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 8: Metallic Nails

Welcome back!

For today's prompt, I went for a grungy distressed metal look. I'm really quite happy with how it turned out!

I started off with a gold to green duochrome base, then started sponging and brushing on some different colors. I went with a warmer toned gold to bronze, silver, and even some green to brown duochrome! I then made random markings with a sharpie and went over them with acetone to create a watercolor-like look. Lastly, I added some black dots on top and sealed it off with some matte topcoat.

I included a flash picture below so you can really see that green I used. The pic is a bit blurry (and also a bit overexposed) but I think it does the job.

Colors used:
- Catrice - Enchanted Camouflage (gold to green duochrome)
- s-he - 321/130 (bronze)
- Manhattan - Heart Of Stone (antiqued silver)
- OPI - Green On The Runway (green to brown duochorme)

31DC2016 - Day 28: Inspired by a flag

Played it safe today. I'm not the biggest fan of this prompt and since I didn't do a 4th of July mani this year, I'm using that as an excuse for this.

I really wanna call this a deconstructed USA flag, I like the effect of the white bar glitter as the scattered stripes. For the stars, I went for a mixture of stars and dots - randomly assembled on my nails. I think this is an okay mani, I could've done better but I think I hit my yearly breaking point. Luckily, there's only 3 prompts left!

Colors used:
- essie - forever yummy (red)
- Manhattan - 10B (blue) [destashed]
- white

31DC2016 - Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

Not necessarily inspired by a well-known pattern or anything, but based on a picture I found through a quick google search. I wanted something 80s-esque and this is what I picked.

To be quite honest, I'm not sure if I like these or not - they look a bit like a children's birthday party kind of nail art. Maybe that's just me though.

I started off with a white base, then freehanded the zig zag curves with primary colors. I didn't go over them as many times as I probably should have, which probably contributes to me finding these quite childish. Oh well.

In other news: Only 5 designs left! Wow, it seems like yesterday that I did my gradient nails for this challenge. I am really excited for the end though. I think this run of the challenge was quite exhausting for me, balancing freelance work (and a super messed up sleeping pattern) with nail art is quite the task!

Colors used:
- white
- China Glaze - Kiwi Cool-Ada (green)
- essie - forever yummy (red)
- Formula X - Dynamite (yellow)
- Manhattan - It's Complicated (blue)

31DC2016 - Day 24: Inspired by a book

Today's prompt was 'inspired by a book' and even though I had to think about what I was going to do for quite some time, I'm glad I chose to do a mani inspired by Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Little fun fact: I actually own two copies of this book! One - the one in the picture - was given to me by my late grandmother, after she found out I was really into English books (English isn't my native language). The other one - a German translation - we read in middle school, about a year after I read the original.

I chose to keep this mani fairly simple. I painted Matilda herself on my middle finger and recreated some flying books from the cover on my pointer finger.

I used essence's lean on me as the base for this mani, instead of a classic white. I started with the black outlines, then continued to fill everything in with a subtle watercolor technique. I topped it off with some matte topcoat for a change.

Colors used:
- essence - lean on me (pastel yellow/cream)
- black
- Catrice - Miss Piggy's BF (green) [destashed]
- Manhattan - It's Complicated (medium blue)
- essence - miss captain (muted, greyed out blue)
- OPI - Do You Have This Color In Stock-Holm? (purple)
- Misslyn - double chocolate (slightly muted chocolate brown) [destashed]

31DC2016 - Day 19: Galaxies

I don't do galaxy nails nearly enough. It's been a whole year since my last one (also for this challenge)!

I loosely based this mani on this picture.

I started off with a layer of dark blue, then started sponging on all kinds of colors. As soon as that was done, I added all the tiny white stars. I added some glitter in random places, sealed everything in with top coat and it was done!

Galaxy nail art is so simple, I love it.

Colors used:
- MaXFactor - royal blue (navy)
- China Glaze - I Sea The Point (royal/bright blue)
- China Glaze - Bahamian Escape (light blue)
- essie - lapis of luxury (pastel blurple/cornflower blue/etc)
- essie - lilacism (lilac)
- essence - amazed by you (red-toned purple) [destashed]
- wibo - Nr. 4 (duo, here I used the creme side; magenta) [destashed]
- Manhattan - Meow-tyful (bright magenta)
- China Glaze - Fairy Dust (silver microglitter topper)
- white

31DC2016 - Day 2: Orange

Welcome to day two of the 31 day nail art challenge! My design for today is a bit of a stretch, but it's really growing on me the more I look at it.

Sticking with yesterday's vibe, I opted for what feels like a very bohemian combo to me. I covered it all, flowers, feathers and some smeared paint. Even though I wouldn't exactly describe smeared paint as 'boho', but I do like how it looks paired with the flowers.

I started off with 2 coats of butter LONDON's Tea With The Queen, a tan crelly. Then, I continued freehanding the flowers on my index and middle fingers. I started with the darker area toards my cuticles and then worked outwards.

While that was drying, I started the feather on my thumb. I decided to go with a smaller one and move it to a corner, to create a nice accent nail. I have never attempted feathers with nail polish before, but I think I did just fine!

Lastly, I quickly did the other two nails. I'm sure you have all heard of the dry brush technique by now, so I will spare you the details.

Colors used:

- butter LONDON - Tea With The Queen (tan crelly)
- China Glaze - Japanese Koi (neon orange)
- ArtDeco - 80 (darker orange) [destashed]
- Manhattan - Your Favorite (dark red/oxblood)
- Zoya - Kym (shimmery red-toned bronze) [destashed]

31DC2016 - Day 1: Red Nails

Hey there! Long time no post, I know. I've been working on going through all my polishes and actually trying to wear all of them one after another. BUT! I decided to do the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge again this year! In case you don't know, the point of this challenge is to do 31 consecutive days of nail art, with each day having its own prompt.

