A Salute to America

AMC is doing a Matrix marathon today. Since I've only ever watched the first one, I figured I should probably see what I've been missing. I've heard the other two are terrible, and after 5 hours of non-stop Neo, I can confirm that this is true.

Independence Day is fast approaching, and since I'll probably be bbq-ing too much to do my nails, I went ahead and did them now. The first to nails are (obviously?) the flag and the other two are fireworks!

I started off with base colors: Essie Aruba Blue, Confetti The Red Carpet, and China Glaze Smoke and Ashes.

31 Day Challenge: Day 26 Inspired by a Pattern

Have you guys watched Merlin? I just started, and this show is adorable. I love BBC shows. And British people. *sigh*

When I was little, pretty much everything I owned was Lisa Frank - pencils, erasers, folders, notebooks - everything was brightly colored, sparkly, and had a slight cheetah vibe. For today's challenge, I was inspired by some of my old Lisa Frank stuff. I searched for images online and found these that I distinctly remember having.

I wish Lisa Frank would make a comeback. I feel like it's way cooler than whatever the kids now have. Anyways, I'm rockin' some sweet nails, which will hopefully bring back this forgotten treasure.

I started off with a layer of the Sally Hansen Crystal Ball holo. The colors I wanted to use are a little see-through, so I figured a layer of this stuff would make them pop! After it dried, I painted diagonal stripes of each color (Pixel Pretty, Byte, Hi-Def, and Lite). They're a little messy, but that doesn't matter too much. For the accent nail I used a leftover sticker. 

Once everything was dry, I added a layer of Northern Lights for a bit of sparkle and stamped on the cheetah print.

I felt like it needed a little more sparkle, so I added another layer of Northern Lights,

31 Day Challenge: Day 25 Inspired by Fashion

Have you guys been watching all of the Diamond Jubilee coverage? Well I definitely have. I think I was meant to be a queen... Somebody get on that.

I have been doing this challenge forever. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm about ready to be done. Today's challenge is inspired by fashion. Truthfully, I hate most outrageous fashion stuff. Models walking out in unflattering trashbags just isn't my thing. However, Lady Gaga's outrageous clothes somehow don't count. She just makes it work! I could never, ever ever ever, wear the stuff she pulls off. My nails today are inspired by one of her famous see-through black lace dresses.

I started off with a couple layers of Ulta Sweet Nothings. Then I used a striping brush to add in two black stripes. No, I didn't try to draw her lacy undies. This is more of an abstract interpretation!

Finally, I used a stamping pattern from Drikk DRK-A for the lacy dress. I think they turned out pretty well! A little weird, but still pretty sweet, I think.

 

31 Day Challenge: Day 15 Delicate Print

What the heck does "delicate print" mean? Thanks for the vague description, challenge people. I think this counts..? I don't have much to say about it, other than I'll probably be removing it soon. Merp.

31 Day Challenge: Day 13 Animal Print

I hope the Cheshire Cat counts as an animal, because that's what I did for today's animal print challenge. I started off doing a giraffe, but I didn't have a yellow/orange that was quite right. Another reason to buy more colors!! *teehee* I actually got a new stamping plate, which is how I got these zebra stripes. I may be the world's worst stamper, but I recently join an exclusive stamping club on Facebook and they gave me some advice about how to make mine stop looking so horrible - and I think it helped! I'm still not a pro, but at least they're not hideous pieces of stamps this time.