31dc2014 Day 31 - Honor Nails You Love

It's here. The final day of the 31 day challenge. Such bittersweet feelings to have it come to an end...

The final prompt is to honor nails you love. One blog I've been really digging lately is Drama Queen Nails. I chose this design to recreate and I love how it turned out.

31dc2014 Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

I like this prompt because it pushes me to try something I've never done before. So the tutorial I chose is this one from Nailderella for Fishtail Braid Nails.

31dc2014 Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

I've been really excited about this prompt for a while now because I had decided quite early on what I was going to do. When I was brainstorming, I thought of all of the usual supernatural suspects (ghosts, vampires, werewolves, unicorns, mermaids, etc.). But I wanted to do something different. So, I chose a "supernatural" being from one of my (and hubby's) favorite shows, Game of Thrones. I picked White Walkers to base my design on. For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, they look like this...,

31dc2014 Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

I'm not going to lie. When I was looking for a flag to base this design on, I was looking for two things; I wanted something REALLY easy, but colorful. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for!

This is the flag of Seychelles. See what I mean? Easy, yet colorful! 

31dc2014 Day 27 - Inspired by Art

There is a cafe downtown called the Dessert Oasis that I just adore. It's one of those coffee shops that actually does the poured "latte art" on each coffee. (They make a fantastic Mexican Mocha.) Whenever I see it, I think of water marbling. I thought that it would be the perfect inspiration for today's prompt, inspired by art.      

31dc2014 Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern (Just a Quickie)

Argyle Nails

Julep Amy (teal) 

Julep Olivia (Brown)

OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons (nude)

31dc2014 Day 25 - Inspired by Fashion

We are officially in the final week of the 31 day challenge and, I have to say, I'm going to be sad when it's over. I've had a lot of fun and ended up with some designs that I've really loved. And I've done really well keeping up with posting. I only fell behind once and caught up the very next day. I hope I can keep the streak going for the home stretch of the challenge.

Today's prompt is inspired by fashion. I didn't plan this but I ended up doing another Betsey Johnson inspired design. I stumbled across her Fall 2014 and fell in love. She is by far my favorite designer and I just adore her. I love her use of colors, patterns, textures, and accessories.

31dc2014 Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

For today's prompt, I chose to do nail art based on my favorite book of all time; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Call it a children's book, if you want (it technically is), but I love it. I can't tell you how many time's I've read it. The only reason I haven't done Alice nail art before (other than my fuzzy Cheshire cat stripes) it seems a bit overdone. I see Alice nails EVERYWHERE. It seems a crime, though, not to use my favorite book as inspiration for the 31 day challenge.

31dc2014 Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

I went through a laundry list of song choices before I settled on what to do for today's prompt. It's tough to decide which direction you want to go in once you choose a song. Do you use the lyrics, music, or maybe even the music video as inspiration? I was looking through some playlists and, suddenly, it came to me. I knew what song I wanted.

Then, it happened. I put off doing my nails like I always do and... I BROKE A NAIL! Bad! My nails are just getting to a respectable length! UGH! I am so sick of cutting my nails down. So, I patched my nail, instead. I hate nail patches. You always have to redo them and it's just a pain. 

By the time I was ready to do my nails, I was tired, and annoyed, and almost ready to skip it. But it's the 31 day challenge and part of that challenge is posting daily, right? So, I did it anyway.

The song I chose is Bullet With Butterfly Wings by The Smashing Pumpkins.

31dc2014 Day 21 - Inspired by a Color

I wasn't sure, at first, how to interpret today's prompt. I noticed that a few bloggers were using the name of a specific nail polish as their inspiration. That seems like a fun way to go with it, so that's what I did!

31dc2014 Day 20 - Water Marble

Let me start by saying that this is my favorite water marble EVER! I spent an absurd amount of time at my nail station doing a ton of trial runs and experiments but what I ended up with is awesome!

I love combining nail art techniques together. For instance, my water marble color block manicure. For today's prompt, I wanted to combine water marbling with yet another nail art technique; gradients! The idea was to marble with a clear nail polish to let the gradient peek through.

31dc2014 Day 19 - Galaxy

I've done several galaxy designs in the past so I really wanted to do something different this time around. So, I figured I could give pastel galaxies a try. I've seen them around the blogiverse but never tried them out for myself. What's a 31 day challenge for if not to make you try new things?

31dc2014 Day 18 - Half-moon (Just a Quickie)

Base Color - Sephora X Perplexed

Marble Color - OPI Do You Have This Color in Stockholm?

31dc2014 Day 17 - Glitter

I love glitter so much. If I could cover everything I own in glitter, I would. Hubby would never go for that, though. My initial design plan for today was going to be way over the top. Glitter galore. I chose, instead, to keep it simple and let the nail polish do all of the work.

31dc2014 Day 16 - Geometric (Just a Quickie)

Base Color - 

Sally Hansen Silver Sweep

Accent Colors - 

Sally Hansen Sun Sheen (orange)

Julep Marion (teal)

OPI Purple With a Purpose

31dc2014 Day 15 - Delicate Print

We're halfway through the 31 day challenge!

Today is the day I was dreading simply because this is the only prompt for which I did not have a single clue as to what I was going to do. Seriously, though, what the hell does delicate print mean? I struggled with this prompt last year and this year was no different. I started and scrapped three different designs before I got to this one. And, frankly, I am only posting this one because I didn't have time to remove it and do something else. 

Call it cheating, if you want, but I ended up using stamping for this design. I really could not come up with an idea that I liked and this was a sort of last resort. It still came out pretty, though.

31dc2014 Day 14 - Flowers

Since I used my favorite animal as inspiration for yesterday's post, I thought it appropriate to use my favorite flower for today's. I love lilies; specifically Tiger Lilies. I also love Stargazer Lilies. But I've seen so many lily nail art designs out there, I decided to find another kind of flower. I browsed a flower glossary website for a while and, as you can imagine, there were TONS of flowers to choose from. I was looking at all of the gorgeous, intricate flowers when suddenly...

...THIS beauty jumped out at me! Instantly, I knew this was the one. It's such a simple bloom. But that, in combination with the gorgeous foliage, was what drew me in. It's called Purple Shamrock!

31dc2914 Day 13 - Animal Print

I knew from the get-go that I wanted to do something different for this day of the 31 day challenge. No zebra or leopard here. I did some research for a while but couldn't come up with an animal print to do. Then it hit me. Why not do my favorite animal? Enter the Blue Ringed Octopus.

31dc2014 Day 12 - Stripes (Just a Quickie)

Base Color - OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons
Marbled Colors - Zoya Kelly, OPI Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow, OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Sally Hansen Pat on the Black

31dc2014 Day 11 - Polka Dots

My favorite day of the 31 day challenge is here! I love polka dots so so so so much! When I was planning out my designs for the challenge, this was one of the first that I came up with. 

Also, I am SO pleased with the way this design turned out! I would wear this one every single day. It doesn't hurt that I used my favorite color. ;)