Today's prompt is red nails!

The gradient, without glitter

I know my picture doesn't look like a lot of art, but the intentions were there, I promise!
I started out with a horizontal gradient, from a light red to an oxblood color, creating a shaded effect. The original gradient looked really nice, but I guess it lost its effect under the glitter topper I added.

Speaking of which, the topper actually has some multichrome magic happening in different angles. It's a bit like Clarins 230, just chunkier and less overpriced.






This mani actually ended up looking pretty cool with a matte topcoat over it and that's how I'm wearing it now!



Here are the colors I used:
- Catrice - It's All About That Red (light red)
- Manhattan - Your Favorite (oxblood/dark red)
- KleanColor - Chunky Holo Bluebell (glitter topper)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 23: Inspired by a movie

Today's manicure is inspired by the movie Finding Nemo. This was the first movie I ever saw in the cinema, back when I was 7. I will try to take you through every nail, explaining what I wanted to depict and which colors I used. Make sure to click on the pictures to magify them!

Let's start with the pinky! This is a purple to yellow gradient with yellow polka dots on the bottom three fourths of my nail. This was inspired by the character Gurgle, who is a purple royal gamma fish. I didn't really have a blue-based purple in my stash that was bright enough to resemble his actual colors, so I used essence's amazed by you [destashed] instead. It's more pink/red-based, but it worked well. The yellow I used is Formula X - Dynamite.

The design on my ring finger was inspired by the character Gill. He is a white moorish idol and I tried representing his appearance by starting with a sideway gradient from yellow to white. The yellow is the same as above, the white is essie - blanc.
I then painted on some dark purple on either side of the gradient. The purple I used is OPI's Russian Navy. The last step was to paint on his scars with the white polish.

The middle finger represents Dory. I started with two coats of Manhattan's 10B [destashed]. I then painted on the black markings with essie - licorice and finished the design by adding her back fin with China Glaze's Happy Go Lucky. This is a lighter and cooler yellow than Dynamite.
I ended up shading/highlighting the lines where the blue and the black meet with essence's blurry up!, which is a white jelly polish.

The index finger was obviously inspired by the title character. I started off with two coats of Artdeco's 80 [destashed] then added the detail with black and white polish. Unfortunately, my bottle of essie's blanc has gotten a bit goopy, so this finger and my thumb ended up a little thick in places.

The design on my thumb was inspired by the character Deb. Deb is a blue and white striped damselfish. I started this just like my middle finger, then added in the white "stripes" and lined them with essie's shelter island. This finger also had the issue of being a little thick in places.



This isn't really something I would actually wear outside the challenge, but it was a lot of fun to create for sure!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 19: Galaxy Nails

WARNING: Picture-heavy post!

I have done countless galaxy manicures in the past, so I decided to switch it up with these. First of all, I let my mom pick out the colors I was gonna use. She picked out a lot of seemingly random colors, but to my surprise, they all worked perfectly together. I ended up adding one color to make it a little more 'complete'. All in all, these were a lot of fun to make and to look at. And the best part? They glow in the dark!

I am also officially calling these rainbow galaxies, because that's how they ended up looking to me. I really truly love these and just a single picture does not do them justice. They're really sparkly!

Here, have some pictures.

Make sure to click through these pictures to magnify them!
The glow wasn't the strongest unfortunately, even after charging the polish with flash. It would have possibly worked better if I put the polish over an actual white base.

Colors used (in no particular order):
black, white
Manhattan - 10B (dark blue) [destashed]
flormar - U09 (sparkly medium purple)
essence - i don't need money, honey! (teal foil-effect polish) [destashed]
butter LONDON - Shag (shimmery medium brown)
MaXFactor - Deep Coral (dark orange/red)
flormar - S02 (shimmery green jelly)
OPI - Bling Dynasty (yellow gold)
OPI - Ski Slope Sweetie (white glass fleck polish with cream shimmer) [destashed]
essence - let stars rain down on me! (small holo glitter) [destashed]
claire's - White Out (white jelly, glows green in the dark) [destashed]

Now & Then - Color Blocking

Hey guys!
This is my first actual post on this blog. I started it about a year ago, but I was always too lazy to actually write paragraphs about my nail art.
This changes right now.

With my first post, I will also introduce you to a format called "Now & Then" in which I will pick out some of my oldest manis (I started doing "nail art" in 2011) and re-create them.

This first one is a color-blocking mani I did 3 years ago.
Let's take a look at the original mani:

There's so much wrong with this. The lines, the blotchy colors, the shape of my nails. The missing part of my thumb nail.

I didn't know a whole lot about nail polish and nail care back then. I was 15, trying to find an escape from high school.
And I found it.

Sure, my beginnings were all sorts of messed up. But I kept coming up with things and becoming a lot better in the process. And now, I am at a point in my journey where I feel comfortable showing off my nail art and even doing other people's nails!

And so, because whenever I look back at this I cringe; I decided to re-create it and actually paint straight and fairly even lines.


Here's the result:

Much better now, right?
I mean sure, the mani still feels a little messy, but I don't have to cringe everytime I look at it.

Here's the colors I used for this mani:
- China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)
- essie - forever yummy (red)
- flormar - 421 (orange) [destashed]
- China Glaze - Something Sweet (light pink)
- China Glaze - Custom Kicks (turquoise/teal) [destashed]
- China Glaze - Bahamian Escape (light blue)
- China Glaze - Entourage (light green) [destashed]
- China Glaze - Rose Among Thorns (hot pink)
- Manhattan - 10B (dark blue) [destashed]
- OPI - Jade Is The New Black (dark green)
- black




Thanks for reading,
x