31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Inspired By...

Hey there! Today I have days 21-31 of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge for you. The challenges for these days were "inspired by" different things.  

Day 21 - Inspired by a Color

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

China Glaze For Audrey

Bow Nail Decal from You Polish

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I was obviously inspired by a Tiffany Box for this manicure, and China Glaze For Audrey was the perfect color to choose. I had these cute bow nail decals from You Polish that I thought were perfect. I kept it really simple, but I love this manicure. 

Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

ellagee Ring, Ding, Ding, Ding, Dingeringeding

Lime Crime Milky Ways

China Glaze Recylce

Essie Licorice

Zoya Purity

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

So the song I was inspired by is "The Fox (What Does The Fox Say)" by Ylvis. Honestly I had wanted to use this ellagee color which is named after a line in this song.  I found a tutorial from elleandish on YouTube for a fox manicure and just went with it! 

Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Jacqueline

Zoya Asia

Zoya Arizona

Zoya Josie 

Zoya Mira

Zoya Pippa

Zoya Rocky

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

One of my all time favorite movies is "Sixteen Candles" so that was my inspiration for this manicure. The accent nail is based on one of the best lines, "I can't believe I gave my panties to a geek!" 

Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

Polishes Used: 

Nailtiques Formula 2

Rica Whiteout

Zoya Riley

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

There are a lot of other books that I am inspired by in life, but I wasn't getting nail art inspiration from them. Then it hit me to do a blood splatter mani inspired by Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho". I used the straw method to do the splatter effect and love how this turned out! 

Day 25 - Inspired by Fashion

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

China Glaze Recycle 

Zoya Pippa 

Rica Whiteout

INM Out The Door

There were so many options for inspired by fashion. I actually found this look on Pinterest from a blog called "Hello, Gorgeous!" and loved the color combination. I thought it turned out pretty close to my inspiration. 

Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Neely

OPI Taylor Blue

INM Out The Door

I had been wanting to try quatrefoil nails for a while and thought this was the perfect day to do them.  I love how they turned out, and they were really easy to do. I used dotting tools to achieve this look. 

Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Neely

Zoya Pippa

Zoya Sweet

Essie Licorice

Sinful Colors My Buoyfriend

INM Out The Door

This look was inspired by the artist Theo van Doesburg. I used a thin paint brush to do the different colored stripes. 

Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Rica Whiteout 

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover 

Sinful Colors Feel The Vibe 

Straight Nail Vinyls

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I'm 50% Irish, but 100% at heart so had to do an Irish flag for my manicure! 

Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Rica Whiteout 

Essie Licorice

Sinful Colors Citrine

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I went with a ghost for inspired by the Supernatural and did some orange & black dots because the ghost reminded me of Halloween. 

Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Shelby

Zoya Malia

Zoya Purity

Essie Navigate Her

Essie Licorice

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I found this tutorial for toothpick flowers from elleandish on YouTube.  I had used one of her tutorials earlier and really like her style and teaching technique. She's very easy to follow, and when I saw this one I knew I had to try it. I chose slightly different colors, but think this turned out great. Plus it was really easy to do! 

Day 31 - Inspired by Nails You Love

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Ryan

Zoya Purity

Zoya Carey

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

While doing this challenge I looked at a lot of different nail art for inspiration, but one that stood out was from Lucy's Stash.  I found her tutorial for a swirl dotticure on YouTube and knew it was perfect to honor nails I love! I really love how this spiral dotticure turned out! 

I honestly can't believe I completed the entire challenge! It's definitely a proud moment for me! I learned a lot of new techniques and plan on continuing to use them on future manicures. 

What I learned from this is don't be afraid to try. I was really intimidated by some of these days and could have easily given up, but had to at least try. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have ended up with some of these awesome manicures. Do you plan on trying any of these? 

Don't forget to show some love on facebook for the brands I used - China Glaze, ellagee, Essie, Lime Crime, Nail Vinyls, OPI, Rica, Sinful Colors, You Polish, and Zoya!

Thanks for reading! 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Colors

Hey there!  I was trying to do weekly posts on The 31 Day Challenge, but time has gotten away from me. So this post is going to be a recap of Days 1-10, Colors.  Being new to blogging and not great at nail art this was definitely a challenge to me, but I love a good challenge!

