Wednesday 31 July 2013

Day 31: Recreate your favourite by someone else OMD Challenge

For the last day of the OMD Challenge I decided to combine two of the Polish Alcoholic's designs, her neon saran wrap mani and her black and white mani. I love how this turned out and so many people have complimented me on it :).
I used a base of white and then used cling film to dab on various neons. It is so much more neon than in this picture, especially the coral.
I then used my Barry M Black nail art pen to draw on the black lines trying not to let it turn into a pattern.
My housemate said that this looks like stained glass on your nails and it kind of does :)
Check out everyone else's recreate manis here.

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Day 30: Favourite Comic Book/ Character OMD Challenge

I've had this idea in my head since I first started the blog and it is Batman villains. They translate so well to nail art because they all have very symbolic, iconic costumes.
We have The Joker, Catwoman, the Penguin, the Riddler and Poison Ivy.
I'm not really a fan of Batman but I do love Starkid and Holy Musical B@man! The Joker isn't featured in that but he is such a big part of the Batman franchise that I couldn't leave him out.
I used so many polishes in this that it would be ridiculous to list them all, but if you are particularly interested in a colour let me know and I'll tell you what it is :).
Check out everyone else's comic manis here.

Monday 29 July 2013

Day 29: Inspired by Fashion OMD Challenge

Hello new followers *waves* I just got my 30th follower on bloglovin and got very excited :). I appreciate all of you reading my blog greatly, let me know if there's anything you would like to see that I'm not already doing :). Now onto the post:
There are fashions in make up as there are in clothes and this look is based on an Illamasqua tutorial inspired by henna. I greatly enjoyed making this look as I have an interest in body art and enjoy painting henna on myself occasionally.
The polishes involved here are Orly Blue Collar, Essie Sunday Funday and my Barry M Nail art pens in black and white. The eyeliner I used to draw the art on my fingers is Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner in black
Although the nail art here is so simple the eyeliner art made this look really fun and interesting, definitely something I would consider again for the right kind of event, it would be a great look for a day festival or a fancy dress party.
Only two more looks to go, check out everyone else's fashion inspired manis here.


Sunday 28 July 2013

Day 28: Inspired by a TV Show OMD Challenge

I was inspired by the TV show Castle in particular a line in this segment from the first episode where Castle says that his 'safe word' is apples.
I have a Cheeky stamping plate with apples on it so I did dual tone stamping over a base of OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest and Dollish Polish Is this a Kissing Book? I'm not going to speak much about the base other than to say that it is awesome because I am featuring it in a different post.
The polishes I used to stamp with are 2 True Arete and Barry M Magnetic Burgundy.
Check out everyone else's TV inspired manis here.


Saturday 27 July 2013

Day 27: Inspired by Jewellery OMD Challenge

Only four more days to go of this challenge! Today's challenge is to be inspired by a piece of jewellery and I've had these earrings for a couple of months. My first thought when I saw them was that they'd be a good thing to copy in nail art.
I used NYC Full metal jacket for the base then dotted with Essie Naughty nautical, Jessica Goddess and Orly Hottie.

Remember to look at everyone else's jewellery inspired manis here.

Friday 26 July 2013

Day 26: Favourite Holiday OMD Challenge

I went for a general feeling of holiday inspired by Barcelona, sunsets and sangria. I really wanted to try this orange polish from H&M  and it is gorgeous, a deep shimmery red leaning orange. The colours in the gradient are another H&M polish and Barry M Mango
I just wish the gradients hadn't been quite so dominated by Mango.
Check out everyone else's holiday manis here.

