31 Day Challenge: Day 23 Inspired by a Movie

I am an Amazon freak. No, I do not mean the giant jungle women (shout out to Xena and Wonder Woman!), I mean the amazing website on which I spend all of my money. Every month or so they send me an email about "Artists on the Rise" and then give me a free album with a song from each person they talk about. I'm always on the hunt for a new favorite, and this time Amazon really helped out! [I actually just noticed that they have a new Blind Pilot album on there for like $8. Gah, now I have to buy it.] One of the awesome guys they promoted was J.D. McPherson. This guy sounds like old-school 50s/60s rock (back when it was rock-n-roll!)!! I'm seriously in love, so feel free to rock out to a few of his tunes while you look at my lovely fingers. The third one is actually a sweet video - look at that bass!

Today's challenge is inspired by a movie. I've already done a couple movie designs (which I think are way better than this one) so this time I decided to make 101 Dalmatians nails. I used a blobby-looking stamp to make the puppies' spots, added a red tape line for the collars, and  put a little orange dot for the tags. For my thumb I used a little pawprint stamp (kinda like the footprints they left in the snow!). Now I really want to watch the movie! Unfortunately I'm watching a horrible reality show called The Catalina, waiting for Rookie Blue to come on. *SIGH*

I won't lie, these were cuter in my head. Buuuuuut oh well. Now I know.

China Glaze White on White, Essie Licorice, Essie Action

31 Day Challenge: Day 21 Inspired by a Color

Just as a heads-up, I accidentally did 21 and 22 out of order. My bad.

Dudes. I feel like it's been ages since I've done my nails! Not good. I actually did them on Sunday, but they were a tad ugly. With Memorial Day and my 9/80 day, I totally had a four-day weekend last week!! With this wondrous amount of time off, I went to visit the two loves of my life, Kelley and Laura (no relation). Laura just got engaged AND Kelley turned 22, so we had a lot to celebrate! We went tubing in Martindale with a few significant others and had a blast. This float was a couple hours shorter than the one we were used to, but my skin appreciated getting slightly less burnt. Plus the water was waaaay deeper than the other place, which my ass appreciated. We spent most of the rest of the weekend watching hilarious movies and eating cheesecake. Definitely the best mini-vacation I've had in ages!

During the float, however, I managed to chip every single one of my nails. I had to chop them all off as soon as I got home, so please excuse the stubbiness.

Today's challenge was to be inspired by a color. I'm not really sure how you can be inspired by a color and not just paint your nails that one color, but I tried to think a little outside the box. As you very well know, the most glorious colors in the world are burnt orange and white [UT represent!]. And since the first game of the season is only 93 days, 14 hours, 7 minutes, and 32 seconds away, I felt like this was appropriate. I used this sponging technique! B-t-dubs, I moved all of my polish stuff onto the desk in my room, since I don't actually use it for my computer stuff. I haven't reassembled my lightbox yet, so these pictures were taken on the fly. I tried a bunch of different lighting to get the right orange to show up. Not sure if I got it...

Hook 'Em!

31 Day Challenge: Day 22 Inspired by a Song

In keeping with tradition, Glee's finale last night made me want to die, bawl my eyes out, and throw up all at the same time. Damn you, Ryan Murphy! I won't give away any spoilers, but if you haven't watched it yet you'd better get crackin' because people WILL be talking. Right now I'm watching SyFy's Alice, which is really weird.. but good! It's got the girl I hate from Private Practice (I mentioned her a few posts ago) but this character is slightly less horrible. This guy is by far my favorite character -

I keep forgetting that these SyFy movies are meant to be watched over the course of days, so they take up my entire evening. Ah well. It gives me time to paint!

Sorry this challenge is taking me so long. Sometimes I just need a few days to admire my handiwork! I was really liking my bright summery colors from last time, so I decided to do something similar today! Today's challenge is a design inspired by a song. I thought of a million different ones I wanted to do, but I ended up choosing "99 Red Balloons" by Nena. Here's the original German version, which I find to be a lot more fun to sing than the English one. PLUS it's 80's-tastic - big hair and embarrassing wardrobes all the way. Anyways, feel free to rock out to this delightful ditty while you browse my pictures!

I started with Ulta Mint Condition for the sky - no flash.

Flash!

Then I used a dotting tool to make a variety of balloon sizes and add in the white shine blobs. Finally, I used a tiny brush tip pen to make the strings! The red color is "e-nuf is e-nuf" from Essie. Sorry the red kinda smeared... It doesn't look as bad in person.

Hopefully these don't look too much like 99 red sperms going by.

I went for a very cartoony balloon here. Me likes! 

31 Day Challenge: Day 20 Water Marbling

I've seen tons of stuff about how to do water marbling. And it terrifies me. It just looks like so very many things can - and knowing me, will - go wrong. In honor of my terror, I'm going to blog as I go. Hopefully reading all of the terrible mistakes I make along the way will help you (and me) see that the world will not end when my nails (fingers, hands, arms, face) are covered in an unimaginable whirl of puke-toned polish. Fingers crossed, here we go...

I have decided that I need some ruinable clothes for this occasion. Since I attended the University of Texas at Austin, I am fully-stocked with approximately 34590 free burnt orange t-shirts that I care nothing about.

