31 Day Challenge, Day 8 - Metallic in Jewel Tones

So technically maybe today's manicure isn't truly metallic but I figured I could fudge it since it does include a gold polish and gold striping tape.

I don't know about you but I find metallic polishes kind of difficult to deal with.  For me, no matter how I apply them, they come out streaky looking.  Maybe there's a trick to it that I'm missing or maybe I am just destined to suck at using them.  For today's nails the only real metallic polish is the gold polish and you can tell that it looks different than the other colors.  It's great for stamping though!

I love, love color block manicures.  Sadly I rarely have the patience to actually do them on myself.  I want to tape and paint and stuff way before I should and end up making a huge mess.  BUT, today I forced myself to have the patience necessary and this is the result.

Colors used are:

OPI: Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue
Nicole By OPI:  Keeping Up With Santa
China Glaze:  Agro
Ulta Professional:  Inline For The Crown

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