Paint It Black

For today's prompt, "inspired by a song," I decided to do some nail art inspired by The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black." The song is about depression and loss, and wanting to paint everything black to match those feelings.

If you're familiar with the song, the obvious choice would have been do a red door and then put some black on it, but I wanted to go for something a little more colorful and (only slightly) less literal. I opted for a bright base, splattered and smeared with black paint.

I began with a white base to help the colors above it pop.

Then I cut off a strip of a makeup sponge, and painted swipes of my three base colors directly on to the sponge. I used China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle, Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights, and Girly Bits Hip Hoop Hooray.

For the big black swipe, I wiped most of the polish off of the brush of Salon Perfect Oil Slick, and then dry brushed it across my nails. I used a small nail art brush to add the splatters and drips, then finished with topcoat.

Lavender Blossoms Floral Nail Art

Delicate print is always a challenging day in the 31DC, because it's fairly vague yet still specific at the same time. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do this year, but I recently had some training on essential oil soaks at work and one of the blends included lavender. I thought that lavender blossoms would make a great "delicate" manicure, and I'm so so beyond pleased with how these nails came out.

These nails were really easy -- I'd say the biggest key is making sure you have a super tiny nail art brush. If you don't, you can create one by thinning down the bristles of a thicker brush with cuticle nippers.

I started with a base of Polish My Life's Muscat Martini. It's an extremely pale purple, it's almost grey looking. Then, I painted on my stems with China Glaze - Take a Hike. Definitely place your stems first, as it allows you to keep an eye out for the overall balance of your art. I mixed Take a Hike with a bit of China Glaze - Trip of a Lime Time and added some lighter leaves.

Then, I used the tip of my nail art brush to dot on oblong blossoms. I did the bulk of the buds with LVX Aster, then went back in with LVX Currant and added some more (sparingly!) for additional dimension.

Orchid Petals Inspired Nail Art

It’s “violet” day in the 31 Day Challenge! I decided to do nail art inspired by some gorgeous orchids that I spotted in our local grocery store. The pattern on the petals was so compelling that I just had to snap a pic of them to use for future nail art.

This was maybe the easiest nail art in the world, and I love how it turned out. I started with a cream colored base, and then used a large dotter to add the magenta patterning. I grabbed a smaller dotter and added purple to the pattern, inside of the larger dots. Then all that was left was to finish with topcoat!

Polishes used:

Polish My Life - Birthday Suit

OPI - Get Cherried Away

LVX - Shiraz

More 31 Day Challenge violet manicures:

• Violet color blocking
• Purple People Eater
• Violet hippie mix
• Violet watercolor wash

Simple Vintage Floral Inspired by Lacquerstyle

We are nearing the end of the challenge! Today's prompt is "inspired by a tutorial" and I've taken inspiration from the talented (and Queen of Florals), Lacquerstyle. For this particular look, I've followed her Simple Abstract Floral Tutorial, which not only features a fun and easy design, but has gorgeous cinematography and photography to boot.

I wont detail how to do this look -- if you want to visit the tutorial, just click on the link above!

I used Formula X Cloud Nine as my base. The flowers are painted with China Glaze Make an Entrance, while the blue blossom sprays were done in China Glaze First Mate. I created the leaf shade by mixing China Glaze Take a Hike and American Apparel Crescent Heights.

I love this look, though mine aren't quite as perfect as Kristin's! The smaller blue sprays really add a lot to the completed manicure.

Check out the other tutorials I've tried in the past:

• Cutie owl half moons
• Candy mermaid scales
• Floral pond manicure
• Reverse stamped glow in the dark stars

Garnet Glittering Gradient Grid Gels

It's the first day of the 31 Day Challenge! If you're totally confused about what's going on, be sure to check out my 31DC FAQ page, which will answer all of your questions.

The first prompt of the challenge is "red," and -- what luck -- I was already wearing red rockstar glitter gel nails!

So the big goal for this manicure was to try to improve on my gel gradients, which were not as strong as I want them to be. I picked black to use as my gradient color, and sponged it on with clear gel to create the fade.

Truthfully, the method I used for this gel gradient is the same as if I were using regular polish, but with a few small modifications. Here's the gist:

• Cut your makeup wedge sponge into a thin strip to help minimize mess.
• Paint stripes of the colors you want to use on the sponge.
• Tap it LIGHTLY on to the nail. Don't overtap, as this can pull the gel back up off the nail. If you're used to sponging gradients with regular polish, you'll definitely have to modify your pressure to make it lighter.
• Clean up any mess on your fingers before you cure in your gel lamp.
• Cure between each round of sponging.
• I did four or five rounds of sponging, cleaning, and curing for this manicure.

After the gradient was looking good, I painted on a black grid that faded away into the darkest parts of the nails.

Products used:
CND Shellac Base Coat and Xpress5 Top Coat
Recollections glitter in Cherry
DIY Hard Nails - Black Cat (black gel)
Akzentz Gel Play in black (grid pattern)

My previous red 31DC manicures:
Crab print and nautical mix

Red mix and match
Red watercolor
Barielle - Elle's Spell

The Contrary Polish Wintry Weather Collection

These swatches are long overdue, but as we're headed back into winter anyway, I figured now would be a great time to share this seasonally-themed collection with you! The polishes are still available for purchase, so thankfully my tardiness has not affected their availability.

Meet the Contrary Polish Wintry Weather collection, a group of three chilly shades with shimmer and icy flakes!

Frozen Sky is a grey shade with silver shimmer and flakes. I used three coats for the coverage below.

Snowy Night is a rich, deep navy with white shimmer and flakes. I used two coats for my swatch.

Winter Sun is a squishy, marshmallow-white with gold shimmer and flakes. I used three coats for the coverage shown, and found this one to be a little streaky when applying, so be sure to wait between coats for your previous coat to set.

If you're feelin' these shades, head on over to Contrary Polish where they are available as minis for $5 and as full size bottles for $10. Which one is your favorite?

Mid Century Modern Nail Art

Hello friends! It's been a while since I posted here (thanks to everyone that reached out to make sure I was ok), but I'm back with a couple of snazzy new things to show you! First off, don't miss my new blog header! I wanted something fresh, lighter, and more fun, and so I made it mahself. Second, I'm shooting my photos on a light background! The black background looked too heavy with the blog refresh, so I'm giving this a go.

Now, on to the nail art. This simple look was created by saying "yes, and..." You know that rule of improv where you're supposed to take what your partner says and say "yes, and..."? It accepts what's already put into play and then adds more to the scene. Well in this manicure, I just kept adding pieces! It looked nice at several stages throughout the process, but I decided not to stop and to keep adding elements.

I used the following polishes for this look:
LVX Militaire (base)
LVX Monarch (gold)
Salon Perfect Oil Slick (black)
Formula X Push the Limits (red-orange)

Can we take a second to marvel at the beauty that is LVX Militaire, by the way? It's such a great gorgeous grey with just a twinge of green, and it covered perfectly in two coats.

After applying the base, I used the polish brush of Monarch to dab some random gold shapes on top of it. Next, I grabbed my new Tati Chou Chou detail brush (splurge!) to add the thin black linework. The last step before topcoat was to apply the red and black dots; use a dotting tool for the smaller ones and a pencil eraser for the large ones.

I hope you enjoyed this look, and here's crossing my fingers that the next post won't be another month out! :)