31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 22, Song[s]

My day 22 manicure is one I love. Not only was it inspired by my favourite band, it also happened to be my birthday (yesterday). But enough of that. Let's get to the pictures, and the polish.

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Although the challenge was inspired by a song, I chose to use several songs. All of which are by the Beatles. 

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On my pointer finger, I painted a strawberry. This nail is inspired by Strawberry Field's Forever. And for any of you who know the movie Across the Universe, the strawberry is inspired by Jude's artwork. The base is White On from Sally Hansen and the strawberry is acrylic. My middle finger is inspired by Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite. It's a poster advertising the Pablo Fanque's Circus (mentioned in the song) with the circus tent curtain over top. The base is White On, that was sponged with brown acrylic. The writing and curtain are acrylic. My ring finger is inspired by Across the Universe. The Beatles was written on a galaxy... in the universe. :p The base is Black Satin from Rimmel, followed my sponging of White On, Grey-t To Be Here from Essence, and Midnight Plum from Avon. The stars and The Beatles are acrylic. Finally, my pinkie is inspired by Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's one of the Beatle's outfits from the album cover. The base is Papaya from JOE and the details are acrylic. 

Here's the random bonus design I painted on my thumb. Not really sure what it is.... I guess it can demonstrate the whimsical aspect of a lot of Beatles's songs. It could also be my Happy Birthday nail! :p The base is White On and the details are acrylic.

And this is my favourite nail. I love how well the strawberry turned out.  If you guys would like a tutorial of the strawberry, let me know! Below is a photo of what it was inspired by.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 21, Colour

My day 21 manicure is my attempt to hold onto summer. :) It's a lovely ocean inspired manicure complete with whimsical sea turtles.

I created a faded gradient with Love Nails from Sinful Colors and a bit of Yoga-Ta Get This Blue from OPI. The turtles are acrylic and the french is Love Nails. This manicure absolutely reminds me of my Starfish On the Beach manicure. But I'm not sure which I like better. Which manicure do you guys prefer?

How to Clean Nail Art Brushes

I recently had a request for how to clean nail art brushes, so here we go. How to clean nail art brushes.

I mainly use my brushes for acrylics, so they aren't too "beat up". When I clean acrylic craft paint off my brushes, I use water.

Once the brush is in the water, gently push it against the bottom of the container and swipe back and forth. Make sure you use room temperature or cold water. Otherwise, the bristles of the brush can fall out.

When I use my brushes for nail polish, I use polish remover to clean them. Follow the same method as with the water. Take a cotton pad soaked in polish remover and swipe the brush back and forth on it until the colour comes off. I use non-acetone remover, which is not only easier on my brushes, but also on my nails. 

I had the problem a couple of years ago where I dipped my brush in polish remover to clean it and then rubbed off the paint and the bristles came out! Since I've cleaned my brushes this way, I've had no mishaps. I hope this helps!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 20, Water Marbling

I'm not a huge fan of water marbling for nails. Don't get me wrong, I think it's gorgeous when it's done. I just hate the amount of time it takes to do, as well as the mess it makes. So that's the reason I only marbled one nail. I do hope to someday be as good Colette from My Simple Little Pleasures, though. If you haven't seen her water marbling, check it out. It's absolutely amazing. Anyways, here's the day 20 design.

The marbled finger is one coat of Grey-t to be Here from Essence and the marbling is done with Grey-t to be Here and Midnight Plum from Avon. The other fingernails are painted with Grey-t to be Here.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 19, Galaxies

Day 19 of the challenge is galaxy nails. I've never tried galaxy nails before, so I was excited to try, and I'm super happy with my results. So happy, in fact, that I made a tutorial to go with them.

1. Start with a black base. I used Black Satin from Rimmel.

2. Using white (I used White On from Sally Hansen), lightly sponge on a thick line. This should not be perfectly straight and should be quite light. Focus more white on the center of the galaxy. 

3/4. Next, using a makeup sponge, slightly mix a darker and lighter blue (or a lighter and darker shade of your chosen colour) together and sponge around the outer edges of the white. I used Ogre-the-Top Blue and Yoga-Ta Get This Blue from OPI.

5. Repeat step 3/4., this time with purple (or your second chosen colour). However, sponge slightly onto the white this time. I used Midnight Plum from Avon and Fig from JOE Fresh. 

6. Lightly sponge glitter over the whole nail. I used Grey to Be Here from Essence. Then, focusing on the center of the galaxy, lightly sponge a coarser glitter over the white. I used a glitter striper from It's So Easy Stripe Rite. 

