Day 31: Recreate Your Favourite Challenge (Double Feature)

Today, the 31 Day Challenge comes to an end for Me, Rie and Cris. There's been some ups and downs but I've loved the whole experience. It will be nice to go back to posting whatever I want when I want but I'm slightly afraid that I've forgotten how to create manicures without a list to follow!

Cris, Rie and I were discussing what 'Recreate Your Favourite Challenge' actually means and in the end we just decided to recreate our favourite challenge from each others' previous 30 days.

  

It's a long post so you can see more after the jump...

From Rie's challenge, I wanted to recreate her 'Inspired by Fashion' nails. She was inspired by some incredible Alexander McQueen shoes. To see and Rie's mani and the shoes that inspired it, click here.

I love Rie's mani because it translate the shoe perfectly on to her nails. The finished look is so simple and elegant which is everything I look for in a manicure.

I used E.L.F Innocence as a base and I don't have the same Konad plate she used so I went for a design from one of my fauxnad plates which I stamped with Barry M Grey first, then Barry M Silver Foil. I sponged on a little silver glitter and added a top coat of NYC, et voila!

From Cris, I decided on her Flower nails from Day 14. She used a combination of stamping, freehand and dotting to create a beautiful vibrant manicure. Click here to see her mani.

I love Cris's flower mani because every time I look at it I can't help but feel a little warmer inside. It gives me a much needed reminder of summer now that the winter is kicking in. 

I used A-England Galahad as a base and Wet n Wild white for stamping with BM12. For the detail on the flowers, I used Collection 2000 Spangles and Rimmel Funky Diva. The Rhinestones are from Viva La Nails, and of course I used NYC Top Coat to finish it all off.

Don't forget to head over to Cristina and Rie's blogs to see four more manicures today! I really cannot wait to see them!

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial

Here we are at the penultimate day of the challenge and I'm getting a little emotional. This amazing journey will soon be over for Me, Chris and Rie so I'm gonna go out with a bang and give you the most awesome manis I can for the next two days!

Today I had to pick a tutorial to inspire my nails and I've always wanted to try out some of Jane @ Nailside's amazing designs. Jane comes up with the most amazing uses for scotch tape and her nails always look incredible.

I really wanted to try recreating her explosion design but I'm not very good with scotch tape so that went belly up very quickly and I decided to try her cartoon hearts. Swoon.

Follow me over to Cristina and Rie's tutorial inspired nails today.

My base colour is A-England Elaine. I used whit acrylic paint and Nails Inc. Shoreditch for the hearts, then topped it off with a few coats of NYC Top Coat.

I won't give you any details of how I achieved this look, you'll have to head over to see the tutorial at Nailside [here] and you can check out all of Jane's simple but stunning tutorials here.





For 'Day 31: Recreate Your Favourite Challenge' we've decided to pick our favourite challenges from each other so check back tomorrow for a double feature!

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 29: Inspired by The Supernatural

Today's nails are kind of boring. I really couldn't think of anything supernatural except for ghosts so that's what we're getting today! It's funny that I never used this stamp before Halloween and now I've used it twice in one week!

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's supernatural nails today!



The base colour is W7 Metallic Neptune and I used Sally Hansen Whirlwind White to stamp the ghost from Bundle Monster plate BM223. Then, of course, I added a top coat of NYC.





Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

Today's nails were a no brainer for me from the very start of the challenge. I always knew I would base them around the Union Jack and the flags of each part of Britain.

Did you know that even though the United Kingdom is a country itself it's split further into four countries - England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland? Don't ask me how it works, that's just the way it is! (more info here). I decided to leave out Northern Ireland because there were a few possibilities and I didn't want to get it wrong!

Just some personal trivia for you - I was born in England but now live in Wales and I've spent my whole life travelling between the two for work, school and leisure. In the town where I live, there's a small bridge over one of the rivers that runs between the two where you can stand with one foot in England and the other in Wales!

I really can't wait to see what Cristina and Riehave come up with today.





Index to Pinky:
Scotland, Wales, United Kingdom, England



Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 27: Inspired by Artwork

On Thursday night, I found myself deep in conversation with a friend of mine who's spent some time travelling around Australis we got on to the topic of Aboriginal Art and suggested I do some nails in the same style. At the time, I didn't catch on to the fact that today's nails had to be inspired by Artwork but when she sent me a link to some images it was like... *lightbulb*!



This is a piece by Colleen Wallace Nungari and was my main influence today.







Click over to see Rie and Cristina's Art inspired nails today!

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

I'm running out of steam this week so I decided to go simple for today's challenge and take inspiration from my favourite Konad pattern from M64.

Cristina and Rie have created some lovely pattern inspired nails today.





Konad Plate: M64
Base Colour: Primark - Yes Cyan!
Konad Colour: W7 - Black
Top Coat of NYC



Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

FAQ: Inspired by Fashion

Thank you for the amazing response to yesterday's post! I've been overwhelmed reading all your lovely comments and tweets. There were a few questions that kept popping up in the comments so I thought I'd do a quick little FAQ to answer your queries.



Where did you get the studs?
They are from Viva La Nails and come in a huge range of colours. You can also get them from Born Pretty Store and I'm sure there must be countless other online stores that sell them. Just search for 'bullion'.
Viva La Nails
Born Pretty

How did you place the studs?
I used a cocktail stick/toothpick to pick them up and place them on the nail. I dipped the very end of the stick in a little bit of clear nail polish to make it tacky so the bullion would stick to it.

How did you get the studs to stick?
One nail at a time, I applied a coat of clear nail polish - one that I know is slow drying - and then placed the beads on and pushed them down into the polish a little. When I'd finished my whole hand, I added a topcoat of NYC which sealed all the work and made the mani nice and shiny.

