Iced Lacquer's 12 Days of Christmas - Ornaments

So, these aren't really ornaments...it's more of a suggestion of ornaments lol.  I really wasn't feeling lights and am not all that great with freehand stuff (trying to do more and more but you know, small canvas is hard mmmkay).  So this is what I came up with.  I hope you like it.

Base color is 1 coat of Julep Sharon - a rich, deep cranberry red shimmer that just screams holiday to me.  The glitter polish is O Canada!, also by Julep.  And my 'ornaments' were done in Essie Beyond Cozy and China Glaze Running in Circles.

Please be sure to check out all the other blogs taking part in this challenge!!

Iced Lacquer

XOXO Alexis Leigh

Purple Castle

It's All About the Polish

A Ginger's Nail

The Polished Mommy

Teen Polish Junkie

Fancy Schmancy Nails

Mari552

Fairytale Charm

nailzbyroro

31 Day Challenge, Day 14: Water Lilies - Inspired By Monet

When I was thinking of what to do for today's challenge theme I went through all the typical floral things that you see on nails and decided I didn't want to do any of that.  I wanted to do something different that would challenge me.  Problem is  my artistic skills on paper really lie in drawing comic book characters and caricatures, not in still life or landscapes and definitely not in anything leaning toward realism (find me on Facebook if you're interested in seeing any of my tonal pencil drawings).  Another problem is that on paper I never work in color, just graphite and charcoal.  Then while I was watching a documentary on origami (Between the Folds - check it out, mind blowing stuff) I was struck by how similar in theory some of that work is to Impressionism in that it is really just a suggestion of the subject matter.  I have always loved the Impressionist School, especially Monet and Degas, and the Water Lilies series is, at times, abstract enough that maybe I could do something reminiscent of the feeling of those works.

I'm actually kind of happy with the way this turned out.  Is it Monet?  No, of course not.  But, I think it captures the spirit of his work well enough.  What do you think?

For this I used, um, 14 polishes.  Ready for the list?  Ok...

OPI - Sparrow Me the Drama
Zoya - Reagan
Zoya - Shawn
Zoya - Frida
Essie - Lapiz of Luxury
Nina - Cobalt
NYC - Water Street Blue
NYC - Taxi Yellow
NYC - High Line Green
NYC - Skin Tight Denim
Sinful Colors - San Fransisco
China Glaze - White on White
Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet
Orly - Shining Star

As for technique it's just a whole lot of tiny brush work while staring at pictures.  Nothing special, nothing complicated.  I really think if you can do galaxy nails you can do this since this is more about color blending and placement than being technically accurate in representation.

The 31DC is on hold for me tomorrow as I am embarking on a 12 Days of Christmas Challenge from Iced Lacquer.  Check it out and participate - it looks like a lot of fun and since it's not an every day type of challenge should be doable. :)  I'll continue the 31DC on the off days from the 12 Days of Christmas challenge.

31 Day Challenge, Day 5: Blue

I used to never wear blue polish but now I find myself with a great deal of it and am really liking it!  For today's challenge manicure I used 6 polishes, 4 of them untried blues.  Well, technically one is a blue glitter but still...untried. :)

Day 2: Orange

Ugh, Orange.  Not one of my favorite colors, at least on me.  I don't even have much in the way or orange polish - maybe 5 or 6 shades.  So, this one was hard for me.  What to do?  I was totally stumped especially since I had told myself I was going to do something new and different (new to me) each day of this challenge.

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.

Essie Stylenomics

I really love this green in the bottle but I don't think it transfers well - on me with only 2 coats it looks nearly black. I was hoping it would be much more if a dark green. Oh well. So I stamped over it with a gold from Ulta.

Essie Wicked = pure awesome

The rich almost black red color of this polish is sadly lost with the lame iPhone camera. I'm in love with the color though and I love how Ulta's In Line for the Crown looks stamped over it.

I have issues with cleanup

Ugh, I can never get all the mess off. But...I love, love this color. It's Essie Skirting The Issues and I've stamped it with Sinful Colors Zincing Of You using Mash-48.

Manicures of the past month.  These all looked way, way  better in person - I really, really suck at taking pictures.

Tone on Tone

I am really loving Zoya Natty and Essie Matte About You.

I think this picture shows the contrast better: