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31DC2013

31 Day Challenge, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Round Up

3rd October 2013

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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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31 Day Challenge, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 31: Honour Nails You Love

1st October 2013

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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: 2012 (Part 1) (Part 2)

Day 31: 2011

Catch up with the 31 Day Challenge on Pinterest!

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31 Day Challenge, Gradient, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial

30th September 2013

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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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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural

29th September 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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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

28th September 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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31 Day Challenge, Stamping, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

27th September 2013

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As I mentioned yesterday, I got my days in a twist this week so although it’s technically Day 27 of the challenge, these are the nails for the prompt for Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern.

While I was browsing Asos for inspiration for Day 25’s Fashion inspired nails I also found the inspiration for today – a grungy variation of the houndstooth pattern – on a t-shirt!

Image source: Asos.com

I started with a base of Rimmel Grey Matter and stamping on the houndstooth design from Bundle Monster Plate BM322 using BK Matte White.

To get the frayed look around the edges, I took a nail art brush then using Barry M White and Rimmel Grey Matter, I added lines over the sharp lines in the pattern going in the direction of the houndstooth.

Finally I topped it off with two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern 2012
Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern 2011
See what’s coming next in the 31 Day Challenge 2013!

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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 27: Inspired by Artwork

26th September 2013

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I’ve made a huge mistake! Only as I was writing this post did I notice that today’s challenge is ‘Inspired by a Pattern’ but I got my days muddled up so I’m posting Day 27’s Artwork Inspired nails today. Look out for my patterned nails tomorrow!

Day 27’s prompt is the one I normally struggle with. In previous years I’ve spent hours searching for inspiration but luckily for me, I came across some inspiration a few weeks ago and decided to save it for this challenge. The piece of art that inspired today’s nail art is by Alex Box, a very creative make-up artist and Illamasqua’s Creative Director. I kept seeing her name on blogs and other beauty sites so I thought I’d better see what all the fuss was about and I was blown away by her work. One of the looks that she created for her collaboration with Rankin particularly caught my eye and I knew I’d have to do some nail art inspired by it.

Image credit: Rankin.co.uk

I started with a base of Barry M White. Once that was dry, I freehanded on the details using a nail art brush with piCture pOlish Mad Magenta and Sally Hansen Water Color .
It’s all topped off with two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

Here’s an image that’s good for pinning if you’re in to that kind of thing!

Day 27: Inspired by Artwork 2012
Day 27: Inspired by Artwork 2011
See what’s coming next in the 31 Day Challenge 2013!

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