A Quick Update

Hey everyone!!

Sorry I've been MIA for so many days now. Life has gotten way busier than I expected it to and unfortunately right when the challenge got the most exciting!

I'm back now though and I'll have an actual nail post for you tomorrow. I'm determined to finish up the challenge even though it will be late. It has a silver lining though...for the last day (recreate your favourite by someone else) I will have the pick of the litter since everyone else will be done lol!

I also have some exciting personal news that I can't wait to share but I'm saving that for the end of the challenge so you'll have to be a bit patient!!

See you tomorrow...with nails!!! :)

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 21 - Stamping

Stamping!! Yay! I like stamping!! So many possibilities for one mani!

I was really inspired by my day 17 gradient. It really reminded me of the color of the sky at dusk. So I recreated the colors in another gradient using China Glaze Urban-Night and China Glaze Traffic Jam and then I used Bundle Monster 205's butterfly image to have the butterflies fluttering into the night. I didn't topcoat after the stamping because I liked the way the butterflies looked matte against the shininess of the sky.

Thanks for reading!

Don't forget to check out the other challenger's manis here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 20 - 3-D Nails

Yay! Day 20! I should (hopefully) get all caught up tomorrow.

Day 20 is one of my favorite mani's so far this challenge. I really enjoyed it and it turned out exactly the way I wanted it to.

I started with three coats of Zoya Nyx (did I mention I love textured polishes, cuz I do. I really, really love them!). Even though it takes three coats which is a total drag I love how sparkly and delicate the blue is. When it was dry I added a tiny half flower in the cuticle area using round and oval shaped studs. I loved how textured the whole mani was between the textured polish and the studs.

Thanks for reading!!

Check out the other 3-D mani's here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 19 - GLITTER

ZOMG! GLITTER!!!

Day 19 of the OMD 31 Day Challenge is glitter! I love glitter, lol. I did a glitter gradient using my new favorite pink China Glaze Innocence (told you it would be making another appearance very soon! lol!).  I did four coats of Innocence and then sponged on a glitter gradient using Nubar Violet Sparkle. Violet Sparkle was super opaque! I ended up needing to go further down my nail than I had planned since it was so opaque. Violet Sparkle is a gorgeous glittery saturated purple, my pictures don't do it justice.

This was so blingy and sparkly! I loved wearing it!!

Thanks for reading!

Check out the other glittery mani's here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 18 - Delicate

Cruising on to Thursdays manicure now!!

Day 18 was delicate; whenever I think of delicate I always think of a soft, light color. Thus I have a light pink manicure. I used four coats of China Glaze Innocence, which is a gorgeous color that was sitting in my untrieds pile and I've now fallen in love with it! And I will be using it again, very, very soon! ;)

Once Innocence was dry I added in a tiny little bow on my ring finger as an accent using Konad White and Cheek plate 15. What's more delicate than pink and bows?! Then, just because, I had to add a tiny rhinestone to the centre of the bow just to give it some zip. I really loved this manicure, it would make a lovely palette cleanser with a bit of zing!

Thanks for reading!! I'll be back tomorrow with some more catch-up posts!

Check out the other delicate mani's here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 17 - Gradient

Whoops....this was supposed to be the mani for Wednesday but I'm only posting it today! Silly life getting in the way of posting. Anyways, I know I'm super far behind but I'm hoping to get caught up in the Challenge over the next couple of days so expect lots of posts.

My gradient manicure is pink and purple and girly all over! It's actually the first gradient I've done that I've been happy with, so now I'm excited to do more!! I started with a quick base of white and then I sponged on China Glaze Urban-Night and China Glaze Traffic Jam. Both colors are gorgeous, but I had a hard time capturing them in photos. Thus I took a bazillion photos of this manicure, so here's the ones I thought were truest to color! They look sort of speckly in the photos, but they weren't in real life, the colors were opaque and no white was showing through.

I can't wait to do another gradient! Thanks for reading :)

Check out the other gradient manicures here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 16 - Ruffian/Half Moon

Hi everyone! It's hump day of the challenge!! After today we're officially on the later half of the challenge...but the themes get more complicated :)

Today is Ruffian/Half Moon and I decided to go with a Half Moon manicure. I've never done one before and I quite like how it looks :) It won't be the last one I do!

I decided to go with a very geometric look. I started with one quick coat of Wet N Wild Black Creme and then I stamped it with Gals plate 17. Once that was dry I used page protectors and went over the top portion of my nails with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Just in Lime! which was opaque enough to cover both the black and the white. I really like the juxtaposition of the triangles peeking through the curve.

A side note about the Gals plates, with the curved cutout at the bottom they're too small for my nails unless they're filed to their absolute shortest and even then it's a very precise operation to get the designs to fit. It's super disappointing because I really love some of the designs. Half moons seem to be a decent way to utilize some of the designs though, it's a good way to make them work. The plates are really challenging my creativity to use them...which is good in a way but sad because I just want them to work as full nail designs like they're intended. If they didn't do the little curved cutout at the bottom they would be much better :(

Thanks for reading!!

Check out the other mani's here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 15 - Hearts

GAH! Even later today!!! It isn't even Day 15 for most of the world anymore!! I haven't had a chance to catch up on my reading or comments either. Hopefully I get a chance tomorrow.

Today is heart day!! I have a pink ombre stamped mani for you today. I'll list the colors used below for each finger but they were all stamped with Konad white and Bundle Monster plate 317 which is one of my favorite plates and images I have!!