How well did the studs stay on?
They actually stayed on really well. Because they're only teeny tiny, I found that they didn't really catch on anything. I did some fiddly work with my hands and a few of them got forced off but if I was careful with with them, I'm sure they'd have lasted all day (at least). Like many of you said you would too, I ended up picking them all off after about 8 hours of wearing them!

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 25: Inspired by Fashion

I'll be honest here - I'm not a very fashion conscious person. I'm not trying to sound conceited but I may come across like that anyway, but I believe personal style > fashion. So the first thing I did for researching today's nails was to Google 'Fashion'!
After a bit of searching, I stumbled upon Michael Kors' website and fell in love with the simplicity and elegance of his dress designs. I quickly chose this dress as my inspiration.

Thankfully, Rie and Cris know a bit more than me about fashion. Head over to see their couture creations today.

I used W7 Black as a base colour then slicked on GOSH top coat and placed on the bullion before it dried.
I used a top coat of NYC to seal it all in.



This dress is so classic yet the studs give it that rock-chick rebel vibe. I love it! I feel like such a bad-ass wearing studded nails! I'll be wearing my biker boots and leather jacket today.



Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 24: Inspired by a Book

Can you believe there are only seven days left of this challenge?! I really can't!
So, for nails inspired by a book I decided to go for a children's book - The Rainbow Fish. I did consider a few adult books that I've read recently but this seemed way more fun!

I can't wait to see Rie and Cris's book inspired nails today!







Stamping Plate: BM209
Base Colour: A-England - Tristam
Stamp Colour: GOSH - Holographic
To colour in the scales, I used: Nails Inc - Shoreditch, Kriston - 52, Rimmel - Blue My Mind and Models Own Juicy Jules
Top Coat of NYC



In the style of Rie, I decided to include a close up shot today. Check out those 'scales'!

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 23: Inspired by a Movie (V For Vendetta Nail Art)

Some of you may remember back to September when I did 'Just Like The Movies' week? Well, I pretty much used up every idea I've ever had for movie manicures! A friend suggested I use a 'V For Vendetta' theme and I immediately jumped on that concept.

In case anyone hasn't seen the movie, I won't give away too many details but it's loosely based on the events leading up to what is now known as Guy Fawkes Night (November 5th 1605 wiki). I don't know how well the story is known in the U.S. but it's a part of British history that every kid is taught about in school. Everyone I know that's seen the movie really likes it, so if you haven't seen it yet - you should!

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's Movie Manicures too!

Thumb to Pinky:  'V', Rose, Fireworks, V himself, Government insignia





Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 22: Inspired by a Song

I kind of cheated a little today, my mani is inspired by a few songs. Well, actually, an album! A few weeks ago, I went to see a guy called Charlie Simpson in concert and of course I had to decorate my nails for the occasion. I've been saving them to post today.

Charlie Simpson is such a great musician. He's been in a few bands in his time; playing pop rock, post-hardcore and now acoustic folk. I used his song, 'Parachutes' in my video tutorial for the Ocean Waves nail art so some of you may recognise it...


Charlie Simpson - Parachutes

My thumbnail is the album cover and each of my other nails is inspired by one of the songs on the album.

Don't forget to visit Cristina and Rie's blogs today to see their song inspired nails!





Thumb to pinky: Album cover, Sundown, Parachutes, Thorns, Cemetary





Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 21: Inspired by a Colour

Today's criteria is a bit of an odd one. I couldn't decide if it meant inspired by an actual colour or inspired by a shade name or even something else completely that I didn't pick up on! In the end I decided to rummage through my stash to see if any of the colour names inspired me and this Rimmel polish, Purple Reign, gave me an idea straight away.

I decided to make a mani from the name and stamp crowns on my nails. Get it? Purple REIGN ;)

Head over to see whar Cristina and Rie came up with today.



Plate: Bundle Monster BM08
Base Colour: Rimmel - Purple Reign
Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Top Coat of NYC





Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

31 Day Challenge: Days 1-20

So here we are at Day 20 of the challenge and I just want to say how proud I am of Rie, Cris and myself for making it this far! The end is in sight and it really looks like we're going to make it. 

Thank you so much to all you amazing people that stop by to check out our challenges every day! Here's a quick recap of Days 1-20 in case you missed any...

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 20: Water Marbled

If I could take one sick day from the 31 Day Challenge, it would be today! The mani you see here is my third attempt at a decent water marble. By the time I finished I was suffocating under the sheer amount of marbling fail. Never again, guys, never again!

In hindsight, my experience with water marbling was not that bad, but at the time all I wanted to do was scrub this off my nails as soon as the pictures were taken. It looks kind of nice, but for the hours, sweat and tears it stole from me I probably won't be doing it again any time soon!

Head over to Rie and Cristina's blogs to see if they had better luck than me with their water marbling!

Base colour: BYS Lilac Bliss

Marble colours: La Femme Grey Cream, Nails Inc Victoria, George Scarlet Kiss

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr

Day 19: Galaxy Nails

For the 19th day of our challenge, we all had to create some Galaxy Nails. I've done some of these in the past (see here and here) and I love the look. You really can't get them wrong! Rie and Cris both agree with me today - they're so much easier than they look. 

So if you're looking at these pictures and thinking you want your nails to look like this but doubting your ability, DON'T! Just grab a sponge, some nail polishes and have a party on your nails. I promise it'll look great.

Rie and Cristina have created some gorgeous galaxy nails today.

Here are the polishes I used in order, left to right.

When you look at these mismatched colours lined up, you wouldn't think they could combine to make such a pretty manicure.

Twitter ♥ Bloglovin' ♥ Tumblr