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 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 3: Yellow Nails

I had NO idea what to do for today, so I threw together some skittle nails. It's all pretty simple, I really just wanted to get through the day lol

Enjoy!

Colors used:
- black
- China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)
- LA Girl - Spotted (black and white glitter topper)

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

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 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).

Neon watercolor - Take 2!

I'm back again with some more seasonally appropriate designs! Well, one.

This idea is one I've already translated onto my nails back in January (for my birthday). However, since we're closer to summer now, I wanted to re-do it. I used some more neon shades - also, this version (sadly) doesn't glow in the dark. (I did use one gitd polish, but it looks a bit odd as a gitd mani)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 9: Rainbow

Ah yes, the rainbow prompt. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I was gonna do for today. This is what I ended up with.

I'm not really sure what to call these or how to even describe them. Messy rainbow nails? Fake splatter rainbow? Something along those lines.

All I did to achieve this look was dab on nail polish with the original brushes and then add some smaller blotches with a dotting tool. Easy, right?

Colors used:
essie - forever yummy (red)
format - 421 (orange) [destashed]
China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (yellow)
China Glaze - Entourage (green) [destashed]
essie - make some noise (blue)
essie - all access pass (purple)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 3: Yellow

Today's prompt of the challenge is yellow and while I normally don't like that color, I really like these nails. They're not super intricate, but they look really fun! The yellow I used is retina-tearing. Figuratively of course. I always feel like I have text markers as nails whenever I wear this color. It even glows a little in the evening dusk.

What I find great about this mani is the contrast of the neon yellow and the black. I did my best to keep the "lines" as clean and straight as possible, without using tape.

Colors used:
- essie - funky limelight (neon yellow) [destashed]
- black

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