2015 31DC2015 - Day 7; b&w - cartoon inspired black and white paw nail art

Today it's the black and white theme for 31 day challenge, a theme which is a favorite of mine. I also choose to combine this for the pet theme in the Nail Challenge Collaborative. In my mind I see this as cat paws or dog paws. I wanted to make it quite clean and abstract so I did free hand paws in a straight line rather than "swirly". Also did a reverse accent nail on each hand. :)

Polishes used:
Dance Legend Matte top coat
R De L Young - Black
R De L Young -White
Essence - Black Is Back
Essence - Wild White Ways

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

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Mani swap with Lakobotan - Neon leo nail art and chanel quilted nail art

Hi, this is going to be a different kind of post. Me and my friend Lakobotan decided to make a mani swap. Which means that I recreated one of her previous nail art designs and she recreated one of my previous nail art designs. We've already posted on instagram but of course I wanted to show you here at the blog too.

First a summary.

Here's some closeup of the nail art and just below are Lakobotan's recreation of my Neon leo manicure (LINK HERE) which I did a while back. Mine is to the left and her is on the right.

I used China Glaze - Hang Ten-toes, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard, China Glaze - Sun-Kissed and Kleancolor - Black and Lakobotan used Dance legend - 822 Banana Party, Dance legend - 824 Barbie Kiss, Dance legend - 828 Tropicana and Dance legend - 1024 Nox.

And here we have my recreation of Lakobotan's Chanel inspired nail art (LINK HERE). Hers is on the left and mine to the right.

I used Rivaldeloop - 406 and Essence - satin matt top coat and Lakobotan used Orly - Liquid vinyl and opi - Matte tc

This was such a tricky nail art to recreate. Basically you have to wait until the polish is dry enough to make marks on it. However, if it's not dry enough you'll go through the polish and if it's too dry it wont leave good marks. To make the marks you can use dental floss or even a  ruler.

It's not the most long lasting manicure, because of the tiny metal beads. ;) However it was fun and challenging to make. Probably the hardest technique I've tried so far, freehand is way easier for me. ;) However I liked it and I'll probably try again with other colors and maybe without the beads for a more long lasting manicure.

So what do you think? Have you tried the chanel-inspired look with the 3D nail art look? And do you know what it's called? Maybe quilted nail art? I see a lot of hits on google with that.

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NCC presents; recreating member designs; Animals - Leopard inspired by Druid Nails

Here's my second manicure for the Nail Challenge Collaborative theme this month. We're recreating member designs and I really liked a Leopard manicure which Druid Nails did a while back and decided to give em' a try. I like her version better, maybe my leo spots are too small? Or maybe the "rounded shape" the spots creates on the blue, is too rounded? Also she did her thumb and pinkie with full leo, I didn't. Sadly the holographic silver glitter, didn't look holographic/prismatic in these pictures, so you'll have to imagine.. ;) And as you understand I hurried up fixing this one done for today, it's blue and suitable for Blue Monday! :)

Polishes used:
Rival De Loop - 406, (swatch)
Nicole by OPI - Make A Comet-Ment
Essence - Let's Get Lost

An InLinkz Link-up

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Teen Create Space Beginner Nail Art Workshop (Plus Giveaway!)

Recently, a friend of mine reached out and asked if I would be interested in teaching an hour-long nail art workshop for teens ages 12-18 at one of the local libraries here in Arizona. I jumped at the chance; I think the program is SO great. It gives teens in the area something creative to do after school at absolutely no cost to them! I thought a gradient + leopard print design would appeal to the teens, and would be doable in the workshop time frame, too.

Since the attendees were so young, I knew I needed some bright, fun colors! Salon Perfect was a natural choice for the polish and generously sponsored the event. The kids could not have been more excited!

We used Salon Perfect Tickled Pink, Pure Azure, Lavender Fields, and Oil Slick, as well as the Crystal Clear topcoat and nail art tool duos.

The workshop ended up having 15 attendees. I began by showing them how to use a makeup wedge to create a gradient, and then showed them a simple leopard print using a dotting tool.

At the end, the teens told me they were surprised to see how easy it was to create the gradient leopard look. A few of them opted to focus on doing one hand so they could really perfect the technique, and one girl decided she wanted to stop after doing a beautiful gradient!

I loved the experience and hope to have the opportunity to do it again soon! It was a blast.

And there's good news for you, too! You can enter to win the exact polishes we used in this workshop! Five winners will be selected. US residents only, ends November 26th, 2014.