I need to protect my floors. And furniture. I've already spilled on my coffee table, counter, carpet, and bed in the past. This spill could be the spill to end all spills - better find some newspaper and my dedicated nail polish towel.

These defenses do not seem equipped to handle the wrath of my potential spillage. Time to move outside to the balcony.

Ok... I need to pick some colors. This is more difficult than it sounds. I have many many colors, and I want to use all of them each time I look at them. Selecting just a few is like murdering my own children - if I had any.

Going with a yellow/green, blue, and pink. Spingy!

Ok, down to business. I painted my nails with a white base coat. This is supposed to make the paint show up brighter. Next I taped off the rest of my finger, covering up as much as I could so I wouldn't have to remove it all later. I got a plastic cup and filled it with room temperature water. The temperature has a lot to do with how quickly the paint spreads out and dries up. The first batch was way too cold and the paint just sank to the bottom. Adding a drop of each color until I think it looks good... Making pretty designs with a toothpick... I heard you're supposed to try and stick your nail into the water perpendicular to the paint.

Fail. It's hard to tell, but the lines are really blurry in between the colors. And there's bubbles? I didn't even know that was possible.

*234234 attempts later*

I got one good nail. One. So I'm making it an accent nail and calling it a day. I probably shouldn't have been so overzealous and used 3 colors. 2 next time for sure...

This yellow/green looks mustardy in the pictures.. Weird.


References, filled with falsehoods:
http://chloesnails.blogspot.com/2011/01/water-marble-picture-tutorial.html
http://www.keikolynn.com/2011/10/water-marbling-tutorial.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUF8rFY2suA

31 Day Challenge: Day 19 Galaxies

Recently I've been describing my mood/day based on the tv shows I've been watching. Today is slightly different in that Grey's hasn't started yet, but I have spent the entire week pondering and discussing who I think is going to die (someone dies tonight). I honestly have no idea who's it's going to be. Usually I pick one, and throughout the conversation name every other person possible lol. Tired of these tv tangents yet?

Today's challenge is galaxy nails. I attempted to do this once before. I went with regular colors, not metallic ones that time. And I added in star blobs. This time, I tried to make my galaxies a little more like a pin the lovely Laurita sent to me. I think I like them better!

With flash -

No flash -

Here's all the colors I used! I started with a base of China Glaze Smoke and Ashes [far left] from The Hunger Games collection. Then I used a makeup sponge to blob on [left to right] China Glaze: Riveting, Coconut Kiss, Sexy In The City, Spoiled Pearly White Teeth, Nicole by OPI Disco Dolls, and Northern Lights Hologram Top Coat "Silver". *Phew* What a mouthful.

Next time I'm going to attempt the swirly galaxies!

31 Day Challenge: Day 18 Half Moons

Today is a much better day tv-wise. SPOILER ALERT: They finally won Nationals on Glee! I thought this was the finale, but apparently that's next week... they have to graduate, I guess. Of course something is going to go terribly wrong at the last minute to outrage me, but I guess that's what television is all about these days. I'm pretty sure no one out there still watches Private Practice (why would you, it's terrible) but I do. Right now I'm watching a character I dislike give birth to a baby without a brain - this can only end in tears, but hopefully my Glee-high will make it a little better.

In other news, I tried to buy the Sailor Moon DVD's today. Do you know how much they're charging for them???? I could buy a new tv for less!!! Luckily I can navigate the interwebs better than most and found a slightly less outrageous set AND a site with all of the episodes! Speaking of moons, today's challenge is half moons! These remind me of Drusilla's nails from Buffy. I think she was just crazy enough to rock them. I'm not sure if I'm quite on her level, but I gave it a shot.

Base coat: Revlon Top Speed Metallic

This isn't too hard to do. All you need to do is apply a base coat, let it dry, and then use half of a paper hole reinforcer to block off the moon. Tada!

Purple: Revlon Top Speed Violet

Top coat: Northern Lights Hologram Top Coat "Silver:

31 Day Challenge: Day 17 Glitter

I'm not even gonna lie, I'm writing this approximately 24 seconds after I posted the tribal print pictures. Still fuming about Wade and Zoey, still watching SBM be a creep.

I have about a zillion different glitter polishes and I couldn't think of a good way to show them all off. I originally did an orange polish with rainbow sparkles on top, but it looked weird. Then I decided that I could practice my stamping AND throw some glitter on it! There's also some gold flakies, which are a little hard to see. Use your imagination. I think these look a little like shooting stars and an asteroid belt. Sexy?

31 Day Challenge: Day 16 Tribal Print

I have spent the last two hours screaming at my tv. The season finales of Hart of Dixie and Smash are on tonight, both of which frustrate me beyond comprehension. At one point I wasn't sure whether I was screaming, crying, or laughing. It's brutal. And now I have to wait months for these people to torture me some more...  

Today's challenge is tribal print. Who decides what tribal print is? What if I'm a part of the Boohbah tribe? I googled a bunch of pictures, but most of them were just black and white - so drab. So I just made something up.

Please excuse my sad looking fingers and sloppiness. 

31 Day Challenge: Day 15 Delicate Print

What the heck does "delicate print" mean? Thanks for the vague description, challenge people. I think this counts..? I don't have much to say about it, other than I'll probably be removing it soon. Merp.