31DC2016 Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

For the supernatural prompt, I chose to base my design on the Grim Reaper. I didn't want to do a scary or gory Reaper so I did something a little bit on the cuter side.

31DC2016 Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

Short post today.

I knew I wanted to base today's design on a fictional flag. With the help of my little sister I landed on the Star Trek flag of the Federation.

The base color is Cult Nails Time Traveler and the white accents are Kiss Nail Art Paint in white. 

31DC2016 Day 27 - Inspired by Art

I have a memory from my childhood of my mother doing this art project with me and my sister. We would take strands of yarn and dip them into paint and lay them onto a piece of paper in squiggly patterns with the ends hanging off of the edge, place another piece of paper on top and then squish them into a book. Then we would pull the yarn out by the ends hanging out of the book. When all the yarn is pulled out and you peel apart the paper sheets, you're left with a really cool and unique painted piece of abstract artwork. 

I thought it would be fun to recreate this as nail art and I am crazy about how it turned out!

31DC2016 Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern

When I was trying to decide on a pattern to recreate, I started out looking through Google images for a pattern I liked (as I usually do). But nothing was really catching my eye. So what I decided to do was recreate a type of pattern on my nails that I've never done before. I went back and forth between a herringbone pattern and a houndstooth. I settled on herringbone because I thought it would be easier. HA! Joke's on me!

31DC2016 Day 25 - Inspired by Fashion

I always enjoy this prompt in the challenge. I usually choose a Betsey Johnson design to base a mani on but I wanted to do something different this time around. I chose a design from Arthur Arbesser's 2017 Spring ready-to-wear line.

31DC2016 Day 24 - Silver Box of Polish

I wanted to choose a classic book for today's prompt. Something iconic that everyone would know. Fortunately for the non-bookworms out there, this book also happens to be a movie. The book I chose is The Wizard of Oz. The design I did is inspired by one of the most iconic things in that book. The yellow brick road!

31DC2016 Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

I fell a day behind on the challenge but I'm catching up today. I'll be posting yesterday's post today as well as today's.

It took me a very long time to decide on a movie for this prompt. Eventually, I decided to choose a Disney movie for inspiration. I was thinking back on some of my favorites and one that stood out was The Three Caballeros. My little sister and I used to watch this movie all the time as children. The movie is about Donald Duck and his friends Jose and Panchito.

31DC2016 Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

I knew right off the bat that I wanted to use a song from Spongebob Squarepants for today's prompt. Some people think I'm too old for Spongebob and I don't care. Anyway, I went back and forth between a few song choices and I settled on the FUN song from the very first season. Fun fact: my alarm clock in high school was a Spongebob one that played that song.

On to the nail art!

31DC2016 Day 21 - Inspired by a Color

As per usual for me during the 31 Day Challenge, when it comes to the inspired by a color prompt, I like to choose a nail polish and use the name as inspiration. I actually knew right away what polish I wanted to use.

31DC2016 Day 20 - Water Marble

I have never, ever, EVER struggled to water marble like I did today. I love water marbling and I usually have no problems doing it but today was another story. It put me in such a bad mood so this will be a pretty short post.

The base is Sally Hansen Celeb City. I marbled with OPI Color Paints in Turquoise Aesthetic, Pen and Pink, and Purple Perspective. I topped it with China Glaze Fairy Dust.

31DC2016 Day 19 - Galaxies

It's galaxies day! I do galaxy nails every now and again and I feel like they always end up looking exactly the same. I try to do it differently and it either doesn't work at all, or looks like all of the rest. Therefore, for today's prompt, instead of trying to do something different with my galaxy technique, I just chose a specific color scheme.

31DC2016 Day 18 - Half Moons

Very rarely do I do half moon designs, but whenever I do, I remember that I love them. They look so good and can somehow make your nails look longer. 

Since I basically phoned in yesterday's design, I thought I'd try a little bit harder today. I did love the glitter placement, though, as I find it oddly soothing. I did another glitter placement design today but I went with a more cheerful, brighter feel.

31DC2016 Day 17 - Glitter

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing is necessarily going wrong but you just feel kinda blah? Today was one of those days. I just couldn't really muster any energy for anything at all. So when it came time to do my nails, I really didn't even want to do my nails. But that's why it's a challenge, right? I did kinda take the easy way out but, hey, at least I did something.

31DC2016 Day 16 - Geometric

Just a quickie post today.

