Nail Fail - Candy Corn Nails

Last year, I really wanted to do candy corn nails but just couldn't figure it out. I tried numerous times and it was a disaster each time. Now I know that I didn't give my polish enough time to dry so the tape wouldn't ruin the manicure. I also didn't know that putting a top coat on and letting that completely dry would protect the colors. I was just barely learning about nail art and had never done stripes before. After a few tries, I got frustrated and moved on. 

Fast forward one year, I tried it again. Although I executed the design I wanted, it didn't turn out perfectly by any means. I mostly do swatches so I haven't been doing very much nail art. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. =) It's fine from far away but up close, you can see that my colors bled under the tape. 

Oh well. Live and learn right? ;)

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Orange: Zoya Arizona

Yellow: China Glaze Happy Go Lucky

I almost didn't post this but I decided that although it's flawed, it's still cute. 

Thanks for reading!

-Mira

31 Day Challenge - Day 23/24 Inspired by a Book/Movie

I decided to combine the two challenge days which I know isn't what you're supposed to do. It was a hard weekend pain wise and I didn't feel well enough to do my nails a lot so here we are! I was inspired by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and movies. The first book has been made into a movie both in Sweden and here in the U.S. All three books were turned into movies in Sweden, we just haven't made the next two in the states yet. I won't go into the books and movies too much. I will warn you that they are very intense and contain violence and language. The Swedish movies are quite graphic so if that bothers you I'd recommend not watching them. I had to close my eyes a lot. I'm not sure where to find the Swedish movies. They were put on my husband's computer and I don't know where they originally came from. I'm sure Google will know where they are. 

Ok, about the nails. I have never tried to freehand on my nails. It intimidates me and I didn't have the strength to attempt it this time (sitting hurts). I looked for stamps to represent the dragon and hornet but I don't have anything that worked. So, I just worked with the colors and then put a Swedish flag on my pinky. The fire nail turned out really cool though. ;)

If you're not familiar with the books, this is what each nail represents. Index Finger: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I was going for a dragon scale look), Spirit Finger: The Girl who Played with Fire, Ring Finger: The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, and then the Swedish flag on my pinky to represent the setting of the books. I am sure that was very grammatically incorrect, please forgive me for that. 

Polishes Used:

Index Finger

Zoya Holy

Orly Mermaid Tale

Spirit Finger

Orly Liquid Vinyl

China Glaze Electrify

Ring Finger

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

OPI Metallic 4 Life

Pinky

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky

China Glaze Flyin' High

Have you read the books or seen the movie(s)? What did you think of them? 

Thanks for reading!

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-Mira

Day 19 - Galaxy Nails

Galaxy Nails is a manicure that looks intimidating but it's surprisingly simple. I enjoyed making this mani for today's challenge. I know it's not the best galaxy nail art out there but it's my first try and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I have some ideas on how to make it better next time which is always what I want to get out of these challenges. Learn and improve right? I watched a tutorial in preparation for this challenge because I wasn't sure how to go about this design. I watched this tutorial from Cute Polish: http://www.youtube.com/user/cutepolish#p/search/0/3EMgt4_jW5U  I basically followed her instructions step by step. Mine isn't as awesome as hers but I like it!

Here are the pics, supply list will be underneath the last picture. 

Supplies:

OPI Envy - Base Coat

NOPI - Razzle Dazzle for black base color (2 coats)

Zoya - Snow White

China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky

China Glaze - Peachy Keen

Cult Nails - Time Traveler

Small dotting tool for stars (used with Zoya Snow White)

China Glaze - Fairy Dust for top coat (bottle shown in pictures)

Makeup Sponge (wedges) for sponging 

Thanks for reading! 

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Day 3 - Yellow

Ok, yellow is so not my color. It completely washes me out. Ok, enough complaining....here we go! 

The one and only yellow polish I own is China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky. It's a pretty good yellow. I tried out quite a few and it was the only yellow polish that had good coverage. The other brands/shades were very shear and hard to work with. This goes on pretty streaky for the first coat but the second coat went on smoothly. After two coats, I put on Seche Vite and gave it time to dry (just a few minutes). Then, I stamped on my flowers from Bundle Monster plate #224 with Konad's Special White polish. I always put on a top coat before I stamp so I can quickly wipe off mistakes without taking off my base color. You can only get away with that once before you start rubbing off your polish but it gives you a little wiggle room! =) After I finished stamping, I put on another coat of Seche Vite and called it a night!

I am SO excited for tomorrow's challenge color. I absolutely love green nail polish. The challenge is choosing just one! Hmm......

Thanks for reading!