31 Day Challenge: Day 21 Inspired by a Color

Just as a heads-up, I accidentally did 21 and 22 out of order. My bad.

Dudes. I feel like it's been ages since I've done my nails! Not good. I actually did them on Sunday, but they were a tad ugly. With Memorial Day and my 9/80 day, I totally had a four-day weekend last week!! With this wondrous amount of time off, I went to visit the two loves of my life, Kelley and Laura (no relation). Laura just got engaged AND Kelley turned 22, so we had a lot to celebrate! We went tubing in Martindale with a few significant others and had a blast. This float was a couple hours shorter than the one we were used to, but my skin appreciated getting slightly less burnt. Plus the water was waaaay deeper than the other place, which my ass appreciated. We spent most of the rest of the weekend watching hilarious movies and eating cheesecake. Definitely the best mini-vacation I've had in ages!

During the float, however, I managed to chip every single one of my nails. I had to chop them all off as soon as I got home, so please excuse the stubbiness.

Today's challenge was to be inspired by a color. I'm not really sure how you can be inspired by a color and not just paint your nails that one color, but I tried to think a little outside the box. As you very well know, the most glorious colors in the world are burnt orange and white [UT represent!]. And since the first game of the season is only 93 days, 14 hours, 7 minutes, and 32 seconds away, I felt like this was appropriate. I used this sponging technique! B-t-dubs, I moved all of my polish stuff onto the desk in my room, since I don't actually use it for my computer stuff. I haven't reassembled my lightbox yet, so these pictures were taken on the fly. I tried a bunch of different lighting to get the right orange to show up. Not sure if I got it...

Hook 'Em!

31 Day Challenge: Day 10 Gradient

Well hello there. (That was said in a creepy seductive voice. Wink, wink.) I'm in a weird mood. I think it's because I'm watching Hart of Dixie and this show often causes me to drown in a sea of raging hormones and lust. *sigh*

For this gradient I only used two colors, but it looks pretty sweet... kinda like an ocean! (The blue/green color is called Ocean. Co-ink-ee-dink?) The picture makes it seem like everything is blurry, but that's actually just how the silver looks. It's a weird chunky metallic color. But I likes it.

 

  

31 Day Challenge: Day 6 Violet

Attention Earth-dwellers (and emissaries from distant planetoids) I'm finally really proud of one of my creations! I didn't make it too bland, and I didn't go too far. Huzzah!

Today's challenge was violet nails. I do not know what makes violet different than purple... are they the same? I feel like violet is a little lighter..? Someone explain the color wheel to me. Anyways, I used three different shades of purple today in order to potentially capture one that is violet. I was bouncing around other nail blogs and came across a tutorial for how to do a color gradient. Usually these tutorials just make me feel like a failure, but this one actually looked really simple. And it was!

The first step is to put a base layer of polish down. I used the middle layer (Revlon Top Speed Violet - violet!!) If you want it to come out a little lighter, you can use a white base instead.

Next, grab one of those makeup sponges - you can buy like 20 for $2 - and cut the fat end off until you have a smaller flat surface. It should be a little larger than your nail size.

Now apply the stripes of paint! I used liberal amounts, since it soaks into the sponge a little. Don't worry about being perfect, because you're going to blob it on anyway.

Side view - I made it a little less fat, too, since my nails aren't uber long.

Here's the fun part! Dab the sponge onto your nails. Do this a few times, moving it around a little, so that the paint will blend. I could have done a little more blending.. Here's a picture of post-sponged-pre-cleanup nails.

After a lot of scrubbing and the addition of a top coat, I came up with this!

The three colors I used: China Glaze Spontaneous, Revlon Top Speed Violet, Elf Royal Purple

Although just the plain gradient looked awesome, I wanted an accent nail. I added a layer of Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals.

P.S. Pottermore was released to the general public!!! Potions are really difficult.. but I'm having a blast and cannot stop playing.