Colors: NfuOh 61 (Silver Linear Holo) & Color Club Trippie Hippie

31DC2016 Day 15 - Flowers

I didn't notice until today that I messed up the prompts. Today's prompt is actually delicate print but I mistakenly did that one yesterday. Yesterday's prompt was supposed to be flowers so I'm doing that one today instead.

A long time ago, I ordered a mystery grab bag type thing from the Born Pretty Store and it was full of water decals and stickers. One set was just a random mish-mosh of flowers, bows, and KITTIES! I thought it was the cutest and since I was feeling a tad lazy today, I decided to use those for today's design.

31DC2016 Day 14 - Delicate Print

I'm pretty sure that in every 31 day challenge I've taken part of, I've done a stamped manicure for the delicate print prompt. I'm not very good at fine detail work when it comes to hand painted designs so stamping is a perfect alternative. Plus, I really enjoy stamping. 

31DC2016 Day 12 - Stripes

My initial idea for today's prompt was to go pinstripe crazy with striping tape on all of my nails. Then I decided that I didn't have that kind of time today so I took a simpler approach. I still used striping tape, though, because I can't paint a straight line to save my life.

31DC2016 Day 11 - Polka Dots

We're officially one third of the way through the 31 day challenge. The first third can be a little bit difficult because of the vague nature of the prompts. Also, I try not to use techniques in the first ten days that are also prompts in the rest of the challenge. That makes for more variety in my designs. 

The next ten days of the challenge are different styles and the first style is polka dots. Now, if you've followed me for a while you'll know that I adore polka dots. 

31DC2016 Day 10 - Gradient Nails

Well, this was my first prompt that did't make it up in time. I'll be honest with you. I did my nails last night with plenty of time to spare. Then I fell asleep. I was unusually tired yesterday. 

In any case, here's my gradient nail design for day 10!

31DC2016 Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

For today's prompt, my initial instinct was to do a water marble. But, since water marble is an actual prompt in the challenge, I decided against it. Then, I thought about doing something with polka dots, but that's a prompt too. After a few more ideas that I rejected I finally came up with something.

31DC2016 Day 8 - Metallic Nails

I was especially excited for today's prompt because I planned on using one of my new Julep polishes. This month's Maven box was their fifth anniversary box and it came with three STUNNING polishes! One of them just happens to be a metallic or, as Julep describes it, a "red rock chrome."

31DC2016 Day 7 - Black and White Nails

Just a super quick post today because, frankly, I almost forgot to make this post and it's quite late.

It's black and white nails day which I love because it's a classic combination that always looks great. 

Colors used: Kleancolor Metallic Black and Sally Hansen Hard to Get

31DC2016 Day 6 - Violet Nails

I love purple. I always forget how much I actually like it until I wear it again. Every shade is so pretty. I love color in general though, so I get this excited about just about all of them. 

Anyway, it's violet day so I just grabbed a couple of polishes and slapped them on. Nothing special except some pretty colors and sparkle.

31DC2016 Day 5 - Blue Nails

It's blue nails day. I was pretty excited for today's prompt. I've always loved wearing blue nail polish; even when I was growing up, that was one of my favorite nail polish colors. 

31DC2016 Day 4 - Green Nails

The prompt for the fourth day is green nails and, let me just say, I had such a difficult time coming up with an idea for a design. I just could not choose anything that I liked enough to do. Eventually, I decided to just keep it simple. I chose two colors and ended up doing an easy cling wrap marble.  

31DC2016 Day 3 - Yellow Nails

It's yellow day. Yellow is such a pretty color but it's one that I never ever wear. It's a color that looks horrid on me and actually makes me look a bit jaundice. I still love the color, though. It's so cheerful.

For today's prompt, I decided to do a mixed pattern design.

31DC2016 Day 2 - Orange Nails

Day two is orange nails day and I'm excited. Orange is my favorite color and, for some reason, I don't use it on my nails all that much. I have several orange polishes but I just don't reach for them that often.

For the prompt, I tried to do something that I haven't done in a while. Color blocking popped into my mind so I went with that.

31DC2016 Day 1 - Red Nails

It's September! It's really September?! This 31 Day Challenge seriously snuck up on me. I'm glad it's here. I've been needing some inspiration and motivation.

A lot of people in the nail art community take part in the challenge in September. That's when I choose to do it and this will be my fourth challenge. Sarah at Chalkboard Nails created some gorgeous graphics to go along with the challenge.