April Nail Art Challenge - Galaxy Nails

Can you believe that I am actually done with one of the themes for the April Challenge BEFORE the day it's supposed to start!? Aren't you proud? ;) 

I can't take all the credit for being early. One of my best friends, who has been incredibly supportive of my nail art, has wanted me to do galaxy nails for as long as I've been doing nail art. Frankly, galaxies intimidate me! While I was going to do these for the challenge, I figured I'd do them early because tomorrow is her Birthday party and I wanted to have a surprise on my nails for her! 

I used A LOT of colors for this mani. Possibly too many? I've never done galaxy nails before and it was much harder than I was expecting. I'm still not entirely sold on these yet - I go back and forth between loving and hating them. But I suppose that can be normal. What do you think? Good or gaff? 

April Nail Art Challenge - Gold & Silver

Hi all! I've got a really quick post for you all today. I've been feeling a bit under the weather and been super busy with other things so I sort of rushed tonight's mani.

I'm not overly happy with how these photographed, but I really like them in person! I know that doesn't count for much to you all though ;) My new detail brush made quick work of these spirals, and while my dominant hand looks like a toddler was scribbling on them, I am finding myself staring at the shimmering gold and silver and teal!

Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!! For another hour and ten minutes at least ;) Today's theme for the April Nail Art Challenge is in fact Earth Day. I was really excited about doing something for today because I really do love this planet. It's pretty amazing what we have available to us in nature and all to often I am awestruck by the vastness of it all. 

I wanted to do something that showed my love of this planet while also portraying part of the beauty of it. I did an homage to what earth looks like from space (the ocean and the continents) and put a little bit of a spin on their shape...and number ;) 

Mint Cutouts

I've got a short and sweet post for you all tonight! 

Tomorrow is Earth Day (yay!) and I want to get a fun mani in for that but before I could move on I needed to finish the current theme of the April Nail Art Challenge - "mint." So, I whipped something up really quick to share with you all. I'm not in love with these, but they are different from anything I've done so far so I thought I'd share them anyway. 

I used striping tape and Sephora by OPI's Read My Palm to create these simple cutouts...with my naked nail showing! Scandalous! ;) 

April Nail Art Challenge - OOTD

Well, as I'm sure we all predicted, I am behind on my April Nail Art Challenge. I just...I have no excuse! Well, sort of. I just really liked my mani and couldn't part with it yet. I'm sure we've all been there.

Alas, I finally caved and started brain storming about the next theme in this challenge - OOTD (outfit of the day). Because I honestly don't remember what I wore 3 days ago, my inspiration was a simple tank top that I've had for awhile, but still one of my favorites. I've wanted to recreate this pattern for a long time so I'm happy I finally got to take the plunge and go for it.

April Nail Art Challenge - Ombré

I am finally back home with all of my lovely nail polish babies and let me tell you, they missed me! And I suppose I missed them a bit as well ;)

The current April Nail Art Challenge Theme is Ombré. There is some debate as to the difference between ombré and gradient. When I started getting into nail art, I found this post from The Swatchaholic and it has become my guide to naming these techniques. It explains the difference between a gradient, an ombré, and a skittle mani. This is the naming convention I follow, so bear with me if you think of an ombré as what I think of as a gradient. 

Anyhow, I wanted to spice up the basic ombré a bit and ended up doing a doticure with each of my ombré colors. I didn't think I was going to want to leave these on (I even had my next mani planned out and was going to start on it tonight!), but I ended up loving them...so much so that I even painted my dominant hand. 

April Nail Art Challenge - Bright!

Today's April Nail Art Challenge is Bright! I love bright! Especially this time of year when everything is in bloom and just gorgeous. I wanted to do something really quick and simple, but still unique and fun. Since I'm out of town, I only brought a portion of my collection with me (that's still like 40 polishes, but let's not talk too much about that ;) ). I looked in my bin of polishes and pulled out all the bright colors I brought with me. Apparently, I inadvertently planned well for today because I happened to have quite a few oranges and corals to pick through. 

My thought process started with doing an ombre of orange to coral...and then I settled on using the sandwich bag method to create some water colored/marbled texture to the ombre. I think they turned out pretty fun! However, since I'm not on my personal computer, I don't have any editing software other than preview on a Mac (if you've ever used preview you will know my struggle!) so I can't add my normal watermark, hence the difference here. Please excuse my horrendous cuticles (I've been so busy I haven't been keeping up with my moisturizing!) and overall messiness D: I can't really believe I'm posting them as they are, but I unfortunately have a bunch of work and studying yet to do today and can't spend anymore time on nails :/ Be kind! I put together a tutorial for these here. 

Craziness!

Hiya everyone! I have been really busy the past few days and will continue to be until Sunday. I was in a wedding last weekend and had a complete blast! So much fun with family and friends :) I've got a big test this coming Saturday so I've hunkered down a bit until then trying to get some last minute studying/cramming in. After that, though, I'll be free to do whatever again! Yay! 

Despite the madness in my life, I have been continuing with my April Nail Art Challenge! I have two themes to share with you - "swatch" and "braided."

The swatch is the abso-stinkinlutely amazing Across the Universe by Deborah Lippmann. DEAD. This polish is seriously stunning. It's like having mermaids on my fingers!? What? Beautiful in my opinion! This was a Christmas gift from the boyfriend and is something I wouldn't normally splurge on for myself so I love getting to wear it. 

April Nail Art Challenge - Flowers

Apparently it's already April?! When did that happen?? Ever since I've graduated from College, I feel like time is speeding by. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I no longer have quarters keeping track of my life. 

Anyway, April means a brand new nail art challenge! Aren't you all excited? I know I am. I am really excited for the themes this month as well - galaxy, earth day, and braided are particularly exciting since I have yet to do anything like those yet. 

The first theme is flowers and if you've been following me lately, you'll notice that I've had an ever growing obsession with painting flowers. Needless to say, I was stoked to dig into this challenge :) 

I am really loving the look of a light background and then pops of color with my flowers so, while I've done this is the past, I think these are still unique enough from other designs I've done. I'm really digging the color combo and I honestly can't stop staring at them! :D Isn't it great when that happens?