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.