Thursday 25 July 2013

Day 25: Inspired by a Film OMD and Tri-Polish Challenges

The film I am being inspired by is The Lord of The Rings, in particular the idyllic images of Bilbo Baggins' home. I am still restricted by the tri-polish colours and I have used two of my polishes Essie Rock the Boat and NYC Greenwich Village as well as the white polish Jessica Goddess and some glitters pulled from Pocket Money Polishes I Want Candy to form clouds and a sun.
I enjoyed this although the designs which go along sets of nails look a little strange unless you have your nails in the exact right position.
I was quite pleased with myself when I thought of using the glitter from I Want Candy to form the sun, it's the perfect colour. I will be featuring I Want Candy in an upcoming post but it's a great neon glitter topper.
Check out everyone from the OMD Challenge's film manicures here and tri-polish manis below

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Day 24: Inspired by a Tutorial OMD Challenge

I used this challenge to show off one of my new Dollish Polishes, Just Keep Swimming, a gorgeous blue jelly polish with blue, yellow, black and white square glitter. I then used a Nuthin' but a Nail Thing tutorial to create this design with my Barry M Black nail art pen, OPI Mourning Glory and OPI Candle Light.
I chose to do my dots in yellow and black to mimic Dory's colouring.
I love this polish and the design reminds me of designs in glass beads.
Check out everyone else's tutorial designs here.

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Day 23: Music Themed OMD and Tri-polish Challenge

For the music themed challenge I decided to take inspiration from the Taylor Swift song Sparks Fly.
Mostly because I thought it was a really easy idea to put across on my nails while still only using my tri-polish colours and the allowed extras but also because I guess this is how everyone wants their relationships to feel at least some of the time.
I literally drew sparks flying across my nails :). Here is the song:
I used two of my tri-polish colours, NYC Ink Stain as the base and Essie Rock the Boat in the trail and then used NYC Full Metal Jacket for the sparks and Fandom Cosmetics Rumbelle for the gold holographic in the trail.
This design was very easy to do with simply a small dotting tool and a thin paint brush, I managed to do it on both my hands.
I hope you enjoy this nail art as much as I did :). Check out everyone else's music themed manis here.

Monday 22 July 2013

Day 22: Animal Themed OMD Challenge

I struggled to decided what animal print to do, I settled on this neon leopard print extravaganza.
The base for this is OPI Bubblebath, the neons involved are Barry M Superdrug Limited Edition Green, Orly: Blue Collar, Holla, Hook Up and Hottie, the black in the leopard print is A England Bridal Veil.
Bubblebath makes your nails look so healthy, it's quite hard to tell that I'm wearing a base polish at all. I feel that the leopard print is a little small, next time I would make my dots a little bigger.
Check out everyone else's animal themed manis here.

Sunday 21 July 2013

British Indie News- Dragon Glass Nails

Do you follow me on twitter? If you do you may already have heard about Dragon Glass Nails, a new British indie bursting onto the scene. Georgia currently has two polishes available for pre order- a gold holo top coat called Hear me Roar and an aubergine, gold, holo, textured extravaganza called Blood and Fire (inspired by Game of Thrones). I have opted for Blood and Fire because it looks so different to anything I currently own. I pinched the bottle shots from etsy for you to have a look at.
Check out her etsy shop here (Dragon Glass Nails) and see for yourself :)

Day 21: Stamping OMD Challenge

The challenge with stamping for me was coming up with something that wasn't simply a full nail stamp. I settled on this mani which I love so much
This took a fairly long time to complete and I'll explain it to you step by step:
1) Put down a white base layer and wait to dry
2) Apply two pieces of striping tape to form a triangle pointing towards your cuticle, use a small brush to fill in these triangles with your chosen colours then peel off the tape
3) Once the coloured triangles are dry cover up the side triangles with tape and stamp your pattern on the middle triangle. To get the pattern perfectly centred as on the middle and index nails roll the stamper up your nail vertically and look towards the cuticle from the end of the nail (I wish I had remembered this trick right from the start)
4) Topcoat and show off your amazing new nail art :)
The polishes are; Essential Touch White, Konad White Stamping polish, Mavala Berlin, Barry M Guava and Barry M Key Lime.
This manicure looks amazing :). It's not a complex as it looks to do and although there are periods of drying you can get on with other tasks during these. Give it a go, you'll see how simple it really is :)
There are now only ten days left of the OMD Challenge and the challenges get harder from here in. Remember to check out everyone else's stamping manis here.

