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 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 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 1: Red Nails

Happy first day of the challenge y'all! I can't believe it's September already again!

I'll keep my thoughts on this pretty short since I have plans tonight, but I'm really digging it! It's a little festive for September, but whatever - I'm gonna try to keep it fall-colored again this year.

I originally planned on covering all my nails completely with this pattern, but after being half-way done with my index finger, I decided to keep it that way.

Colors used:
- Orly - Rock-It (dark red)
- Orly - Luxe (white gold)
- matte topcoat

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:

31DC2016 - Day 25: Inspired by fashion

Okay, so here's the thing. I don't have a big interest in fashion at all. I don't follow things like NYFW or wear designer clothing or anything like that. Therefore, it was quite difficult for me to find something to get inspired by. I tried googling "NYFW 2016" and similar things, but it was way too overwhelming. I ended up getting inspired by an outfit worn by one of my favorite singers of all time - Kirstin Maldonado. In case you don't know her, she's the alto in the two-time Grammy winning acapella group Pentatonix (who I'm absolutely and utterly in love with).

She wore this particular outfit at the AMAs back in 2014. I just love the combination of the midi skirt with the leather top and edgy accessories.

I did some very subtle shading on my index and pinky fingers (and thumb, but you can't see that in the picure), topped off with a semi-matte top coat. I wanted it to simulate leather and I think it looks quite good!

On the other two nails, I chose to somewhat replicate the pattern on her skirt. I simplified it a bit, then sealed it in with matte topcoat. Overall, I'm really pleased with the outcome!

Colors used:
- black
- China Glaze - Concrete Catwalk (charcoal grey)
- LOOK - street (medium grey) [destashed]
- essence - grey zone (light grey)

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 21: Inspired by a color

We've reached the first challenge fail! Haha.

Seriously though, I kinda like these but I also kinda hate them. I knew from the beginning I would never ever be able to top last year's nails for this prompt. I chose to be inspired by essence - bubble bath [destashed].

I like the 3D effect on the bubbles, I just wish it had worked on all nails. I'm not even sure why it didn't.

Anyway, on to tomorrow's prompt!

Colors used:
- essence - bubble bath (pearly pastel blue) [destashed]
- black, white
- China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (sunshine yellow)
- China Glaze - Japanese Koi (orange)

Grungy Spiderwebs

The sun paid me a little visit when I was taking my pictures! :)

Wee! My first Halloween manicure of the year! I've done a similar manicure to this last year and ended up really loving the look of it, so I decided to re-create it this year!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 14: Floral

Okay, so I might've pushed the boundaries a bit today. Floral usually means a pattern containing flowers, but I did something a little different today! I extended the nail art onto my fingers. I ended up leaving the stems and leaves a little less detailed as planned.

Colors used:
essie - spin the bottle (nude base)
essie - forever yummy (light red)
OPI - Bastille My Heart (darker red)
OPI - Every Month Is Oktoberfest (dark red/grape)
Misslyn - double chocolate (dark brown) [destashed]
essie - vibrant vibes (light/lime green)
Catrice - Miss Piggy's BF (medium green) [destashed]
OPI - Jade Is The New Black (darker green)
format - 455 (blackened dark green)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 13: Animal Print

Alright. I know that leopard print is overused in nail art. That's why I tried different animals and patterns, yet none of them worked out the way I wanted them to. So I ended up really frustrated and decided to just go with the leopard print. It's not intricate and it isn't challenging, but it worked.

I took this as an opportunity to use polishes I've never used before. Coincidentally, both of them are by essence. Also, I used up my black nail polish in this mani.

Colors used:
essence - miss captain (dusty grey-blue)
essence - amazed by you (violet) [destashed]
black