenge since the challenge has started becoming more of a chore than a pleasure at this point. So anyway, I decided on the Jamaican Flag nail art and then remembered that I actually wanted to do this so I did it anyway! By the way, it’s inspired by a pirate flag!

I didn’t want to go for the traditional black background so I took out one of my many ‘near black’ shades, Deborah Lippmann Dark Side of the Moon* and used two coats as my base. I painted on the skull and crossbones and sword detail with white and black acrylic paint using a small nail art brush.

I added one coat of Revlon Facets of Fuschia to my thumb and pinky which I picked up for £1 in Discount UK and I’m pretty sure it’s exactly, EXACTLY the same polish as Scandalous which is part of the current range and is retailing for £6.49! That is scandalous!

Finally, I used two coats of NYC Top Coat to finish it all off.

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31 Day Challenge, Uncategorised

31DC2012 Day 28: Inspired by a Flag… Jamaica

9th December 2012

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My weekends used to be a chance to relax and unwind and get a bit of blogging done but recently they’ve become so hectic. I’ve just found 10 minutes in the middle of all the hustle and bustle before I set off to Birmingham for The Black Keys’ gig tonight. I am excite!

Today’s challenge prompt is Inspired by a Flag and I picked Jamaica’s. Rie has had to postpone her challenge but Cris has her flag nail art waiting for you here.

I started with one coat of Barry M White and then 2 coats of NYC Lexington Yellow before adding one top coat of Seche Vite to make it dry ready for… striping tape which I placed on the nail in a cross to mark off where the yellow lines would stay.

I used W7 Black and NYC High Line Green* with a nail art brush to paint on the triangle sections, being careful not to overlap the striping tape too much.

Next I peeled of the striping tape and used a bit of the NYC Lexington Yellow with a striper brush to neaten up any of the bit where the dark colours had crept under the tape.

Finally, I used two coats of NYC In a New York Minute to top it all off.

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31 Day Challenge, Tutorial, Uncategorised

Christan Dior AW12 Fashion Nail Art Tutorial

6th December 2012

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Here’s a tutorial for my Day 25 Inspired by Fashion Manicure from this year’s 31 Day Challenge. You can see the original post here with plenty of pictures.

The basics you’ll need are striping tape, black nail polish (or any other colour of your choice) and a top coat.

I’ve also used tweezers, acetone and some nail art brushes but you’ll see more about that below.

Make sure your nails are completely clean. If there’s any oil or dirt on your nails, the tape will have a hard time sticking properly.

You can use a base coat or colour if you like but I did the design straight on to my bare nails. If you are going to apply any polish make sure it’s completely dry before you apply any tape.

Place strips of striping tape across your nail and double up a few to make thicker lines. I used some tweezers to help me place the tape exactly where I wanted it. Try to make sure the tape is stuck down all the way to the edges.

One nail at a time, paint on your colour. Try to choose one that only needs one coat to be opaque. I just used one coat of A-England Lancelot. Move swiftly on to the next step.

While the polish is still wet, peel off the tape in one smooth motion from one side to the other.

If there are any patches where the polish got underneath the tape, use a nail art brush dipped in acetone to remove the unwanted bits.

Wait until the polish is completely dry and apply your top coat. I didn’t wait long enough and you can see the smudges!

Use a small paintbrush dipped in acetone to clean up around the edges and there you go!

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