7. Finally, (this is what really makes the galaxy look) add some little dots for stars. You can also paint some twinkling stars on. Top coat. 

Tips:

i) Rip the makeup sponge; don't cut it, for a more natural, organic and realistic look when sponging. 

ii) Reference photos of galaxies to produce a more realistic design.

iii) Don't be perfect. Galaxies are irregular in shape since they naturally occur. 

iv) Each nail doesn't need to be the same, since once again, galaxies are natural and don't all look the same.

v) Make the center of the galaxy a slightly brighter white to look more realistic. 

vi) Make stars tiny to be more realistic. 

I hope any of you who haven't tried galaxy nails will give them a try! Now, one question. What do you guys think? Are my nails "Outta this World"?

Tutorials?

Hey everybody! So, I should have my next nail art challenge with a tutorial up today, but in the mean time, I have a question. I'd like to do more tutorials, but I'd like an idea of what you guys want tutorials of. Either comment or send me an email of what you'd like, and I can start adding more tutorials into the blog! Thanks!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 18, Half Moon

Today's manicure was inspired by a manicure I recently saw on The Daily Nail. I liked the idea of records, but I changed them to be a half moon manicure instead. On the pinkie, I have Gypsy Queen from Misa and Black Satin from Rimmel for the Beatles' Red Album. My ring finger, which is the Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd Album is Stormy from Revlon Top Speed, with Black Satin again. My middle finger is CSNY's So Far album, and the base is Limestone from Sally Hansen with Black Satin. Finally, my pointer finger is the Eagle's Greatest Hits album. The base is Ogre-the-Top Blue from OPI, and Black Satin. All the details are done with acrylics. All my nails are topped with Matte About You from Essie, and the shiny rings on the records are China Glaze's Strong Adhesion Base Coat.

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31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 17, Glitter

Today is glitter nails. I went for a simple glitter look with two coats of Excuse Moi! from OPI's Muppets collection and two coats of an unknown Sally Girl polish.

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31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 16, Tribal Print

Today's manicure was super simple and fun to do!The base colour is Stormy from Revlon Top Speed, which is a gorgeous grey creme with a brown undertone. The white is acrylic and the black detailing is down with a black striper.

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31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 15, Delicate Print

No matter where I looked, I couldn't find a rule that stated I had to show multiple fingers in a photo for each design in the nail challenge, so I only painted my thumb for today. Part of that is due to the fact that I didn't want to take of my current design, and part of it is the fact that I'm very low on polish remover. The base colour of this manicure is a colour I fell in love with the moment I laid eyes on it: Via Airmail from Essence's special edition Ready for Boarding collection. The detail is done in white acrylic.

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31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 14

For the day 14 manicure, I went for my second attempt at one stroke flowers. The base colour is Sweet as Candy from Essence. Then I used different coloured acrylics for the flowers along with my angle brush (shown below). It's definitely an awesome and easy (once you get the hang of it) technique and the designs you can make with one stroke are beautiful!

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31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 13, Animal Print

I'm finally back into my nail art challenge, and here's day 13. I chose to go with something bright as one of my final summer manicures. The dark pink (Hot Magenta, Sally Hansen) was sponged on my pinkie, middle and index fingers and painted onto my thumbs and ring fingers. I then used my dotting tool to start the leopard prints with Pink Lingerie from Revlon Top Speed. Finally, I used black acrylic to finish the print.

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Glitter, Torrential Rains and School

Sorry for ditching my challenge for a couple of days and sorry that this post doesn't have anything to do with the nail art challenge either, but a lot has been going on. First of all, school just started up again today, which I'm sure many of you know, whether it's you having gone back, a sibling, friend or child. I don't know about you guys, but I'm bummed that summer is over. Did everyone have a good summer though? Do anything interesting? Anyways, Hurricane Issac has made it's way to the province of Ontario and has brought some crazy rains all day. I hope that any of you dealing with the more serious side of Issac are doing okay. But why don't we get to the point. Nail art. And today, I have a tutorial for you. 

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I decided for the first day of school I wanted something fun and simple on my toes, so I went with glitter toes. :)

1. First, paint your base colour of polish. You only need one coat here and make sure it is close to your glitter colour. I used Yoga-ta Get This Blue from OPI.

2. Make a little tray out of paper to pour your glitter over so that it won't get everywhere and will make for easy clean up. 

3. Apply a second coat of your base colour and sprinkle on the glitter. Shake off excess.

4. Clean up around your toes and top coat several times. 

There you go, glitter toes! This works the same way for fingers.