31DC2013 Day 07: Black and White Nails

I got this in just under the wire! It's been a crazy busy day. Crazy busy awesomeness that is!! I spent some more time at Salt Lake Comic Con today. My sister came with me and we walked around getting our pictures taken, and also hung out at my husband's booth there. Afterwards he and I went on a date and saw James Taylor perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! A seriously wonderful day that I will remember for a long time! Now about my nails..

Thinking about the black and white theme, I knew I wanted to do animal print. I thought about making it easy and doing polar bears with maybe just their noses showing. Heh heh. I'm sure there will be LOTS of animal prints today and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's interpretations. I wanted to see what kind of mix I could get and I really am proud of the result!

Did you ever read the Ranger Rick magazine when you were little? I'm sure National Geographic Kids and others have this too. They would always have those macro pictures on the back cover, and it was a game to guess what they were. It wasn't my original intent, but looking at my nails now, that is all I can think of.

So can you guess what they all are? If you want to know just highlight the answers below.

Thumb- cow
Index- penguin
Middle- zebra
Ring- skunk
Pinky- leopard (the others are more realistic, I took a few liberties here.)


What I used:
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls- white
Sephora by OPI What's a Tire Jack?- black
Sephora by OPI Hi Def- orange
Ulta Cream of the Crop- yellow

I wanted to edit the photos a little, but I don't have time!

31DC2013 Day 06: Purple Nails

Today's purple nails feature a technique I used last week in my eye shadow pigment nails post. I like the results even better this time! I really love the little dusting of the two purple shadows over the dark purple polish.

I think it looks very space-y, like something you might see from the Hubble Space Telescope. Come to think of it, it looks just like the Dark Matter Distribution in Cluster Anoba 607. That's right, Hubble gotchu.

I explained a little of the technique in the post I mentioned. For a more indepth tutorial check out the one by Lacquerheads of Oz.

What I used:
Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous
NS Minerals eye shadows (Again, when I bought these they didn't come with a label, so I can't tell you the color names.)

What do these remind you of?

31DC2013 Day 05: Blue Nails

Rise and shout, the Cougars are out!

Honestly I'm not a big (or small) sports fan. I've never been passionate about team sports. On the other hand, come Olympics time, I am glued to my t.v. for two weeks straight. Although I may not be devote, there is one team I will always root for. That would be the BYU Cougars.

I myself never attended Brigham Young University, but I know a long, long, list of people who have. Many of those people include family members such as: both my parents, my husband, sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins, etc. So I feel that I have an obligation to make some effort of loyalty. The fact that their school colors include blue, my favorite color, is a major winning point.

Go Cougars!

What I used:

OPI Dating a Royal

Sephora by OPI White Hot

INM Out The Door top coat

What makes you loyal to a team? School affiliation? Pretty colors? Uniforms that make the athletes look hot?

31DC2013 Day 04: Green Nails

Green nails... teal... whatever. Who are you, the color police? No, you're cooler than that, I know. I'd call it an emerald teal because it definitely leans toward the green side.

Okay, I have been dreading this post because I'm so annoyed with the photos. My camera HATES teal and refuses to capture it properly. So I'm just going to throw in a bunch of them, in the hopes that as a whole it will give you an idea of what they looked like.

The base color and the glitter are such pretty "mermaid" colors, I wanted to do some scales to go with it. I've never attempted the look before, so I was learning as I went. I used a dotting tool, alternating the colors by row. I want to try to do scales again because I know it can look cool. I think next time I will look for a tutorial first. I have this thing where I like to try things by myself first, screw up, and then ask for help. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

Well, there it is. I was really digging the manicure when I wore it. I think it was super pretty. It's just the photos that I'm frustrated with. Oh well, moving on... I know tomorrow's blue will be much easier to photograph. Yay!


What I used:
Sephora by OPI Mermaid To Order- teal base color
Jenna Hipp Look Hot Feel Cool- medium green on ring finger
OPI Live and Let Die- dark green on ring finger
Sephora by OPI Not Your Average Turquoise-  hex glitter
Ulta Love Fern- darker round and micro glitter

31DC2013 Day 03: Yellow Nails

How is it only Day 3? I swear it's been at least a week already...

For today I created a "cartoon nails" manicure. My reasoning is that yellow polish is somehow already a little cartoon-y by itself. Only, it might not have been the best shade choice for this look, because the white doesn't contrast well on it. I'll try it again sometime with a more saturated shade like pink or red.

But I digress. These are still cool. They're kind of trippy to look at. Enjoy!

I started with three coats of the yellow. Then I outlined the nails in black polish with a striping brush. Next I painted on the white with a striping brush and dotting tool. I finished it all off with a matte top coat. Viola!

What I used:
Sephora by OPI Yellow My Name is Betsey
Sephora by OPI What's A Tire Jack?
Sephora by OPI White Hot
China Glaze Matte Magic

I hope you're having as much fun with this challenge as I am!

31DC2013 Day 02: Orange Nails

I've been ready to try another animal print, so I thought tiger stripes would be appropriate for today's orange theme. I spent a lot of time looking at tiger print and thinking about which way to approach it. Tigers have such a variety of  shape and placement with their stripes, depending on where they are. So I just tried a little variation too to see which ones I liked best.

I like the index and middle nails the best. I think if I used a different color besides orange you might still know it's a tiger print.

I don't have any straight-on shots of my thumb because I liked it the least.

I chose Sephora by OPI I Think I Cayenne as a subtly different orange shade for an accent nail. When I was done I started to wish I had done that color on each nail. It's so pretty! I had never used it before so I didn't expect to like it so much.

What I used:
Sephora by OPI Paisley Attention To Me- orange creme
Sephora by OPI I Think I Cayenne- metallic orange
Sephora by OPI What's A Tire Jack?- black

Would you rock this tiger print? Would you use a different color?

Wish me luck for Day 3!

31DC2013 Day 01: Red Nails

Red is a color that immediately makes me feel sexy the moment I paint that first stripe of polish on my finger. With this manicure, all that sexiness went right out the window the moment I added Elmo. But I think cute is an acceptable substitute for sexy.
I knew straight away that I wanted to do Elmo for today's challenge. He is the friendliest red monster there is! I assumed it had been done before (I have found out that all my "original" ideas have been done multiple times), and found one I liked at Nail Loopy. Her Elmo design had awesome detail that I tried to reproduce.

I was really afraid of applying a top coat. I knew it would smear with how thick the polish was. Luckily it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. His eyes got the worst of it. At least he doesn't look demonic, terrorizing children everywhere.

What I used:
American Apparel Downtown LA- red
Sephora by OPI Hi Def- orange
Sephora by OPI What's a Tire Jack?- black
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls- white

Did this make you giggle? In a "tee-hee-hee" kind of way? I was amused. :)

That's it for Day 1! Day 2 is coming right up..