New 31DC: Geometric

I was very unsure about what to do for today's challenge.  I looked for ideas on Pinterest (sense a theme here?) and tried to think of something that suited me.  Geometric really isn't something I'm drawn to, when it comes to designs.  Then, it hit me--a flash of genius.  The ultimate in geometric shapes:

TETRIS!

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats China Glaze Fast Track
*Color Club Almost Famous (pinkie)
*China Glaze Gothic Lolita (ring)
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed (middle)
*China Glaze Aquadellic (index)
*Zoya America (thumb)
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Out The Door

I LOVE Tetris!  My favorite was Tetrisphere for the N64.  In my current retail hell, people are always amazed at how well I pack bags and carts.  Tetris!  I could not decide on the right base for these and was going to use my go-to nude by Julep, but it's a little bottle and takes 3 coats and I don't know that I want to spend the bucks to get a new one if I run out, so...I went with another gorgeous neutral.  I love Fast Track for so many reasons, not the least of which is that amazing shimmer!

I was really sad when I outlined these because those skills need some work.  I taped off the shapes and did such a great job that I almost left them alone (my tape skills are getting SO much better!), but I had to get those iconic boxes in. 

Really, away from the cruel macro setting of a camera, these don't look bad at all!  I wish I had the time, patience and skill to do these on my right hand too so I could wear them tomorrow, but that would just be disaster.  I can't wait to give these a go when I get some striping tape because I think those sharp lines will make these little pieces awesome!
 

31DC: Tribal

Today was a tough one.  Not as hard to do as yesterday, but not anything that I am drawn to.  While I could think of a lot of delicate patterns and designs, nothing "tribal" came to mind.  Then I remembered my bracelet that I got in college!  There were no utrieds today because the pattern was actually black and orange--go figure!


*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener base
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed
*1 coat Seche Vite

When I was a sophomore in college, the Watoto children's choir came and performed.  The children were so beautiful and joyful, despite all that they had seen and endured.  There was such resilient life in them that you couldn't help fall in love!  I bought this bracelet at a little table outside of the performance because I thought it was super cute and, more than that, those children changed my heart in a big way.

 

This had potential.  It wasn't until after I finished that I noticed how crooked my index finger stripes were.  I also couldn't really figure out how to position my thumb the right way to keep the pattern going.  I decided to do the pattern with a dotting tool instead of a brush to imitate the beaded element of the bracelet. 

Sun Kissed is not particularly opaque, though two coats is usually just fine.  I went back over the dots in my "stripes" and they did fine with a second coat.  My heart was a different story.  I was a little less precise on the second coat because I didn't want the polish to dry and string, and my dots got a little out of control.  This is one time when I really should have stopped when I was ahead.  Oh well!

 

 

What do you think about tribal prints?  Are there any that you love or have turned into nail art? 

 

31DC: Stripes

I'm keeping the Halloween vibe going with my striped nails.  As I worked on this, I had a minor nail art crisis: I could NOT find any Scotch tape!  I looked everywhere I could think of and could not find anything but heavy-duty packaging tape!  Now I know where my masking tape, painter's tape, and 2 rolls of Scotch tape are, but then...well, it was a bit ugly.  I used some more of my old nail guides for French manicures, which have a bit of an adhesive issue, so the lines aren't super clean, but they served their purpose.  Today only has 1 untried.

 

*1 coat Yello-Out base
*2 coats Color Club Almost Famous
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed
*1 coat Out the Door Northern Lights (silver)

 

The lines on my white tips are not as clean as I would like.  Maybe this is the one I will do again at the end, with good tape :)  I decided to make Almost Famous the base color because it was the one that needed more than one coat.    It's really saturated for a yellow, but I still wanted two coats to eliminate streaks.  Then, I taped off the tips and painted a pretty thick coat of Snow Me White on the tips.  Especially for the price, I love this white!  It's also really saturated and I've found it is opaque and covers most colors really well.  Lastly, I taped off my nail bed, with the tip free, and painted a stripe of Sun Kissed through the middle of my nails.  All 3 of these have a clean, smooth cream finish to them.

 

I saw Northern Lights online and had planned to order it because I love my Out the Door top coat.  Then, last weekend when I was browsing Sally's clearance, I saw that they had it in stock and decided to pick up a bottle.  There is micro silver holo glitter in the top coat.  It settles on the bottom of the bottle, so you shake it up before using it each time.  You can see that the glitter is really sparse, which sometimes is all I want.  It adds just a little extra to the mani, with the great finish of Out the Door!

Aside from the messy lines, which were slightly out of my control, I really love this one!  I'm not into spooky and scary Halloween, really, but I love sweet Halloween!  Candy corn has been one of my favorite candies as long as I can remember, and it screams "FALL!"  Are you rocking any sweets manicures this month?

31DC: Yellow

I learned in college that three of something signifies a pattern.  This is a good sign because I've made it to day 3, so the pattern is setting in for posting each day for the challenge!  There were no untrieds today, but I did branch into nail art a bit further, so that sorta counts, right? 

I was pretty bummed as I tried to think of something to do with yellow.  It's kind of tough, especially since we work so hard to keep our nails NOT yellow!  Then I remember something that I had pinned long ago and wanted to try!

*1 coat Yellow-Out base
*1 coat Color Club Almost Famous
*2 coats Sinful Colors Let's Meet
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black out
*1 coat Seche Vite

I decided to try Charlie Brown's iconic shirt!  I started with Almost Famous, which is a surprisingly opaque yellow, bright and warm.  I probably should have done two coats to eliminate streaks in it (and I actually might have...I kind of forgot), because yellow tends to be a bit unforgiving.  Then I used two coats of Let's Meet, which is a really close match.  This one is very sheer, but loaded with shimmer.  The two work really well together, which Let's Meet camouflaging many of Almost Famous' streaks.  I then used a small paint brush and Black Out to free hand the zig-zag. 
I really love the cartoon look of the black in my inspiration, but I was pleasantly pleased with how this came out.  For me, this was a pretty good attempt at nail artwork!

Today is also my grandma's birthday.  She is such a wonderful woman and has been a huge part of my life.  Charles Schultz is from Santa Rosa, about an hour from my hometown.  Every year my grandma used to buy my family tickets to Snoopy On Ice, the holiday ice show at Schultz's rink that he owned, for his daughter who skated.  It is such a special, salient part of my childhood and of Christmas.  Grandma knew how much we loved these special days, and she is just as much a part of those memories as Snoopy.  It's appropriate that this is my mani today, and it wasn't until after I did it that I thought about how perfect it is!