31 Day Challenge: Glitter

For today's challenge I of course had to use my own fabulous glitter toppers! Who loves Sonoma Nail Art?! I heart Sonoma Nail Art. (See what I did there?)

I started by painting my nails with Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, then topped the black with Pumpkin Hurl (a gorgeous orange, red, and yellow topper), and the middle finger with Grape Stomp (purple squishy goodness). Both of these shades and other gorgeous colors are available in my etsy store right now. And that orange topper would look great for any Bay Area sports fans right about now, wink wink. On my ring finger I started with butter LONDON Minger, then used acrylic paint to make the Jack Skellington head. 

Click here to see my glitter manicure from 2011.

P.S. I am going to have to take a breather from the challenge for a bit. I am supposed to be getting ready for a group open studio at my art studios and I really need to get ready for that. Plus, I am just stretching myself too thin right now, and starting to not feel good. So I will probably pick the challenge back up in November. Thanks for your support! Oh and if you are in Sonoma County and want to come to my art show (it's free!), it is at 3840 Finley Avenue in Santa Rosa. It will be November 1st and 2nd from 11am to 5pm. We will have a little reception on Saturday the 1st, from 5pm to 6pm. 

31 Day Challenge: Geometric

I am so glad that today's challenge prompt has changed from Tribal to Geometric. I was never comfortable with calling a nail pattern "tribal" unless of course it was referring to a specific tribe and emulated that tribe's artwork. So here is my Geometric nail art: a deconstructed Jack o'Lantern!

I started with a base of OPI Tangerine Scene, and then used my small nail art brush and black acrylic paint to add the geometric shapes in random arrangement. You might also call this a Picasso Pumpkin. And that would be a really fun way to carve a pumpkin! With the facial features all there, but in random places. Ha ha!

Click here to see my version of 'tribal' nails from 2011. 

31 Day Challenge: Delicate

My challenge nails today are somewhat similar to the ones I did in 2011. They are also done with a wallpaper-like background done with stamping. But I think these are a bit scarier. I painted the horrifying little girl from The Ring. (Spoiler alert: if you haven't see The Ring, or don't want to scare the crap out of yourself, don't click on that link.)

I started with a base of OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? Then I used a combination of the same polish and Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris to stamp the pattern from MoYou London Sailor Plate 05. I wanted a more muted color for the 'wallpaper' so that is why I toned down the black a bit. 

Then I used acrylic paints to paint the evil girl. Here she is partway done. I used a mixture of white, blue, and black to paint her since the movie is really blue toned. 

Then it was time to paint her creepy hair. I should have made her head a bit taller but my nail was not long enough. If you look at pictures of her, her head seems abnormally far from her shoulders. Perhaps that adds to the creepiness of this character. Also, I don't suggest looking at images of her for a long time. It's freaky. bleh. (On a side note, when I moved to California from Washington State, my brother told me about this film as we were driving down I-5. He was so scared by retelling the plot of this movie that he started to cry a little. And it also helped me remember when to close my eyes when I eventually watched The Ring.)

Another super creepy part of this manicure is that I had a really hard time photographing it. Normally there are one or two images that are blurry, but with this manicure at least half of the images were blurry. Ok, freak out time. 

And did you notice I painted her image on my ring finger? See what I did there...

Click here to see my delicate challenge nails from 2011. 

31 Day Challenge: Floral

Today's challenge is floral nails and besides Audrey II, that lovable man-eating flower, the other deadly bloom is Belladonna, or deadly nightshade.

I did a gradient of China Glaze Glittering Garland, Zoya Midori, and Sally Hansen Lickety-Split Lime. Then I added the stems, leaves, and flowers using acrylic paints. I am pretty happy with how this turned out.

Click here to see my floral nails from 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Animal Print

Today I tried to accurately depict the jewel-encrusted hide of the very rare Hairy-Bottomed Kersnarficus. As everyone knows, this creature loves to hide with the dust bunnies under your bed, and only comes out when you are having particularly bad nightmares, at which time it sits directly in the middle of your forehead and licks your Third-Eye Chakra. It's super rare to see one in the daylight, so this is more of an artistic rendition. This is what the scientific community THINKS it looks like. I didn't have room for its gigantic teeth.

I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Licketly-Split Lime as the base, then added little nail jewels and crystals, and then dumped on green flocking powder. Flocking powder is a total pain to put on and to clean up. Yuck.

Click here to see my animal print manicure from 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Stripes

For today's challenge, I made a creepy monster crawling out the darkness. He's modeled loosely on Spike from the movie "Gremlins" LOL!

The base color is OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam! Then I used striping tape to mark off the black stripe areas on all of my nails, and painted them in with Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris. The rest of the details are done with acrylic paints.

Click here to see my stripes challenge from 2011. 

31 Day Challenge: Polka Dots

Today I did a fun, random polka dot manicure with a few Jack o'Lantern accents.

I used Lime Crime Pastelchio as a base, then added the dots and details with acrylic paints. 

Click here to see my polka dot manicure from 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Gradient

I was trying to figure out what the heck to do for today's prompt that might have something to do with Halloween. I've done the spooky graveyard gradient before, so I decided to try a water colored gradient and attempt a "bobbing for apples" manicure!