Saturday 20 July 2013

Day 20: 3D Nails OMD Challenge

3D nails... What the hell counts for 3D nails? I can't stand having things sticking up off my nails, I can't even stand the texture polishes on my finger nails so needless to say I won't be doing actual 3D nails, instead I will be doing dots with shadows as if they are 3D. I have to admit this was started with no real aim in mind but I really like how it finished up with the shimmery base going well with the creme graphic dots. It reminds me of atoms moving about, or lego.
So many polishes, the base is two coats of Barry M black with a coat of Topshop Mermaid (gorgeous over black, but rubbish alone). the base dots were done in A England Bridal Veil and the coloured dots are in Barry M Guava and Bourjois Sunny Sun.
I really like how these turned out, the colours and the design work well together.
Check out everyone else's 3D nails here.


Friday 19 July 2013

Day 19: Glitter OMD Challenge

I went through three designs for glitter before settling on the awesomeness that is this one.
This is three coats of OPI Candle Light stamped with Barry M Guava which was then used to create a half moon shape on the nail with a coat of Digital Nails Ultimate Ginger over the Guava. Ultimate Ginger is an amazing glitter polish full of marigold, orange and white glitter, it perfectly suits this colour combination. The photos of this don't even come close to how amazing this looks in real life. The stamping is much more visible in person but I guess the colours were just a bit too much for the camera to pick up the stamping.
I think the half moon is a very flattering nail art design, it makes your nails look longer although perhaps not when the colours contrast this much.
Check out everyone else's glitter manis here.

Thursday 18 July 2013

Day 18: Delicate OMD and Tripolish Challenges

I'm not certain that this is delicate, but it's a design I really wanted to try and it involved being very delicate with how much polish was on the brush. This also fulfills my second tri-polish manicure using the polishes NYC Ink Stain and High Line Green, and Essie Rock the Boat
So I did this by putting down a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff then wiping the polish brushes until they were almost completely dry before wiping the nails with the brushes to create this feathery effect. All three polishes are in there but Rock the Boat doesn't show up particularly well.
Is it delicate? Muh, I like it and I prefer colourful to delicate anyway. Check out everyone else's delicate manis here and tri polish manis below

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Day 17: Gradient OMD Challenge

Day 17 of the challenge and I am feeling rather uninspired, I've already done multiple gradients in the challenge so I decided to do a greens gradient using three of my untried polishes.
I started by putting down two coats of Collection Hidden. Collection is a really low budget makeup range so I wasn't expecting much from this polish but it definitely surpassed my expectations, a gorgeous khaki green, opaque and self levelled in two coats. Good enough that it deserved its own picture alone, look how glossy it is without top coat!:
I gradiented it with Essie Mohito Madness and Barry M Superdrug Green limited edition. It took several coats to get to this level of opacity and then a lot of clean up because I forgot to sellotape my fingers before I started. I love this gradient it's like from dark to bright.
And then because I can't leave well enough alone I stamped a black grass pattern over the top which I think just completes this design :)
Remember to check out everyone else's gradient manis here.

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Day16: Ruffian OMD and Tri-polish Challenge

Today is a double challenge, day sixteen of the Oh Mon Dieu Challenge and the first day of the July Tri-polish Challenge. The tri-polish colours for this month are blue, blue and green. I have chosen NYC Ink Stain and High Line Green, and Essie Rock the Boat. I decided to challenge myself and do a ruffian manicure which is new to me. I lay down a base coat of Rock the Boat then sponged High Line Green onto the left side and Ink Stain onto the right side of each nail. I then used My Vampire is Buff (I'm pretending this is a proper white for the sakes of the tri polish) to cover most of each nail, leaving the area just above the cuticle clear so that the underneath colours are visible.
I love this apart from that the green has pulled up some of the nails, next time I would wait longer for the base colours to dry before painting on the ruffian.
This is what the base looked like before I painted on the ruffian. I quite like this alone as an abstract sort of design.
This is a really classy nail art design, perfect for wearing a pop of colour with a neutral topper if you need more subtle nails for an occasion but aren't willing to sacrifice your colour.
Check out everyone else's ruffian/half moon manicures here and look at all the other tri polish manis below :).