31 Day Challenge, Day, 11: Polka Dots

I love dots and my dotting tools.  I love them so much that I'd probably do a dotticure  times out of 10 if I didn't force myself to try other things.

Today I have a retro-inspired manicure using all China Glaze polishes.  The base is Kalahari Kiss and the dots are done in Exotic Encounters, Seduce Me and Call of the Wild.  I really love how this turned out.

Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, I had a serious nail accident a few days ago.  I tried so hard to save my poor nail but today I lost it, nail bandage and all.  I can't bring myself to file down the rest of my nails just yet so I apologize for how my hands appear.

31 Day Challenge, Day 7 - Black & White Indecision

I don't have an actual completed manicure today.  I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do so I thought I would show you what my nails look like when I'm trying out ideas.  Please keep in mind that none of these are meant to be 'finished', some are a little sloppier than I'd like.  What I would normally do after this stage is pick one, take everything off and start over to do a mani for realsies.  Obviously that didn't happen here. :)

I think if I were forced to pick one and go with it I'd pick either my pinky or my middle finger.

Day 3 - Yellow With Flowers and My First Fishtail

Ok, I have even less yellow polish than I do orange so once again today was difficult.  I don't like yellow all that much and wasn't about to run out and buy new polish just for this.  I know, usually any excuse for more polish will do but it seems silly to buy something that I'm just not going to wear.

I had picked up a Sally Hansen Happy Manicure mini set a little while ago which contained a decent yellow so I built this manicure around that.

A First Try at Leopard

I'm starting to gain a little more confidence when it comes to doing my nails so I am trying to make myself take on designs that I find intimidating and leopard print, for all its simplicity, is one of those.  For this I used 2 coats of Inline for the Crown as my base, the center of the rosettes is Call the Coppers (a super pretty copper glitter) and the outlines are Black Expressionism.  I used a small dotting tool to do the spots and outlines.

Despite the bubbles in the gold base which I am going to pretend don't exist I think it came out pretty decent for a first attempt.  I definitely need more practice but in general I am pleased with this.

What do you think?

Colors Used:
Ulta Professional - Inline for the Crown
Nina Ultra Pro - Call the Coppers
Fingerpaints - Black Expressionism

My Own Take On Camouflage

A friend of mine suggested that I do camo nails the other day.  I thought it would be fun to do so I started looking at different camo patterns and comparing the color schemes with my polish collection (going through the polishes is not an easy feat, I tell ya).  I eventually decided on a woodland camouflage based on this image:

The colors I used were:

Essie - Miss Fancy Pants
OPI - A-Taupe the Space Needle
OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down the Windows
OPI - Get in the Espresso Lane
Fingerpaints - Black Expressionism
NYC - Matte Me Crazy

I painted a base coat of Uh-Oh Roll Down the Windows on all my nails then using a small (but not the smallest) dotting tool I started drawing on the pattern.  I began with A-Taupe the Space Needle then moved to Get in the Expresso Lane, added a few blobs of Miss Fancy Pants then did some accent with Black Expressionism.  When all that was done and somewhat dry I covered it with a thin coat of Out the Door topcoat then did a coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy.  Honestly the matte made this design - it just didn't look right all shiny.

Purple Polka Dots

I had a totally different color block mani done with greys and blues but messed it up beyond repair before I could take pictures so I have this...purple polka dots.  The base color is Zoe from Julep, the lighter dots are Perrie by Zoya and the darker dots are Monica by Zoya.

I love polka dot manicures, as I've said before.  They're simple to do and look neat. :)

Zoya!

I've seen manicures similar to this on several sites and thought it would be cute and fun to do...and it was.  For this I used 5 Zoya shades: Robyn, Charisma, Perrie, Maura and Dana.   The blue base is Robyn and the accent nail is Perrie - all of the colors were used for the dots.