Rockin' around the Christmas tree

This is a post where I wish my photography skills were better.  I am learning little by little, but still not so great with the pictures.  These nails were so much better in person, mainly because I killed them with my auto flash.  As soon as I saw Nailslide's Abstract Trees, I knew I wanted to try them (and apparently everyone else does too because they are awesome and popping up all over!).  I'm glad that I went back and looked at them again before I painted.  I had planned to do a gold base and green top, which would have worked out just fine, but I really liked the little gold trees!

*1 coat Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats OPI Skip the Gift Wrap
*1 coat China Glaze Winter Holly
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I
*1 coat Out the Door

 I was going to just layer Winter Holly up, but decided to use it over a base.  I used 2 coats of Skip the Gift Wrap (a dark, shimmery green that dries to a foil finish) for opacity and then 1 coat of Winter Holly for all of its glittery goodness.  I don't know if I will ever get tired of this green, gold, holo beauty!

I taped off triangles like she suggests and then tried out striping tape for the first time, which I won in a giveaway.  I was really surprised by how thin it is, laying very close to the nail, and how much comes in one little roll.  I made the strips long enough to stick to the Scotch tape, which made removal so easy--one careful pull and they were done!
Golden-I was a good cover, one thick coat over the tape and it was set.  I was a little unsure of myself, so I didn't get too creative with the garland/tape, but I really liked how they looked today.  I added a little rhinestone for the tree topper and, despite everything that screamed "add some more glitter on top!" (I know, I have a problem), I let them be with a good, thick top coat. 
In person, the definition of color is much stronger and sharper, but overall I really liked how these turned out!  Now I not only have rhinestones and new dotting tools to play with, but a whole lot of striping tape to try new designs with!

31DC: Inspired by a tutorial

Here we are--the last original challenge!  I am so proud of myself for sticking with this all month and pretty impressed with how far outside of my little comfort zone I ventured!  I have learned a lot of new techniques and found a ton of places for improvement, but overall I am really pleased with a lot of the work that I did! 
Today feels a bit redundant, like my color inspiration did.  I used different tutorials for many manicures this month (gradient, galaxy, water marble, animal/sponging, etc.), even more manis for inspiration, and really have found so much help out there!  There are a million other tutorials I am excited to try, but today I wanted to do a dot mani from one of my favorite blogs, Chalkboard Nails.  I wanted to make this a little Halloween-y, so there aren't any untrieds today.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats China Glaze Elephant Walk
*Julep Kate
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Seche Vite

Now, before I begin, let's talk about the elephants in the photos (no pun intended).  First off, those awful red cuticles are a little reminder of my beloved Supernatural mani yesterday.  I scrubbed and used q-tips.  They were getting drier, but not cleaner.  Sorry!  Secondly, today I did not work, which means that I let my hair stay down.  As long as it is, that made a big problem.  As I finished up, it rubbed right over the top of my tacky black dots.  I know, those streaks are the only thing I can look at too.  I liked everything else so much that I just didn't have the heart to redo it all...

I used Elephant Walk as my base because I didn't think it was opaque enough to use for dots.  I love the soft shimmer of this polish, which you can really see in the pictures.  Using the larger end of my dotting tool, I used Kate first, and then switched to the smaller end. 

 

The dots are supposed to overlap a bit (I wish I had done more of that) so I decided to do Black Out second, unsure of how well white would cover it.  Again, I started with the large side and then switched to the small.  I love how they look like little bubbles!  The ones my hair did not ruin turned out really cute.  I had to go back and adjust the shape of my dotting.  A couple moved down one side more than the other, almost like a little wave.  This would have been fine if I had done it for all for them, but I didn't.  That's one thing that is wonderful about this design--it's so easy to add dots in and adjust the effect!

 

 

 

That middle nail is my favorite!  It turned out the most like the tutorial and the dots are clean.  I think that I would like to try this again with a bigger difference in the sizes of the dots--these are kind of close, so there isn't a ton of contrast.  Overall, this is such an easy, cute design that can lend itself to any color combo or season.  You will be seeing it again very soon!

What tutorials have you found and loved?  What do you think I should try out next?