Imagine | John Lennon inspired nail art!

Hey everybody! Long time no see, right?
Even though this is the first design you see up on this blog since my magnetic nail art from January, this is actually the 3rd I've done since then! I don't know why I never post to my blog right away - make sure to follow me on Instagram to see everything as soon as possible. I'll try to keep up with this blog a bit better in the future, but no promises!

Anyway, here's this week's design. I started off with some basic lettering on my 4 fingers, simply spelling out "imagine" - because I love the song and John Lennon in general. Then, I decided to go for something more intricate, I actually ended up attempting to paint John Lennon's face on my thumb. Needless to say, it's not perfect. It doesn't really look like him, but oh well. I'm still happy with the result.

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Colors used:
- white, black (+mixed for the greyscale portrait)
- JESSICA - Batty (sparkly black, used in the lettering)

Paranormal Sightings | Magnetic nail art!

I'm baaaack! (Again.)


Today I have some exciting nail art to share with you! I used bow polish's Ritual which is a stunning magnetic polish. It has a mesmerizing cat-eye effect when you move your nails. Make sure to check out my instagram post for a video!


I swatched this polish yesterday and decided to use it as a base for some nail art. I ended up painting some paranormal things over it.
Unfortunately, it was a bit hard to photograph, and the glow isn't all that impressive either.

31DC2017 - Day 31: Honor Nails You ♥

Woot! It's done! Third consecutive year!

I decided to honor some pretty simple nails from hausoflacquer today. I love the contrast of black and white and I like a good simple skittle mani every now and then :)

Colors used:
- black, white
- essence - grey zone (ligth grey)

31DC2017 - Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

Whoopsies. I didn't post this yesterday because I unintentionally spent the night at someone else's place even though I was planning to go home and actually do this mani!

I decided to go for a combo of side-swept and dry brush nails. I learned both of these techniques through tutorials :)

Colors used:
- Catrice - Sweet Macaron Sin (caramel/nude)
- essie - in stitches (terracotta)
- essence - love me like you do (pinkish brown)
- essence - i dreamed a dream (muted purple)

31DC2017 - Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural

These are really fun to look at!

For today's 'inspired by the supernatural' prompt, I chose to do my first ever mermaid scale design! The scales are freehanded and even though they're really simple, I love the contrast of the blingy base against the black lines.

The base is a wild mixture of black, all of the essence shimmer toppers, and a pretty opalescent glitter topper. I started with a black base, then sponged the shimmer toppers on randomly and finished it off with two coats of the opal glitter.

Also, where the heck has the time gone? I was really swamped this month with a group software project I was working on (hence the late and rather minimalistic posts) - but that is done now and I feel like I completely missed out on September.

Colors used:
- black
- essence - ...to the moon and back! (pink to red shimmer topper)
- essence - you are my sunshine (yellow/gold shimmer topper)
- essence - my piece of paradise (green shimmer topper)
- essence - catch the wave! (turquoise shimmer topper)
- essence - crush on you (blue shimmer topper)
- deBBY - 29 (opalescent glitter topper)

31DC2017 - Day 28: Inspired by a flag

So, for today's 'inspired by a flag' prompt, I chose the flag of the Bahamas. I just really like the color palette (even though I'm not the bigest fan of yellow) and I could see it translating onto my nails quite well. I also used a polish I hadn't worn before for this, so I'm very happy about that too.

Colors used:
- butter LONDON - Slapper (teal)
- China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)
- black

31DC2017 - Day 27: Inspired by artwork

I'm fairly happy with these! I did keep it simple, but I really like the contrast.

I chose to get inspired by Keith Haring's work for this prompt. It's such a simple style really, but some of his pieces are really creative and meaningful.

Colors used:
- black, white
- Yves Rocher - Garance (red)

31DC2017 - Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

Another late one, oopsies!
So today, I chose to do some nails based on a chessboard pattern - just to mention it right off the bat: Sarah from Chalkboard Nails did the exact same thing a couple years back and I definitely remembered that mani while thinking about what to do for today.

I especially want to apologize for the crappy picture quality today! (I took this pic in a different setting than normal, so that's probably why it's even worse than usual - I also didn't watermark it ^^)

Colors used:
- essence - miss captain (muted blue)
- essence - ? (silver foil from a tie&dye set from a couple years back)

31DC2017 - Day 25: Inspired by fashion

I dunno. I was going for a 3D sweater knit look, but it just came out ... chunky? Whatever, moving on...

Colors used:
- essence - pure beauty (pinkish nude)
- essence - i dreamed a dream (mauve)

31DC2017 - Day 24: Inspired by a book

Yeah, I know - not technically just "a" book. And honestly, I never read the books (I'm speaking of Harry Potter if you weren't aware) - I didn't get into the franchise until aout 4 years ago. I'm good at resisting hyped up movies and books.

Soooo yeah, I chose to represent the four houses - based on the color scheme and pattern of their ties. I didn't have a subtle enough yellow, so it's a bit too bright for my taste, and it doesn't go well with the rest of the nails.

As always, I suck at freehanding lines, please forgive the squiggliness!

Colors used:
- China Glaze - I Sea The Point (bright blue)
- essence - let's take an elfie (shimmery white)
- butter LONDON - British Racing Green (dark green)
- essence - we will spock you! (silver linear holo)
- China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (sunshine yellow)
- JESSICA - Batty (shimmery black)
- essence - pink & perfect (burgundy)
- OPI - 18K Ginza Gold (yellow gold)

31DC2017 - Day 23: Inspired by a movie

This year, I decided to get inspired by Frozen for this day of the challenge. Not gonna lie - I didn't start painting this until right before midnight - so I kept it simple. I wasn't too convinced by it (almost called it a fail), but then I put n matte topcoat and wow, I really like it now!

