31DC2014: Day 1 - Red Nails!

Oh hi!  I hope you're ready for this: I'm doing the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge!  The wonderful Sarah at Chalkboard Nails totes talked me into joining in and of course I have to.  I'm hoping it'll get me going more into blogging and not just being lazy and posting to instagram.  Day 1 is red, so of course it's a case of redding all the reds!  Onward!

Since I was to spend the Labor Day long weekend at my friend's cottage, I went with Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Red Eye as a base for all the red glitter I could ferret out of my collection.  It didn't actually wear as well as I hoped but I did spend most of the weekend in a lake so I get I can let it off.  Anyway, after applying three coats I got to work with my usual cheap top coat and all the red glitter.  I started with the largest pieces and filled in my nails, working down in size.  Forgive the photos, red is impossible.  I topped it off with the Miracle Gel top coat, which is even better than Seche Vite for glitter.  It may not dry as fast but it has a much better finish. 

The Verdict:  I love how these came out, despite the photo issues.  They were so sparkly in the sun all day and sparklies = happy Laura.  This is day 1 complete, see you tomorrow for Day 2: Orange :D

31DC2014 Day 2: Orange! I didn't say banana hahahaha joke is funny, LAUGH HAHAHA

Ok woo day 2!  Orange!  Obviously that means oranges on orange.  In glitter.  I mean, duh, what else am I going to do?  Oh, and orange you glad I didn't say banana?!!?? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA 

So China Glaze Japanese Koi is amazing in that is the most neoniest neon orange and that's amazing.  It's a little tricky to apply but that tends to happen with such bright neons.  If you're careful and let your coats dry, you'll get good coverage in three coats.  I then applied my usual top coat and went to work with my orange matte glitter, then added in my green holo glitter for the "leaves".  Woo!  Oranges!

The Verdict:  Orange orange oranges!  HAHAHAHA KNOCK KNOCK GET IT HAHAHAHAHA.  I love neons, the end.

31DC2014 Day 4: And it was allll greeen-o

Ok, Day 4 of the 31DC2014 and we're at green!  I'm green um da ba dee da ba green ohhh yeahhh I'm hip, I'm with it, you better believe it.  Green isn't my favourite colour but I had enough green circle glitter to whack on so that's a thing.  Even though it took me a while to find a green polish cos I have a million blues in the way... Onwards!

I didn't have much of a plan in mind for this one.  It was more a case of coming across Zoya Giovanna, counting it as green enough, staring at my glitter, seeing I have enough green circle glitter then going to town.  Once I'd done two coats of Giovanna I covered my nail in top coat then randomly applied my largest glitter.  I then filled in the spaces with the next size down, until there was no more room, then did the same with the smallest glitter.  Ta tah!  Sparklies!

The Verdict:  This is surprisingly pleasing given how indifferent I usually am to green.  It probably helps it's sparkly....

Glitter is available from The Sparkly Shop in pots from $3.99 per mix!

31DC2014 Day 6: Violet! Or what happens when you don't know when to stop adding stuff

Dammit this challenge is hard.  Taking proper photos is just the really hard part on top of actually doing the nails cos you have to edit them, fix the colours, and then actually write the post.  Hence the placeholder posts.  I'm totes going to go back and do them proper, I swear.  Ok so Violet.  Not super feeling it, so hence the mature-shirt-for-older-ladies thing I have going here.  Oh well.  It's a thing.  Onward!

I don't really know what I was going for here.  I just kept sticking stuff on and it went ok I guess.  To start I applied two coats of Essie Bikini So Teeny then sponged on Essence Dark Night Starlight, Zoya Megan and OPI Planks a Lot, all purples.  I didn't realise my violets water decals were white backgrounded so instead of them, butterflies!  Oh course I needed to add glitter and studs too.  Urgh.  Not feeling it.  But it's here.  So yay!

The Verdict:  Yeah, this is the kind of thing you see in stores on vacation, you know, for the older crowd.  But the water decals are cool, even though they have a habit of dissolving if you go over them with Seche Vite one too many times.  Eh.

31DC2014 Day 11: Dots! With fake nails! Cos!

This challenge is haaaaaaaaard.  Like, omg.  Especially when you're sick.  Cos days don't wait.  They just keep going and then you're behind and urgggh.  So apparently the solution to being sick and being behind is to stick on acrylic tips from a set you borrowed from your friend, remember you really be doing dots, make dots that kinda look weird like octopus sucker thingies and then post it anyway woo.

I'm actually pretty happy with how these tips turned out.  The join was sufficiently covered by polish and I can pretend I can actually grow nails this long.  You know I did massive pointy claws first but they were kinda scary pointy.  This is better.  Anyway, I applied three coats of Orly Bubbly Bombshell then went to town with my circle glitter.  I layered the glitter and the top coat - top coat, glitter, top coat, glitter, etc - to get these.  If you want to wear these I'd wait a decent amount of time between coats but eh.  Sparkly?  It certainly is pink.

 

The Verdict:  I did get fake nails once before at a salon but that was a mistake as she ended up filing massive gouges in my nails.  These are actually not that bad.  They're off now cos of course they melted under the acetone but yeah.  Urgh, nap time for me. 

31DC2014 Day 17: Glitter! AKA OH GOD THE CRUSHING PRESSURE

The challenge isn't going super well for me.  I could do it, but it's bringing up this whole complex mess of procrastination, pressure and something undefinable that makes me just want to avoid doing it.  I feel like I'm rebelling when I don't do a day.  Screw you Past Laura, you can't tell me what to do!  Add the pressure of choosing something for "Glitter", well, that's clearly not going to be done on time.  It's late, but look, rainbows!  

Usual deal here.  I wanted a deep purple for the base because it's the colour missing in my latest rainbow glitter set.  I initially tried a diagonal rainbow gradient but it looked weird just having one colour per line.  I think i'll try it again but with two each.  You'll see when I do it.  Anyway, I started with two coats of the lovely deep purple creme OPI A Grape Affair and then did my usual line of glitter.  I'm quite proud of the ordered rainbow in the middle of my last three fingers.  It's sparkly and kept me entertained while I waited for my new iPhone 6+.  Reservation is the way to go, was in and out in under two hours!

The Verdict:  Rainbow, shiny and sparkly, all going to be awesome always.  One day I'll get the inclination to do a really complex set, with tiny glitter.  It's really hard to find that much contiguous time. Rainbows!