The gradient is Color Club Blue-Ming, Color Club Age of Aquarius, and OPI Fly. Okay now, let me tell you that the water ripple effect was a pain in the a$#. I have seen the video tutorial by cutepolish, and I've seen many others do this effect, but it is NOT easy. I tried spray hand-sanitizer, a mix of water and vinegar, and finally tried using a spray leave-in conditioner. It was not consistent and that is why all of the nails look different. If you have any tips, let me know.

Click here to see my gradient nails from 2011. 

31 Day Challenge: Rainbow

I am scared of my own nails. Honestly, I can't really look at these too long. *shudder*

For the base I used OPI My Vampire Is Buff, and then stamped each nail with BM301 using red, yellow, green, and blue Konad stamping polish. Pennywise is painted with acrylic paints and pure terror. Sheesh.

Click here to see my much happier rainbow nails from 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Metallic

Today's challenge is Metallic nails. I could not think of a better metal than GOLD. Woohoo! I used the real 22K gold leaf topcoat I got from Lori at spectraflair4u.com. It needs to be applied in a dabbing method to work well, but it is such a thrill to say that you have real gold on your finger tips!

I used OPI San-Tan-Tonio as the base, then used the gold topcoat on most of my nails. I added the ring finger design using acrylic paint. There's a skull, a little bug/spider dude, and a bat. I am pretty happy with how it turned out!

Click here to see my metallic nails from 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Black and White

Today's challenge was super fun, and I love it as much as the black and white nails I did LAST time I took the challenge. This was also a litmus test of sorts to see who was old enough to remember the movie Beetlejuice. I'm happy to say most of my coworkers passed.

It's the Sand Snake! I painted my nails with a sheer polish (Revlon Barely Peach) first, then hand painted french tips with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. It's okay if they aren't perfect, because it lends to the Tim Burton feel. I used acrylic paints for the rest of the details, including the end of the tail on my pinkie, and the two headed Sand Snake on my thumb. 

Again, if you want to see what I did for the black and white challenge in 2011, click here.

This is my 160th post on sonomanailart.com. Every twenty posts I make a donation to Women's Recovery Services. They help women and their children transition out of addiction and into healthy lifestyles. If you would like to donate or learn more about their organization, click here. 

31 Day Challenge: Violet

The base coat for this mani is Essie DJ Play That Song, which I totally had to use because *ahem* I happen to be DJ. Yay! It's a fun life, but not the road to riches.

I used acrylic paints to add the details to the "One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater" but in retrospect I should have added wings. 

Click here to see my violet nails from 2011, the tragic Buffy themed nails.

31 Day Challenge: Blue

I took inspiration from a cereal for today's challenge Boo Berry. I've actually never tried Boo Berry cereal. Do they even still make it?

I used Illamasqua Caress as a base, then added Boo Berry with acrylic paints on my ring finger. 

Here is my blue challenge from 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Green

I did Elphaba nails for the Green challenge. Index and pinkie are China Glaze Electric Pineapple, middle finger is Sonoma Nail Art Flippin' Out (get your own bottle here), and ring finger is a base of WnW Ebony Hates Chris with acrylic paints for the witch. And I matted it, cause that is awesome!

This shot is before I matted it. 

Here is what I did for the green challenge in 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Yellow

Today I decided to try a gradient with some simple hand painted nail art. This creepy claw reminds of the time my husband thought it would be funny to scare me right after we watched a scary movie one night. I went into the bathroom, and then he crept up to the bathroom door and ran his fingernails down the side of the closed door. I freaked OUT! My hubs was *this close* to becoming a divorcee that night, LOL.

I used Revlon Buttercup as the base, then did a gradient with that color and Sinful Colors Let's Meet. Then I used acrylic paints to make the scratches and the claw. 

Here is my yellow challenge from 2011.

31 Day Challenge: Orange

For the orange challenge, I decided to try a jelly sandwich. I then stamped a fun pattern of skulls on my ring finger.

I started with one coat of OPI Y'All Come Back Now Ya Hear? and then used one coat of Sonoma Nail Art Pumpkin Hurl, then added another coat of the OPI polish. I love how squishy and pretty it looks! On my ring finger, I used Konad Black to stamp an image of skulls from Sugar Bubbles SB023. 

Here is what I did for the orange challenge in 2011.

You can buy Sonoma Nail Art Pumpkin Hurl in my esty store now! :)

31 Day Challenge: Red

I am going to attempt the 31 Day Challenge again this year, which I tweaked in 2011 with my own Halloween themed nails. So here goes!

Day 1 is Red. I did these on October 1st, but got too busy to post them yesterday. I used OPI Comet Loves Cupid as the base, then topped with OPI The Show Must Go On. I hand painted the spider web with black acrylic paint, then stamped the spider with BM13 plate. I added a dot of red acrylic paint to the spider so she would be a Black Widow, baby. (BTW, I always mishear the lyrics to that song as "I'm gonna love you like a black little baby." I need my ears checked.)

Click here to see my red nails from 2011.

Here are the different daily challenges, courtesy of Chalkboard Nails.