Christmas Zebra Print

I finally have some holiday nail art for you today! I was in the middle of swatching a few polishes and had the need for some easy nail art. Animal print is my go-to for quick and easy nail art. This zebra print is sort of my follow up to last year's Christmas leopard print mani. It doesn't read "zebra" very strongly in this color combo, but it still comes across as Christmas-y, which was my main intention. 

31DC2014 Day 10: Idea of Happiness Gradient

Hey everyone! It's already day ten of the 31 Day Challenge! I have been feeling pretty good and thought that maybe this year's Challenge would be much easier. Then I did today's mani and realized that this was the same point in the Challenge as last year that I started stressing out and losing sleep. Oh well, I knew what I was in for! 

Since I did a gradient mani for yesterday's Rainbow prompt, I didn't wan't to do another similar one for today's gradient prompt. Instead I did a design that I have been wanting to do for months, I just hadn't found the right time for it. My inspiration was the cover art for Van She's Idea of Happiness album.

Zebra of the Sea

Hi everyone! I wanted to do a really quick and easy, yet bold, mani. I remembered how much I loved my Funkedelic Stamping mani, so I went with something similar. It wasn't intended to look like a zebra print, but I ended up loving it anyway.

Guest Post From The Dalai Lama's Nails

Hello lovelies! I am so excited about today's guest post! Hannah of The Dalai Lama's Nails is joining us for my Blogiversary Celebration guest post series today. I started following Hannah a few months ago because I was so inspired by her creativity. I love the designs she creates with her freehand nail art. Though it was hard to choose, I have some great examples to check out here, here, and here. I'm also a fan of her blog name and the inspiration behind it. It's genuinely original. But before you get too distracted by checking out her awesome blog, let's see what she has for us here!
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Hey there, I'm Hannah, and my little corner of the blogosphere is over at The Dalai Lama's Nails. Something I love about blogging is that I get to know other bloggers - and that's how I've started to get to know Emily. I'm always so inspired by her work - she's got such a wonderful sense of design and color. Plus, oh my gosh, I so identify with her ideal Polish Society. I believe in my right to bear polish! I can't believe she's only been blogging for a year - she's so good! (and congrats, dear!). For my guest post today, I was so inspired by her Wild Zebra Hearts Tutorial. Because - duh - how freaking cute are those hearts?! I decided to go with two contrasting colors, and to add in a full zebra stripe accent nail. Hope you like it and try out her tutorial for a fun and easy look.

Tutorial: Wild Zebra Hearts

Blue Zebra and Leopard Animal Print

I had a day at the zoo and wanted to my manicure to blend in, so I have a zebra and leopard design for you. Lately I have been in a very "blue" mood. You know, blue as in the color, not in a sad way. Yesterday I bought a blue shirt, skirt, and even blue eye shadow. Blue is my favorite color, but I think because I've been trying to embrace other colors, I went into withdrawal or something.

To create the manicure I first applied two coats of OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam, one of my very favoritist polishes. Then I painted on the zebra stripes with my long striping brush. Next I added some small bright blue blobs. Then used my dotting tool to finish the leopard pattern. Lastly I finished with some top coat. Darn top coat made my stripes smear. Curses.

What I used:
OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam- base color
Zoya Sailor- navy
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away- bright blue
Seche Vite top coat

I just received my Seche Restore in the mail today (I don't know where to get it locally, they didn't have any at Sally Beauty)! My Seche Vite bottle always gets thick after just a few weeks of use. The Seche Restore is supposed to add the ingredients that have evaporated from the bottle back in and return it to its original state. I bought mine from Amazon. I'm going to try it out tonight. I'll let you know how it goes!

Bubble Gum Zebra

I finally got my nail art brushes in the mail!! Oh happy day! So now.. what to do, what to do? I was already wearing Clinique Different Nail Enamel Pinkini, and I thought I could just add to it. I decided to christen my brushes with a zebra print. I was surprised by how easy it was! At least,  it started easy. For some reason by the time I got to my ring and pinky fingers, I started to struggle a little more. Regardless, I was so excited by the result! Obviously there is room for improvement (isn't there always?), but you can still tell it's zebra print, right?

The next day I tried it with a matte top coat. It smeared it a little and shrunk it too, but I liked the finish. I used China Glaze Matte Magic.

I was still in the mood for experimenting, so I added a glitter coat. I struggled with the hex glitter, getting it both on the nail and then in the right place. It ended up pretty goopy. Still, I liked the contrast and the color of the glitter. I wish I was able to photograph it better because it looked better than this. This is Jenna Hipp After Party.

What colors should I use for my next zebra print?