Here's the pinks I used:

• Thumb: 2 coats Barielle Baby's Breath
• Pointer: 2 coats Barielle Princess
• Middle: 2 coats of unnamed Color Club
• Rig: 2 coats of Julep Lily
• Pinky: 1 coat of China Glaze Traffic Jam

And a weird hand claw shot to show the thumb too!!

I'm off to finally climb into bed now - it's been a long day!!

Thanks for reading!

Check out the other (on time!) heart manis here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 14 - Flowers

Today is flower day!! It's going to be a short post again since I'm late again!

I started with two coats of China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le. It was very streaky and sheer on the first coat but evened out really well on the second. I made the flowers using a dotting tool and OPI Skull & Glossbones and OPI I'm Suzi & I'm A Chocoholic. Skull & Glossbones was perhaps not a great choice as it was pretty sheer for the dots. I really like how the end result is vintage feeling.

Thanks for reading!!

Check out the other flower manis here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 13 - Stars

It's Saturday! Woohoo!

Today is Day 13 - Stars of the OMD 31 Day Challenge. But before we get to that I have a polish I'd like to give a little love to. China Glaze Midtown Magic is my favorite polish I have!! I've yet to feature it here on the blog so I thought I should give it a little bit of special mention! It's a blackened burgundy base with loads of gorgeous gold shimmer in it. The shimmer changes color to bronzy-red through the base. I love this polish!! It looks black but with some awesome dimension!

Yummy! Look at that shimmer!!

Anyways for the star day of the challenge I've used two coats of Midtown Magic as my base and stamped over it using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep. I love these two as a stamping combination...I've used them together several times.

On my thumb and pinky I've stamped the evenly spaced star design from Cheeky 4. On my pointer and middle finger I've used the randomly spaced and sized star design from Cheeky 5. On my ring finger I used the tiny UFO's from Cheeky 4 and a few of the individual star designs and the diamond shaped stars from Bundle Monster 311.

Thanks for reading!

Be sure to check out the other fantastic star mani's here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 12 - Dots

Today is Dot day and Friday, double yay!

I've been using a LOT of dots in this challenge so far so I decided not to do another one of the same style I've already done. So today I have 3D dots! I really like the way they look like they're trying to escape off my nails!!

I started with two coats of Essie Smooth Sailing as a base. It's a gorgeous blue with a delightful shimmer! Once that was dry I used Wet N Wild Black Creme to do the dots, then I went back over them with Barielle Going to the Chapel and offset the second dots a bit to make them look 3D. I really enjoyed these nails...I'll definitely be trying this again!

Thanks for reading!

Check out all the other awesome challenge manis here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 11 - Stripes

Ugh...this manicure is not what I was hoping for. It took FOREVER (over 2 hours!) and didn't turn out the way I had envisioned it.

Anyways, with that small rant over...I started on all nails with two coats of Barielle Going to the Chapel (white). It's a fairly decent white, I use it quite a bit; two, sometimes three coats is all you need. Once that was dry I painstakingly applied striping tape in random thicknesses to both hands (yes, both hands!). I then painted two coats of OPI Skull & Gloss Bones. I had to use two coats because it couldn't cover the white in one... Then I taped AGAIN and added a random stripe of China Glaze Pool Party (which also didn't photograph well at all!). It was ridiculous how long it took to do this, and it was sooo thick with all those coats by the time I was done, I had a serious case of chubby nails going on!

I liked the end result but boy did it take a looong time. I have some ideas on how to do something similar in a quicker fashion. Perhaps I'll give it another try one of these days.

Thanks for reading!

Don't forget to check out all the other manis here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 10 - Metallic

Hello! Happy Wednesday!

Today is Metallic day of the OMD 31 Day Challenge! And today I have my very first ruffian manicure! The two colors I used were sitting beside each other just begging to be used and I think they compliment each other very well. They sort of remind me of denim and the rivets on jeans.

For all fingers but my ring finger I started with 2 coats of Rimmel London Hard Metal. I love this blue, and I love Rimmel London polishes. I have two and they're both great, next time they go on sale I'll have to pick up more. I love the brush and the formulas, they're hidden gems! On my ring finger I started with two coats of Pure Ice Magic. It was opaque after one coat but I wanted to smooth out the brush marks and then I got bubbles with the second coat, I should have stopped at one coat :( It should work great for stamping though given how opaque it was! I then freehanded the ruffian with a small brush and the alternate colors on each finger.

Thanks for reading!

Make sure to check out the other mani's here

OMD 31 Day Challenge - Day 9 - Texture

Hello everyone! Today is texture day of the OMD 31 Day Challenge. I have a confession to make...I LOVE the glittery textured polishes. I just plain adore them so I was so excited for texture day!

Stay the Night Liquid Sand by OPI really reminds me of lava with the red sparkles peeking through the black base. So I decided to make the lava a bit more obvious! So today I present lava rock nails with molten lava cracks!

My pinky is two coats of Stay the Night by OPI. On my pointer, middle and ring finger I started with two thin coats of China Glaze Red Satin. I then free-handed the Liquid Sand around my nail to create the molten lava pools leaving some of the red showing. As the second coat of the Liquid Sand was drying I went into the red that was showing to add a bit of orange and yellow highlighting using Barielle Gotta Have Fate and Joe Fresh Pineapple respectively.

I really liked the way these turned out. They came out exactly as I hoped they would.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Check out the other participant's manis here