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)

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 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 12: Stripes

For today's "stripes" prompt, I went for some holographic fall-colored horizontal stripes! I am really pleased with how these turned out! I'm not usually good at freehanding stripes, but for some reason, these weren't all that hard!

These did end up a bit lumpy in places, as well as having some uneven edges, but considering I freehanded all of these, I am willing to look past it. I mixed linear and scattered holos and I'm just really really happy about the color scheme. I wore these to the ice skating rink today and I just couldn't stop staring at them.

Colors used:
- essence - we will spock you! (silver linear holo)
- ILNP - Diablo (red scattered holo)
- Dance Legend - Pied Piper (green scattered holo)
- Dance Legend - Anthem (purple linear/scattered holo)
- Zoya - Dream (blue scattered holo)

31DC2017 - Day 10: Gradient

For today's prompt, I decided to go for a murky green gradient, topped off with a holographic topcoat! It kind of reminds me of decaying leaves. I was hesitant about the glitter after I put it on, but it's really starting to grow on me.

I did this gradient on a bare nail (apart from the base coat) and it turned out better than expected! I was worried about the middle color not getting opaque enough (because it's a jelly/crelly), but it worked out fine!

Colors used:
- KleanColor - Military Green (dark green)
- China Glaze - Budding Romance (murky green (jelly))
- KleanColor - Fashionista (brownish green)
- China Glaze - Golden Enchantment (gold microglitter topper)

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 6: Purple Nails

Look at all that holo goodness!

So, not gonna lie, I once again had no idea what to do. I was already wearing Cupcake Polish - Berry Good Looking and I ended up doing the gradient on top of it (which is probably why the hue is slightly uneven when you're comparing pinky and ringfinger with middle and index finger - oopsies.).

I took Zoya's Aurora and Payton for the gradient, then did some simple white flowers, with China Glaze's GR8 in the middle. I kind of dig these. Y'all probably know I'm a sucker for holo, so these are extra pretty to me. :)

31DC2017 - Day 5: Blue Nails

I love these. I really do.

I, once again, took inspiration from a painting by Hajin Bae. The vibe is similar to the one I used as last year's inspiration.

I started out with a base of navy blue on all of my nails. After that, the steps vary.
For the plain star ones, I sponged on some lighter blue and some purple (that I mixed myself a few weeks ago). I then painted on the stars and dots with white, yellow and a lighter purple.

For the ones with the clouds: I tried to mimic a watercolor effect with that slightly lighter blue. Then I started to trace the shapes of the clouds with a thinned out white polish. After I was happy with it, I went back over it with light blue and light purple, then added that slight gradient above the clouds with light blue. Last step: adding the dots.

My thumb was the hardest one. I wanted to recreate the whole thing, but I eventually decided to leave out the buildings and their reflection. If I had had more time, I totally would have added those too! I started with the shape of the moon, then added the clouds and the horizon. I went over all of that with various colors to give it more dimension, then added the dots again.

These were a lot of work, but I really love them. Oh, have I mentioned they glow in the dark too? Perfect!

Colors used (I mixed a ton of colors myself, so here are the components of those):
- Yves Rocher - Bleu Pensée (navy)
- China Glaze - I Sea The Point (slightly lighter blue)
- China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)
- white
- neon pigments (to mix the purple and some pastel neon blue with)
- glow in the dark topcoat

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)

Marble nails ♥ uv-reactive nail art!

These were so fun to do! These are my first attempt at marble nails ever, and I think they turned out really nicely! 

What's really special about these is that they are both temperature and uv reactive!

And here's what they look like in the warmest state (sorry about the janky white balance).

Colors used:

essence - take a break (off-white)

bow polish - Thermo Top Coats Black (black to clear thermal)

bow polish - Purity (milky white to pink uv polish)

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)

Hearts Don't Break Around Here | Ed Sheeran inspired (again!)

"Daisies, daisies, perched upon your forehead..."

I'm back again with another design inspired by Divide! This time, it's based on Hearts Don't Break Around Here, which might just be my favorite song off the album (at least right now).

As soon as I heard the lyrics above, I had a pretty clear idea of a design - which luckily worked out really well! I'm so happy with these!



I used waaaay too many colors painting the girl to list them all here, let me just say that. I mixed a lot of colors to create transition shades and stuff like that. It was a lot of fun though!

