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 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 9: Rainbow Nails

We're getting closer to the second third of the challenge and I am very grateful! I never really know what to do with just a single color as a prompt, so these last two prompts were much better for me!

I also feel like I've completely gotten into a "autumn" mood, so I'm feeling more inspired now.

That being said, let's take a look at today's design!

I went for a rainbow melted watercolor look today. I started off with an off-white base and let that dry for a while before I started the watercolor. I think I've explained the technique before, so I won't go into too much detail now. I basically tried centering the colors near the cuticles and have them disperse towards the tips. I'm really happy with how these turned out!

- ♥ - ♥ - ♥ -

Colors used:

- OPI - Skull and Glossbones (buff/off-white)

- essence - do you speak love? (red)

- Revlon - Orange Spice (orange)

- Formula X - Dynamite (yellow)

- OPI - Don't Mess With OPI (green)

- Orly - Blue Suede (blue/teal)

- OPI - Do You Have This Color In Stock-Holm? (purple)

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)

31DC2017 - Day 4: Green Nails

We've finally reached a day where I knew exactly what I wanted to do!
I decided to go for some easy camo nails. These were so easy that they were done in 20 minutes!

I started out with a dark hunter green base, then I just painted on random splotches of green and brown variants. I actually really like how these look from far away, as well as up close!

Colors used:
- KleanColor - Military Green (dark hunter green)
- OPI - Don't Mess With OPI (green)
- China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss (sand)
- KleanColor - Fashionista (murky green-brown)

Magic Bakery ✨

I'm back again! Not for good, but temporarily at least.
Today, I have another really fun design to share with you. I called this "magic bakery", because this design glows in the dark! (I need a lot more glow in the dark stuff - I'm getting bored by the same 6 colors over again)

This was inspired by another trip to my favorite vegan bakery. Today, she's hosting another baker and their theme for the day is inspired by blooming flowers, among other things. So I thought I'd do another design dedicated to her! Check out my cupcake nail art if you haven't already! (I must really have a sweet tooth this year - this is my third candy-inspired design this year!)

I started out with the gradient over a white base - I believe this amplified the glow of the finished product! Then, I freehanded all the rest on top of it. I used a glow in the dark topcoat to make the plate and coffee cup glow, as well as the vase (which was actually supposed to be a white bucket, but it doesn't really look like it).

I also incorporated some (not very) hidden words on my ring finger and pinky. You can see them quite clearly in the picture, but I simply didn't have a closer match to the green I used.

Here are all the colors I used (and there are a lot - hope I didn't miss any!):

• Serum No. 5 - Krypton-Brite (neon green, glows in the dark)
• white
• essence - grey zone (light grey)
• LOOK - street (medium grey)
• black
• Serum No. 5 - Orange You Sunny (orange, glows in the dark)
• dance legend - Termo Trio 1 (purple thermal)
• Serum No. 5 - Indi-glo (sapphire blue, glows in the dark)
• Serum No. 5 - I Gleam In Pink (neon pink, glows in the dark)
• OPI - Skull and Glossbones (off-white/bone)
• China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss (sand)
• China Glaze - Mahogany Magic (chocolate brown)
• China Glaze - Drink Up Witches (neon green)
• China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)

31DC2016 - Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

(Sorry for the crappy picture) This mani is inspired by this tutorial by Lacquertude. I fell in love with this design as soon as I saw it, so I hope I did it justice! I did alter the process a bit to fit my material and polishes, but I am quite happy with the finished product.

Colors used:
- white
- Maybelline - Lavender Lies (lilac/lavender)
- OPI - Do You Have This Color In Stock-Holm? (dark purple)
- wibo - Nr. 2 (muted pink) [destashed]

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 22: Inspired by a song

 Happy first day of fall everybody!

In celebration of the change of seasons, I was inspired by Ed Sheeran's Autumn Leaves for today's prompt. The song itself is quite sad, but I like it a lot. If you don't already know, I'm a huge fan of Ed's music and can't wait for his new album to be released.

