Saturday, July 13, 2013

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 1: Red Nails

Hello, all! I am so incredibly sorry that I have been MIA lately! I'm going through some big changes in my personal life and it's taking a lot of my energy. I'm starting a new job on Monday and I'm nervous/excited/scared to begin this new chapter in my life. I'm hoping that starting next week things will be back to normal and I'll be posting with some regularity!

I'm really excited to share that Meghan from Will Paint Nails for Food and I are going to be completing the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge together! I am sure most of you know about Meghan and her awesome swatches, but I always love when she does nail art because holy crapola, she's excellent at it. We're both hoping that completing this challenge together will help us grow even more as nail artists and push us outside of our comfort zone. Always great to have a partner in crime to egg you on ;) 

At the moment, we are planning on posting every Tuesday and Friday instead of completing this in 31 days. As you can see, I have already failed to post on time, but I promise this is the last time that happens! (famous last words, right?)

The first day of the challenge is "Red Nails." While browsing reddit, I came across this guitar beautifully drawn on with a sharpie and knew immediately that I wanted to do something like it. Whether the style on the guitar intended it or not, it reminds me of henna tattoos. Henna also happens to come in red on occasion so I knew this was the style I was going to go for. 

I have a bit of a confession about the paint I used for this design. While the base is polish (OPI's Don't Pretzel My Buttons), the red is actually acrylic paint! *gasp* I have always considered myself a purist when it comes to my nail art in that I have always used polish only. I never thought I would try acrylic paint. I ended up randomly purchasing black acrylic paint just to see what the hype was about and realized that it is so much easier to work with for detail work. I honestly did not know what I was missing. 

That night I went and ordered a starter acrylic paint kit and I don't plan on looking back. I truly hope it doesn't bother any one that I'll be mixing acrylic paints into my designs - I just think it gives me a whole new world of options. 
Happy Polishing :)