The base is China Glaze - It's My Turn. Stunning!
The lettering (and part of the girl's hair) was done with Revlon - Chocolate Truffle (the Parfumerie version - so my nails smelled like chocolate in the beginning!)
Flowers done with white and China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky

Cupcake Nail Art

I'm back with some more nail art! This design was inspired by a recent trip to my favorite vegan bakery. I even chose to paint some of her own cupcake variations.

The base on these is Dance Legend's Termo Trio 1. It's a stunning polish that goes from a blue-toned pastel purple to a more red-toned medium purple all the way to a dark purple. My nails are in the middle phase in the above picture.

I chose to mattify this design, simply because it fit the theme a bit more and made it look like vintage illustrations. I used waaay too many polishes to list them all.

Here is a bonus picture of  my nails in the warmest state, starting to cool down a bit at the tips:

Another year older ... gitd birthday nails ♥

So, apart from yesterday being Inauguration Day, it was also my 20th birthday! I celebrated with my family and it was just a really nice day all in all. I did some simple nail art to celebrate.

I started out with 3 coats of painted polish - Chasing Rainbows. Damn, this polish is so cool! It's a white crelly with tons of rainbow glitter, both matte, metallic and holo. I love her crellies a lot!

On my ring finger, I painted on the number 20 with aurora, also by painted polish. I love that one a lot too, especially since it glows in the dark!
And then on the rest of my nails, I did some polka dots with a glow in the dark topcoat. Et voilà - some hidden nail art!

ICYMI, here are last year's birthday nails.

31DC2016 - Day 23: Inspired by a movie

Boy, this was a fun one! It took ages to finish, but it was so worth it!

For today's prompt 'inspired by a movie', I chose to do a mani based on Wall-E. Truthfully, I didn't see this movie until long after it came out. But I loved it so much!

For the main design, I picked the scene where Wall-E and Eve reunite in space. It's that scene where he discovers propulsion using a fire extinguisher. So adorable! But then, on my thumb I chose to paint him entirely. I'm not sure why, but this year's run of 31DC seems to be dedicated to me painting the tiniest things ever. It was a lot of fun to do, and I am really pleased with the finished product!

I used quite a big amount of polishes for this mani, so I'm going to leave out the part where I list all of them.

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 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 5: Blue

I love these so much.

Today's prompt was blue and since I've secretly been planning to do all of this year's design in fall colors, I knew I had to reach for some navy polish.

This design was loosely inpired by this design by Hajin Bae. I took that artwork and altered it and wow. I really am obsessed with these. The stars are unnaturally tiny and were really difficult to paint, but I think I did a decent job.

Colors used:
- MaxFactor - royal blue (navy blue)
- China Glaze - I Sea The Point (bright blue)
- essie - lapis of luxury (blue-purple)
- essence - lean on me (cream - used for the stars)
- MaxFactor - burgundy crush (burgundy)
- essence - blurry up! (white jelly - used for the "orbs")

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)

#PTXWorldTour - Nail art inspired by Pentatonix!

Man, this weekend was crazy!
If you couldn't tell by the title, this design is loosely inspired by the 2 time Grammy winning acapella group Pentatonix.

This weekend, they came to Vienna as part of their world tour. Of course I HAD to go. The whole night was insane! But I won't go into too much detail here.

On to the nails!

The nails were basically inspired by the color scheme of their newest album. I tried to make the colors as accurate as possible.

I started off with a white base, then I did several layers of colors, using the watercolor technique. This particular look was also inspired by Chalkboard Nails. She even has a short text tutorial on her post, check it out!

I used a TON of different colors, basically trying hard to mimic watercolor on paper.

Colors used:
- Monochrome shades:
  - white
  - essence - grey zone (light grey)
  - LOOK - street (medium grey) [destashed]
  - China Glaze - Concrete Catwalk (dark grey)

- Pink shades:
  - China Glaze - Heat Index (neon pink)
  - China Glaze - Rose Among Thorns (darker hot pink)

- Blue shades;
  - China Glaze - Bahamian Escape (light blue)
  - China Glaze - Sunday Funday (light - medium blue)
  - essie - make some noise (medium "neon" blue)**

- Green shades:
  - China Glaze - Drink Up Witches (neon green)
  - China Glaze - Kiwi Cool-Ada (darker neon green)

- Yellow shades:
  - China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (sunshine yellow)
  - Formula X - Dynamite (darker, slightly orange-y yellow)
  - China Glaze - Lady And The Vamp (neon orange) [I added this to Dynamite to give it a bit more dimension]

**This polish actually stains - a lot. I don't recommend this if you don't know how to get rid of stains on fingernails and cuticles (or just don't want that kind of mess).