31DC2014 Day 10: Gradient - Creme to shimmer

Hello there ladies!
For today's gradient nails I decided to try something that is new to me - a little mix of finishes. So instead of using contrasting colours for my gradient I used similar colours with different finishes - creme and shimmer.

And of course I couldnt stay away from sparkly accents :) The photos actually dont do this manicure justice - it looked much prettier and smoother is person. The polishes I used:

Attention! Despite being a pastel shade, Rimmel #500 Peppermint does stain nails!!!

I actually managed to catch gradient better under direct electric light:

And couple more pictures:

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31DC2014 Day 09: Rainbow nails

Hello there!
Since this challenge started I've been waiting for an opportunity to do some less serious and more naive nail art and this is I think is a perfect time! My inspiration for this  - these nail wraps from BornPretty store.

I dont think I've mentionned this before, but I'm left handed and I swatch my left hand, so any nail art involving free hand drawing done by me sucks! :) So I had to find a sneaky way around it. I painted the rainbows on a sheet of plastic using a fine nail art brush and a bunch of polishes (if you are interested in the polishes I used just let me know in the comments), then after it dried I applied a good coat of topcoat over that and let it dry for a night. On the next day I separated the rainbows from plastic sheet and cut them out of topcoat with manicure scissors. So I got my own hand made decals! Should have taken a picture of them for you but I was too excited I guess :)
I started with 3 coats of Models Own Blueberry Muffin nail polish and after that was dry applied a thin coat of clear polish so I could stick my decals to it. I removed extra pieces with clean up brush and acetone. Then I used a large dotting tool to make the clouds. All done! Was not as time consuming as I expected. Doesnt look as neat as I expected either haha. Next time I'm doing these decals I'm gonna try for a thinner coat of topcoat, because my decals came out too thick which made them harded to work with. Overall I'm pleased with the result.

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31DC2014 Day 08: Metallic

Hello there!
I dont't have too much to tell you about today's manicure, as it is very simple, but I think it's still pretty and festive!

Here are the polishes I used:

Goldie But Goodie on my thumb, ring, and pinky, Gossip Over Gimlets on my index and middle. Both polishes are foils from fall 2013 Autumn Nights collection. Gossip Over Gimlets is a silver with some golden flakes and Goldie But Goodie is a slightly copper-toned gold. Valzer #2 is a mix of silver shimmer, micro black and silver glitters, small black glitters, small and medium hex holographis glitters in a clear base.

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31DC2014 Day 07: B&W - Black cats and saran wrap

Hello there!
For today's B&W manicure I did some saran wrap manicure and used black cat water decals for my accent nails.

You can find an awesome saran wrap tutorial here. The polishes I used:

I started with 3 coats of O.P.I. Alpine Snow, then made saran wrap using all three polishes. Dance Legend Grey Britain is an awesome grey polish from Smoky collection, it has matte black micro shimmer which creates that smoky effect that I love. Sally Hansen Black Out is an a little bit jelly-ish black polish, the kind you wouldnt use for stamping. Then I applied my black cat water decals and finished with a coat of topcoat.

And couple of close-ups:

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! :)

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31DC2014 Day 06: Violet - Gradient and polka dots

Hello there ladies!
These violet nails havent been easy for me! I made and removed probably like 10 disigns, it just wouldnt work out. So finally I came out with this one and I like how it turned out. It's now an original design but it looks fun and eye catching I think!

 Here are the polishes I used:

I started with two coats of OPI Alpine Snow and the made a gradient using Alpine Snow, Essie #36 Splash Of Grenadine and China Glaze #81357 Charmed, I'm Sure. Now, when I do gradient nail art I like to smooth it out with top coat, but I didnt want to apply polka dots over quick drying top coat, so I applied a coat of clear polish Sally Hansen XtreamWear #100 Invisible to smooth the gradient out, then used a fairly large dotting tool to make polka dots with Alpine Snow. Then, after that was dry enough to not ruin the dots I used a quick drying top coat.

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31DC2014 Day 05: Blue - Geometric glitter placement

Hello there ladies!
For today's blue nails I recreated the nail art that I did a while ago but never posted. It is not hard to do but time consuming. I started with two coats of OPI Dining Al Frisco which is a sky blue shimmer. Then, after it was completely 100% dry, I used sticky tape to tape off some triangles and applied a layer of OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue which is a medium blue shimmer and quickly peeled the tape off. Then I picked my smallest dotting tool and started placing glitters. And after couple of hours it was all done! Just kidding, it doesnt take too long once you get used to it :) I used two coats of top coat to make everything smooth and even.

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31DC2014 Day 04: Green - Ruffian nail art

Hello there!
For today's green nails I decided to try and create a ruffian nail art which seems to be quite popular these days. I used Butter London Jack the Lad for green. I'm going to make a large Butter London post in near future, so I won't talk too much about it right now - it's a deep green shimmery shade with gold and blue sparkles. Instead of freehanding ruffians (which would be an impossible task for me) or using french tip stickers I started with two coats of OPI Push And Shove and then applied Butter London Jack The Lad. It turned out to be very easy, kinda like painting your nails normally but with an imaginary cuticule :)) I was cautious about using a topcoat, I tried it on my right hand first, and it actually dragged Push And Shove a little bit, just as I expected. So I didnt use any top coat on my left hand and swatched it as it was.

This polish is a bit hard to capture, my camera (which is to be honest just a phone camera :) ) has a trouble focusing on it's shimmer. But I managed to take an okay picture on my way home from work when the sun peeked out for a minute or two :)

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31DC2014 Day 03: Yellow - Exotic Fruit Lazy nail art

Hello there! I must admit I have been quite excited for today's yellow nails because I love yellow nail polish! Not sure what is it, but I just dig the look of nails painted yellow, not the colour itself. Now, if you care for nail polish at least half as much as I do, you probably know that yellow polishes tend to be uneasy to apply! I actually got this one from a co-worker, who is not a nail polish addict and she found it impossible to apply so she gave it to me, and this is the only INM polish I own at the moment. I am happy to report, INM #160 Amber has a great formula for a yellow polish. I got away with 3 coats, applied one after another, and got no bubbles whatsoever. It dries quite fast too. The colour has a strong lemon undertone in the bottle, less so on the nail. After the polish was completely dry I used exotic fruits water decals (chinese I believe, got them cheap). I was happy with the result and hated to remove the manicure to make a new one, but this is the downside of the 31DC I guess so I'll have to live with it haha!

Close-ups:

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31DC2014 Day 02: Orange

Hello there!
For today's 31DC2014 manicure I picked Sally Hansen XtreamWear #150 Sun Kissed. It is a bright orange creme polish, I used two coats for full opacity. For my accent nails I applied 3 coats of Models Own Banana Split and then made the bubbles using Sun Kissed and nimbus technique. The difference between the tutorial and what I did was that rather than thinning a drop of polish with acetone, I dripped polish into acetone, making it a very sheer and thin substance, then I applied just one coat of bubbles using a q-tip.

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31DC2014 Day 01: Red - French tips

Hello there ladies!
So I decided to participate in Chalkboard Nails 31 day challenge this year  and I'm really excited for it!
Day 1 is red nails. To be honest I'm not a big fan of red nail polishes and I don't own many. So I went with something more or less special for me - a polish that I bought before I became nail polish freak addict, then forgot about it and then found again when I already had over 100 polishes! This is Rimmel #323 Riviera Red. Of course I wanted to add a little twist to it so I made a french tip using China Glaze Charmed, I'm sure. I'm happy with how it turned out considering I used China Glaze's own brush.

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