I started off this mani with two cats of essence's sweet caramel sweets. I had originally planned to use butter LONDON - Tea with the Queen, but I realized I have been using that polish a lot in this challenge. That and the fact that my bottle is almost gone.

I continued by doing a very simple glitter gradient with China Glaze - Golden Enchantment. I love this polish. It's basically the golden version of Fairy Dust. Lastly, I painted on the leaves in various shapes and sizes. I'm pretty sure I ended up inventing shapes by the end of it. Of course, I topped it off with some glossy top coat.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out.

Colors used:
- essence - sweet caramel sweets (tan)
- China Glaze - Golden Enchantment (gold microglitter topper)
- essie - playing koi (sienna)
- essence - do you speak love? (red)
- Formula X - Dynamite (yellow)
- OPI - A-Piers To Be Tan (chocolate milk color)

31DC2016 - Day 16: Geometric

(NEW on this blog: I implemented an Instagram widget! You can now see my most recent Instagram posts in the sidebar! For those of you that don't know, Instagram is where I post all my swatches.)

Wow, I really like how these turned out! They were absolutely impossible to photograph, I swear. I took about 10 pics of these and this is the only one that was acceptable. I promise, these look really rad irl!

I started out with 3 coats of OPI's Suzi Loves Cowboys. This picture makes it look waaaay more green though, it's actually a chocolate brown. I then added these maze-like patterns with ILNP's Abundance. This is a gorgeous pinkish bronze to antiqued gold multichrome polish.

I initially wanted to topcoat these after I was done with the freehanding, but it actually created a really interesting 3D effect (which obviously didn't translate to the picture).

31DC2016 - Day 13: Animal Print

It's day 13 of the 31 Day Challenge and today's prompt is animal print! I decided to be boring and do a standard leopard print mani. I had something else in mind, but I think I'll save that for future runs of this challenge.

I started out with two coats of essence's what a grey-t night!, which is stunning! It was part of their advent calendar, so you can't get it in stores. I then painted on splotches of OPI's A-Piers To Be Tan, which is a caramel/butterscotch color. The last step was to paint on the darker spots with OPI's Suzi Loves Cowboys, which is a perfect chocolate color. I topped it off with a high-gloss top coat and voilá!

It's been a while since I've done a clean leopard print mani but it's so simple I immediately knew what do to.

31DC2016 - Day 10: Gradient

Today's nails for the gradient prompt are very autumnal and I am obsessed. I love the color scheme, it just screams fall and y'all might know that is my favorite season. This also marks the first milestone; we have now completed the first third. Can you believe it? We're going to be moving into pattern-themed prompts and I'm very excited!

Back to these nails though. I started out with two coats of Artdeco's 80, which is that vibrant dark orange. I sponged on the gradient and it was done. This was so easy to do, yet the effect seems to be great. I was at a birthday party today and every single person commented on these nails. Even men. So, they seem to be quite eye-catching.

Personally, I was a bit sceptical in the beginning. I love the way dark to light gradients look, but this one just seemed a bit off to me. Maybe it was the fact that the lightest color is very close to my skintone and that kind of threw me off a bit. I'm not sure. However, I grew to love them.

Colors used:
- OPI - Boris & Natasha (purple-y grape)
- Artdeco - 80 (vibrant dark orange) [destashed]
- China Glaze - Peachy Keen (pastel orange/peach/nude)

31DC2016 - Day 6: Violet

Kept it simple for today's prompt. It's my mom's birthday and my grandma came over, so I didn't want to spend hours doing some intricate design when I could be spending time with the family instead.

Colors used:
- OPI - Do You Have This Color In Stock-Holm? (purple)
- claire's - Magic Show (opaque silver holo)
- claire's - Holo Top Coat

31DC2016 - Day 3: Yellow

Alright, I have a bit of a confession to make with these. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I dislike (read: HATE) the color yellow. BUT. I really really do like the base of this mani. The polish is Formula X - Dynamite and I picked it up when I went to Warsaw almost a year ago.