Day 1 - Red Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

2 Coats Zoya Racquel

1 Coat Barielle Elle's Spell

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

This is really not my best work because I had a hard time with cleanup.  Red nail polish and I don't always place nice together!   I do love the color combo though!

Day 2 - Orange Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

Thumb, Index & Pinky Fingers - 3 Coats Funky Fingers Drop The Bass

Middle & Ring Fingers - 2 Coats Rica Polish Whiteout

Flowers - Funky Fingers Drop The Bass & Zoya Pippa

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I really love how this turned out.  I don't normally like orange polish on me, but this one is so pretty especially with the yellow shimmer in it.  I used dotting tools to do the flowers.  

Day 3 - Yellow Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

Index & Pinky Nails - 2 Coats Sinful Colors Unicorn over 2 Coats OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Middle Finger - I did an ombre dotticure over 2 Coats OPI MBSW.  The colors I used are Sinful Colors Unicorn, Lime Crime Crema de Limon, and Zoya Pippa

Ring Finger - 3 Coats Different Dimension Big Bang

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Again, I'm not usually a fan of yellow polish on me, but I was really happy how this turned out.  

Day 4 - Green Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

2 Coats Zoya Alexa

Dots - OPI Skull and Glossbones

Accent Nail - 3 Coats Different Dimension Big Bang

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I've never done dots on just the tips of the nails, but I really like how this looks.  One day I'll learn to get all my dots even!  

Day 5 - Blue Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

Thumb & Pinky Fingers - 2 Coats Different Dimension Wave If You Sea Me

Index & Middle Finger - 2 Coats Rica Polish Whiteout and 1 Coat Sinful Colors My Buoyfriend.  I used straight Nail Vinyls to do the stripes. 

Ring Finger - 2 Coats Rica Polish Whiteout.  The anchor is a nail decal from Lacquer by Lissa

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I bought the anchor decals earlier in the summer and have been wanting to do a nautical themed mani with them.  I really love this!  

Day 6 - Violet Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

2 Coats Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Limited Edition Hypothermia

Accent Nail - 2 Coats Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Sample Spring 7.1

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I went with different shades of purple for violet day.  Hypothermia is gorgeous purple holo and Spring 7.1 is a lovely lilac with purple glitter. Julie from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer knocked it out of the park with these colors!  

Day 7 - Black & White Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

2 Coats Bonita Colors Dying To Party

French Tips - 1 Coat ellagee My Sweet Romantic Teenage Nights.  I used straight Nail Vinyls as a guide to do the tips.   

Accent Nail - 1 Coat Funky Fingers The Notebook

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I had a lot of different ideas for black and white day, but was looking at some of my untried polishes and thought these would make a great combination.  Unfortunately I couldn't capture the holo in ellagee My Sweet Romantic Teenage Nights in the picture so I'll definitely need to do another post featuring that gorgeous polish! 

Day 8 - Metallic Nails

Polishes Used: 

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

2 Coats Zoya Rory

Accent Nail - 1 coat Zoya Trixie and straight Nail Vinyls

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I honestly was not looking forward to this day as I don't own a lot of metallic polishes. I remembered I own the Zoya Surf collection from summer 2012 and those polishes have a metallic/foil finish so would work perfectly. My friend Sara from My Life In Polish gave me the inspiration for this manicure.  

Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

2 Coats Zoya Purity

Zoya Sooki, Arizona, Pippa, Josie, Ling, and Mira

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I kept going back and forth for what to do for rainbow nails and decided to do a Saran Wrap mani. I painted two coats of Zoya Purity and topped it with two colors on each nail in rainbow order and then blotted them with the Saran Wrap.  I like the sort of tie dye look that I ended up with. 

Day 10 - Gradient

Polishes Used:

1 Coat Nailtiques Formula 2

2 Coats Essie Sand Tropez

Gradient - Essie Sand Tropez, First Timer, and In The Cab-ana

1 Coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I definitely need some work on gradients!  This was my first attempt at one, and although it wasn't a complete fail it wasn't great.  I do love the color combo though!  I think Essie made these colors to be together!

 

And here is a collage of all 10 of the color category manis.  The orange day was my favorite of all of them.  Which do you like the best?  Have you done any nail art like this?  Will you try any of these?  

Please give some of my friends some love on Facebook - Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, Rica Polish, My Life In Polish, ellagee, and DIFFERENT Dimension. 

I'll have the next 10 days which are styles up on the blog for you soon.   

Thanks for reading!