#31DC2013 Blue With Sinful Colors Endless Blue And Sweet Nothing Watermarble

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Happy Thursday!  I hope your week is going quickly, especially since it is short with the holiday.  As for me, work has been especially tough because I'm covering for four people who are out this week.  Oy vey!  Luckily my mom is in town to help watch the baby.

Blue is once again becoming a color that I enjoy using, so today's challenge gives me the opportunity to play with some colors.  I was inspired by the instagram watermarble queen mucking fusser's fishtail technique and tried to replicate it with Sinful Colors Endless Blue and Sweet Nothing.  After several tries, I finally got a semi passable full mani.

#31DC2013 Blue With Sinful Colors Endless Blue And Sweet Nothing Watermarble

#31DC2013 Blue With Sinful Colors Endless Blue And Sweet Nothing Watermarble

#31DC2013 Blue With Sinful Colors Endless Blue And Sweet Nothing Watermarble

#31DC2013 Blue With Sinful Colors Endless Blue And Sweet Nothing Watermarble

I still need some practice with the technique, but mucking fusser has some great easy to follow tutorials that provided some really useful tricks.  The most important thing with watermarbling is finding the perfect polish - it can't be too thick otherwise it won't spread across the water.  These Sinful Colors worked really well, especially Endless Blue.  Sweet Nothing was a little too dense and thick and didn't want to spread out as quickly, but it still worked well in the marble.  Endless Blue is definitely a staple in my collection and if you don't have it, I recommend getting it with backups!

Please check out the rest of the girls' manis for the Blue challenge by clicking below.  Thanks for stopping by!

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#31DC2013 Green - A England Dragon Subtle Snake Print Stamping

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If you've been keeping up with me on my blog, you'd know that green is probably my favorite polish color, which makes me excited for tonight's post.  I have a plethora of greens to choose from, but keeping nail art in mind, I decided to go with a England Dragon.  It's a highly pigmented scattered holo that covers the nail like butter with one coat.  I decided to use two coats here for the camera.  Over top, I wanted to do something that had a reptilian feel to it, so I used my BM-224 plate and Maybelline Gold Aluminum to stamp some scales.  On my accent finger, I used three coats of Chirality Katydid and then stamped it with a England Dragon with the same design.

#31DC2013 Green - A England Dragon Subtle Snake Print Stamping

#31DC2013 Green - A England Dragon Subtle Snake Print Stamping

#31DC2013 Green - A England Dragon Subtle Snake Print Stamping

#31DC2013 Green - A England Dragon Subtle Snake Print Stamping

I've been wanting to do scales for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try while practicing my stamping technique.  I adore the subtle stamping of an otherwise edgy pattern and I'm comfortable enough with the colors that I'm not worried about standing out too much at work.

I'm excited to see what the other ladies have cooked up for today's challenge - I can never get enough green!

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#31DC2013 Yellow - American Apparel Manila

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I've survived to day 3 of the 31 Day Challenge!  I think that deserves a pat on the back.  Although, you may want to reneg it after you see this mani!

Today's challenge is Yellow Nails, and I was hard-pressed to come up with something clever.  I couldn't really think of anything too witty, but instead I came up with something that made me reminisce about my younger years when I would go out dancing with the friends.  We use to go to a party called Shelter at club Vynyl in Manhatten, and we'd go rain or snow and stay up all night long into the wee morning hours dancing the night away, listening to soulful deep house.  I sometimes miss those nights and freedom we had, but these days I'm too old to go out to the clubs anymore.  This mani is a mash up of Shelter's logo, which was the sign of a fallout shelter, and some warning tape.

I started with a basecoat of American Apparel Manila, a deep buttery yellow cream.  As with any yellow, it was streaky the first coat but finally built up to even opacity on the third coat.  I finished with a quick coat of NYC GCS and started the design.  On my pointer and pinky I used tape to create the warning tape stripes, and then on my middle finger I did the Shelter logo using WnW black creme.  I did a couple dots on my ring finger to keep some visual interest.  Oh!  I also used a layer of China Glaze Lighthouse on my pinky and thumb to add some sparkle.  I finished with a layer of Poshe, which of course smeared some of the black polish.

#31DC2013 Yellow - American Apparel Manila

#31DC2013 Yellow - American Apparel Manila

#31DC2013 Yellow - American Apparel Manila

#31DC2013 Yellow - American Apparel Manila

Well, seems like I still a bit of practice when it comes to not smearing my artwork.  I let it dry for at least ten to fifteen minutes, but it doesn't seem to be enough time.  Not sure how I work the extra time for drying when it comes to being at the beck and call of a baby, but I guess it'll figure itself out if I manage to finish this challenge!

Be sure to check out the rest of the yellow manis for the 31 Day Challenge!

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#31DC2013 31 Day Challenge - Orange with L'Oreal Boozy Brunch

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I made it to day two!  That deserves a drink, donchya think?  And what's better than L'Oreal's Boozy Brunch, a bright orange cream that leans a bit crelly.  It makes me think bottomless mimosas, and Labor Day is the perfect day for a nice brunch with one of those.

For this mani I used three layers of Boozy Brunch because it applied a bit streaky with some bald patches.  It didn't even out really well either so a layer of NYC GCS was a must.  It seemed too plain jane on its own so I decided I'd try out freehanded leopard spots for the first time.  Why I did spots and not stripes, I don't know - orange begs for tiger stripes.  I used Jessica Smokey Feather for the silver dots and Wet 'n' Wild black cream for the outlines using a tiny dotting tool.

31 Day Challenge - Orange with L'Oreal Boozy Brunch

31 Day Challenge - Orange with L'Oreal Boozy Brunch

31 Day Challenge - Orange with L'Oreal Boozy Brunch

31 Day Challenge - Orange with L'Oreal Boozy Brunch

Seems like I still need a bit of practice with those leopard spots, but they were easiest enough to do that I don't mind practicing them in the future.  I really like the idea of unusual color combination to create the spots, and it provides a lot of opportunity for crossing off some untrieds on my list.  Do you have any tips for making foolproof leopard spots?

Please check out the other ladies orange manis for day 2 of the 31 Day Challenge!

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#31DC2013 31 Day Challenge - Red with Butter London Chancer

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Uh oh!!  I done did it!  I'm going to try and participate in Chalkboard Nail's 31 Day Challenge.  I wasn't planning on it, but then I figured why not?  It seems like everyone else is so excited about it and I've never had the courage to try and complete a challenge like this before.  Let's hope that I can stick to it!

The first day of the challenge is Red Nails so I went with a classic red jelly microglitter, Butter London's Chancer.  It's my favorite formulation of all the brands because the red microglitter really sparkles within the squishy red jelly.  I did all fingers with two coats of Chancer and did an accent nail with Cosmetic Art's version of Color Club Red Velvet, a black jelly with red microglitter.  There's a cut out heart within that accent nail, and inside of that heart is mini heart of Chancer.

31 Day Challenge - Red with Butter London Chancer

31 Day Challenge - Red with Butter London Chancer

31 Day Challenge - Red with Butter London Chancer

31 Day Challenge - Red with Butter London Chancer

Wow, one day down!!  Only 30 more to go!  I may or may not post a mani for each day, but rather than falling behind, I'll just keep up with whatever that particular day's post is.  It's hard keeping up with a baby on my hands! 

Check out the other ladies who are participating in this month's 31 day challenge!  Thanks to More Nail Polish for making the In-linkz. #31DC2013