Salon Perfect Giveaway

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Giant Leopard Moth Inspired Nail Art

As a person with a desk job, I often find myself browsing Reddit on my breaks for sweet photos, interesting news and makeup inspiration. Recently this photo of a giant leopard moth from user /u/Toblerone44 made it to my front page, and I loved it so much I had to try to replicate it on my nails. It's such a crisp pattern, and looks so delicate and beautiful but graphic at the same time.

Nail polishes used:
OPI Angel With a Leadfoot
Formula X Extraordinary
Formula X Dark Matter

Not too much to explain here! I started with the white base, and used a small nail art brush to paint on the grey markings. I added the black outlines, making some of them thicker at the bottom (to mimic the photo), and then finished with topcoat.

I think I did pretty well at replicating the photo, but wish my black lines had come out just a bit thinner. The moth's markings are so delicate, I just wasn't quite able to capture it exactly. This is a design that I'd love to try in gel.

Here is the original photo from /u/Toblerone44, used with permission.

This isn't my first rodeo as far as unusual animal prints go! In the past, I've done goldfish scales, sea slug, poison dart frog, and manta ray nail art. Have you ventured outside of leopard/zebra print? How did you like it?

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Stylized Goldfish Scales Nail Art

It's animal print day of the 31 Day Challenge! This is always one of my favorite days. I do a lot of animal print in my regular nail art work, so I like to take the challenge as an opportunity to get inspired by some unusual animals. This year, I've gone with a freehand stylized goldfish scale print, inspired by Queen Otohime from the One Piece anime. Does anyone else watch?

Nail polishes used:
OPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
American Apparel Hassid

Without giving too much about the story away, Otohime wears a kimono with this stylized fish scale print on it. I tried to directly mimic the way it looks in the anime, and I think I did a nice job! I painted my nails with the red-orange first, then added the yellow detailing, and finally finished it off with the black lines.

I'm pretty enamored with this pattern. It definitely looks like fish scales, though I can also see phoenix feathers or dragon scales. Very bold and cool.

Animal print from years past:

• Blue poison dart frog nail art
• Manta ray patterned nail art
• Nudibranch sea slug nail art

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Fierce Feline - Satin vs. Glossy Leopard Print Nail Art

I know I just said that I don't often do leopard print nails, but this one is a little different than my usual leopard fare. I recently received a couple of the new Jesse's Girl Satin Finish nail polishes to try out, and thought it would be a good time to try out some satin vs. glossy tone-on-tone nail art. I paired Jesse's Girl Black Satin with a black nail polish for the leopard details.

Polishes used:
Jesse's Girl Black Satin (satin grey) - 2 coats
American Apparel Hassid (black)

I really liked the formula on the Jesse's Girl satin polish. I applied two coats, then gave it a bit to dry down to it's satin finish. Then, using a small nail art brush, I painted on the leopard pattern freehand. You could also paint your nail art with topcoat for a more subtle effect, but I decided to use black to make the print pop.

The final effect is something kind of velvety, with a tiny bit of raised texture coming from the lack of topcoat. I really, really love it.

Have you ever tried combining glossy polishes with matte/satin shades? I really should try to do it more often, the effect is totally killer.

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OPI Nordic Collection Leopard Print Nail Art

I was recently reading a post on Work/Play/Polish where Leslie talked about how she overdid leopard print nail art at the beginning of her blogging career, and hasn't done it very much recently because of that. I have to agree with her sentiments. It's definitely one of the nail art styles that I've done most over the years, and I tend to shy away from it these days. Of course, there are exceptions, like today's post!

My last leopard print used a nail art brush to paint tiny leopard markings, but for this look I went back to the classic dotting tool technique.

I used:
OPI Going My Way or Norway?
OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid
OPI Skating On Thin Ice-land

I really liked using Skating On Thin Ice-land for the darkest shade in this nail art. At times, it would catch the light and the burgundy tone would totally shine. It was purty.

Is there a nail art style that you've burned out on in the past?

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Metallic leopard spots

Hi! Had a blog free day yesterday. Went to my brother and his girl friend and hang out and had barbecue dinner etc. And now I'm also at my parents place, picking blueberries, painting their house etc. I also have some good news to tell you later on but we can save that for later. :)

Let's look at some nail art instead. Large blue metallic leopard spots on top of black creme, quite elegant and clean. And yea, apparently a lot of flowers combined too since I had a flower-photo-period last year when I took these photos. XD

Love the metallic in the sun.

Polishes used:
ZTIZ (black creme)
HM matte metallic -  Blue Metal (swatch)

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