Thursday, October 13, 2011

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Animal Print Nails

For Day 13 of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, I decided to do a snakeskin print (of sorts). This lovely little orange and black snake (my creative license version of a coral snake) is inching across all of my nails on my left hand. Ssssso pretty!

I used a holographic polish just on his little eyes, and it is so small you may not notice, but it really added some fun bling to his eyeballs. 

I started with a chartreuse color from China Glaze. This was three coats, which is ok, but I am so impatient I would have preferred 2 coats. 

The snake first took shape in black acrylic paint. The middle finger sort of looks like the ribbon that so many people wear for breast cancer awareness and other awareness ribbons. Some of my coworkers who cannot see as well thought this was a breast cancer awareness manicure at first. Ah well...

And here I have added most of the details. I started with a lighter orange, then topped it with a bright orange to make it really pop. Also, I like the little white dots for highlights. It almost makes it look aboriginal. 

I didn't want to make another snake on my right hand, since it was already taking me a long time to do this manicure. So I asked my hubby what I should paint on my right hand. He said, "A rat!" That was a great idea, so I made this stylized rat on my right hand. 

Here is the finished product. I topcoated this with Cult Nails Wicked Fast and I am noticing that it is slightly pulling at my art work leaving little streaks. I may have to switch back to Seche Vite topcoat for nail art. Too bad, because the top coat from Cult Nails really lasts well. 

Here's the right hand with the little rat. It had better watch its back, 'cause I think that snake is hungry!

Polishes I used in this manicure: Cult Nails Get It On basecoat, Cult Nails Wicked Fast topcoat, China Glaze Electric Pineapple, China Glaze 2NITE (for the eyeballs), and L.A. Colors Art Deco Red Glitter (to highlight the snake tongue). 

Tomorrow it is flowers! Halloween flowers.... moohoohahaha!

17 comments:

  1. OH MAH GAH I am absolutely in love with this. So fantastic.

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  2. The snake is so great and I love the rat! :D You´re very creative! And you must have a really steady hand to do those freehand designs :)

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  3. I love him! The dots really add that extra touch! Great job, and I can't wait to see some spooky flowers!

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  4. Thanks so much Sarah! I really loved this one too.

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  5. Thanks Theodora! I have gotten much better at freehand through lots of practice. I am amazed at how well I can do this with my non-dominant hand, too. Practice, practice, practice. :)

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  6. Thank you Leslie! This was one design that I really didn't want to take off. But I can always do it again!

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  7. This is so creative! Well done!

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  8. Thank you so much Rins! I really appreciate that!

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  9. Such a bad A$$ idea! Looks so awesome!

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  10. I am in love with that snake. Its so so, cute and well done. I'm also impressed that you can do such detailed work on your non-dominant hand. It frustrates me so much that I don't even bother when I'm doing intricate nail art.

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  11. Oh thank you for you kind words Courtney! I have been practicing on both hands for nearly two years now, and I was not very good when I started. Just keep practicing, even if it is only one nail on your non dominant hand. You'll get better!

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  12. Good job! i borrowed your idea http://lidzia007.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/joko-j141-pickled-lemon-wezowe-zdobienie.html Invite :).

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