It's not your classic sunshine yellow, it looks a bit like Kraft Mac & Cheese. It's a bit mustard-y in some lighting. I think it looks quite nice on my skintone and I never say that with yellows!

On to the design itself; I was unsure of what to put on top of this color. I ended up going for these tribal-styled triangles and I actually really like the look! All of this is freehanded, I didn't even use tape for the shape of the triangles!

Colors used:
- Formula X - Dynamite (dark yellow)
- OPI - A-Piers To Be Tan (medium brown)

Purple gradient + triangles

Today is a "raid my drafts" kind of day. I have this manicure and another one to show you. These are manis that I did recently, but either forgot to post or didn't want to write a post for.

This design is a simple white to purple gradient with triangles that glow in the dark.

I sponged on the gradient onto my bare nails, using white, essie's play date and OPI's Do You Have This Color In Stock-Holm?. I did this so a potential white base wouldn't alter the OPI polish too much. I then went ahead and mixed Serum No. 5's Highlight with white and painted on the triangles.

It's a simple design, but I really love how it ended up looking.

Mint-Flavored Lace

I did a spring mani the other day. To be brutally honest, I didn't even wear it for a full day.
Lucky for you though, I captured it before taking it off.

I want to apologize for the lighting in this picture, it was late at night and I therefore didn't have any daylight.

Colors used:
China Glaze - Highlight Of My Summer (bright mint)
white

Neon Splatter

I've done it again and went half a month without posting. Sorry!
This time, it's not a hundred percent because of uni, especially since I've been on semester break for half a month now. I've honestly been out of ideas, so I decided to test out a polish I received in the mail a couple weeks back.

I'm of course talking about the neon pink in this mani. It's I Gleam In Pink by Serum No. 5. Serum have been known for their glow in the dark polishes, and this one is no exception. And we all know how much I love things that glow in the dark, so this was right up my alley!

This polish has an interesting glow effect, as you can pick out individual particles that are glowing, rather than just having a solid color. Check out the glow in the dark picture to see what I'm talking about. Make sure to click on it to magnify.

Tribute to David Bowie - Rest In Peace, David.

The news of David Bowie's sudden passing has upset and surprised many people yesterday, including me. His music was an integral part of my childhood and there is no doubt that he was an astonishing musician.

I decided to make a design as a kind of tribute to him. Sure, it's an unusual choice of remembering, but nail art has always been and will always be my form of self-expression.

The portrait on my ringfinger is based on this picture.

Colors used:
black, white
LOOK - street (medium grey) [destashed]

Merry Christmas! - Red Santa manicure

Merry Christmas everyone! I know, it's only Christmas Eve Eve, but I won't be home until present time and I figured I'd rather put it up too early than too late.

I didn't get to do a lot of festive manis this year, mostly because uni is super duper stressful at the moment. Now that I'm on winter break, I'll hopefully get to invest more time in this blog.

If you couldn't tell, Santa is winking, he's not missing an eye or anything. It looks weird if you don't know, so I wanted to point that out.
The red polish did end up bleeding through the white, but that is my top coat's fault, since I used a different one for this mani.

Colors used:
essie - forever yummy (red)
essie - spin the bottle (nude)
OPI - Jade Is The New Black (green)
essence - winter wonderland (pastel blue)
white

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 27: Inspired by artwork

I had a lot of fun with today's mani! The piece of art that inspired me was Claude Monet's Twilight, Venice which is also called San Giorgio Maggiore At Dusk.
I was originally going to do the Mona Lisa, but let's be honest, that's impossible.

Here are the colors I used:

Bonus picture - part of the mess I left
behind after I finished this mani

white
Sally Hansen - Lemon Heaven (pastel yellow/cream) [destashed]
essie - forever yummy (medium red)
Artdeco - 80 (dark-medium orange) [destashed]
essie - vibrant vibes (light green, pastel)
OPI - Bastille My Heart (darker red)
China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)
Formula X - Dynamite (darker yellow)
essie - make some noise (medium electric blue)
China Glaze - Bahamian Escape (light blue)
black