Colors used:
- painted polish - Blue As Summer Skies (white crelly with blue glitter)
- China Glaze - Frostbite (bright blue)

31DC2017 - Day 22: Inspired by a song

We write our words on paper planes and ride 'em through the hurricanes. So remember when our memories fade, our love will never age, even after our planes touch down again.

Such a pretty song! The song I chose for today's prompt is Paper Planes by Alexander Jean. I always enjoy listening to it when it comes on and I just kind of love everything about it.

I chose to write out a part of the song and dang, that was hard. The lettering is tiny on these! I also use quite sheer polishes, so I had to go over the words multiple times - which made it more difficult. On the other nails, I painted a paper plane and its sparkly trail.

If I had had more time, I would have made the whole thing glow in the dark - but I'm already ridiculously late as it is.

Colors used:
- LOOK - street (medium grey base)
- essence - let's take an elfie (shimmery sparkly white)
- Catrice - Pink Love Affair (pink with blue shimmer)
- black, white

31DC2017 - Day 21: Inspired by a color

Yayy, these were so fun to make! They took me way longer than I will admit, but that's also the reason why this post is up so late. I would have put more effort in if I had had more time, but oh well. Oh, and also, I used a new topcoat today and it totally smudged my index finger (and I'm a bit bitter about it tbh).

If you couldn't tell, I chose to be inspired by Fairy Dust by China Glaze, which is a beautiful micro-microglitter topper. The fairy was a bit hard to paint, especially when it came to the face, but I'm fairly happy with her. The glare kind of ruined the pic a bit, but I included two additional pics so you can get a better picture of what the finished product looks like.

I am officially calling her the "autumn fairy", here to bring us rain and plenty of warm beverages. The leaves on the trees are so envious of her wings, so they try their best to become as vibrant as them. Her dress is made of a naturally sparkling fabric, that makes the air smell like cinnamon when she flies past you. (I don't know, I like making up stories :P )

In all honesty, I painted the dess with Orly's Space Cadet, which is stunning! The veins on the wings actually smell like cinnamon!

Colors used:
- essence - my dear reindeer (grey-purple base)
- essie - spin the bottle (nude)
- Catrice - Sweet Macaron Sin (slightly darker pinkish nude)
- essence - do you speak love? (dark red)
- essence - from me to you (red-ish terracotta)
- Catrice - Chilly Orange (cool-toned orange)
- China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)
- Revlon - Autumn Spice (sparkly dark brown, smells like spices)
- Orly - Space Cadet (brown-ish green multichrome glassfleck)
- China Glaze - Fairy Dust (microglitter topper)
- black, white

31DC2017 - Day 20: Watermarble

Wee, we're two thirds done with the challenge already! These past 20 days went by super quick.
Today, we're looking at the watermarble prompt, and I did a clear and black marble over a white to orange gradient (I'm really looking forward to Halloween, can you tell? :P ).

I totally copied this idea from @nails_by_erin - she did these a while back but I really loved how they look!

Colors used:
- white, black
- China Glaze - Japanese Koi (neon orange)

31DC2017 - Day 19: Galaxies

Wee, I still love galaxy nails! And I'm really happy with how these turned out :)

I started off with a navy base, then did some watercolor with a neon pink and then sponged on the rest of the colors. I then added the stars and dots on top.

Colors used:
- MaxFactor - royal blue (navy)
- China Glaze - Rose Among Thorns (neon pink)
- OPI - Do You Have This Color In Stock-Holm? (purple)
- Manhattan - I Like (cobalt blue)
- essence - rock my soul (shimmery teal/turquoise)
- Dance Legend - Hospital For Souls (shimmery light blue)
- essence - message from the north pole (gold to pink shimmer topper)
- essence - glamaxy far, far away (flakie topper)
- white

31DC2017 - Day 18: Half Moons

I know, I know - another powder mani. I had a different idea that didn't end up working like I had imagined. I'm quite pleased with how these turned out - half moon manis are not usually my favorite. As always, the powder is from Born Pretty [I believe this is called 'unicorn powder'].

31DC2017 - Day 17: Glitter

Did some super simple nails for today's prompt, nothing too special. I used a blue jelly polish over a silver microglitter polish, then added some sparkle over top.

Colors used:
- claire's - Magic Show (silver microglitter)
- claire's - Neon Twilight (blue jelly)
- white

31DC2017 - Day 16: Geometric

I decided to try out another powder I bought from bornpretty recently and used it as a base for today's "geometric" prompt. I originally did this geometric overlay a couple years ago - back then I did it over a neon gradient.

I used China Glaze's I Sea Your Point as a base for the powder and I am OBSESSED with how it looks. I don't think these pictures truly captured the effect.

31DC2017 - Day 15: Delicate Print

So I got some pretty exciting nail mail today - the new Bornprettystore chameleon + holo powders! I applied these to my to middle fingers (what you see in the picture was my first ever time using them) and I really like how they turned out. I took some extra pictures to try and capture the multichrome shift.

For the 'delicate' part, I went for a lace-type pattern (originally created by Chalkboard Nails) on my ring and pinky finger but I couldn't capture it to save my life. I think you can imagine what it looks like.

Materials used:
- black
- BornPretty powder
- ILNP - Abundance

31DC2017 - Day 14: Floral

I'm sticking with my tradition of doing an extended mani for this day of the challenge. I decided to re-use the daisies from my "Heart Don't Break Around Here" nails from earlier this year.

Colors used:
- essence - the night of magic (dark navy blue, basically black)
- China Glaze - It's My Turn (gold scattered holo)
- white