Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : I for Ikat

Good evening everyone ! I'm only going to write a quick post tonight as there are bits I need to get done before I go to bed ! I mentioned yesterday that I was dreading doing ikat nails today as I've had disasters every time I've attempted it, but I'm glad to say that that has now been remedied !

I looked up a load of photos of ikat prints on google because I knew that I really didn't want to do the typical ikat nail designs that you see everywhere online ! I saw a few zigzag ikat patterns and decided that that would be best for me !

I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff, and then did the stripey zigzags with OPI Can't Find my Czechbook and China Glaze Man Hunt. I've been using My Vampire is Buff in loads of designs during this challenge, it's just such a great neutral base colour and is so much more subtle than plain white (or even off-white for that matter) !

So all in all I'm really pleased with this design and I think it'd look great in loads of different colour combinations ! What are your experiences with ikat designs on your nails ? Have you struggled as much as I have ?

Also, I'm going away to Brittany tomorrow and I'll be there until Friday ! I haven't had any time to prepare posts for while I'm away so I won't be able to post until Saturday at the earliest I wouldn't say, which is a shame ! I'll hopefully get that floral tutorial finished so I can post that this weekend, Saturday maybe, and then I can resume normal posting for this alphabet nail art challenge ! So I'll see you all again soon !

Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : A for Aztec

Helloooo everyone ! So I'm back with a new post sooner than I had anticipated as I've found a great way for me to try to post more often this month ! I've been thinking of doing a nail art challenge for a while, and I found this "Alphabet Nail Art Challenge" image floating around the internet so I decided I'd give it a try ! From what I've gathered, this challenge was developed by atxlacquerista ! Here's the outline for the challenge :

So as today is the first day, let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start ♫) ! "A is for Aztec", and it's been almost a whole year since I last had a go at aztec/tribal print ! I looked through a few google pictures to give me some inspiration for the design and then I just went ahead on did different designs on each nail !

For this design I started by doing a watercolour design for the base and then I painted the aztec print on top. I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and I used OPI Planks a Lot, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama and Essie Mint Candy Apple for the watercolour, then I used my Models Own black nail art pen to draw the design. I ended up leaving my right hand with just the watercolour base as I couldn't be bothered to do such an intricate design (I tried on my thumb and it looked awful so I just stopped there) !

You may have also noticed that I chopped all my nails down... as much as I liked the mini-pointed-nails look, I didn't like the length and I just decided it was time forme to have short nails again. I much prefer the size now, and they're much easier to look after !

So that's all I've got for you today ! I'll be back again tomorrow with tomorrow's challenge : bows, although I'll be sad to see this aztec design go, I REALLY love the way it looks, definitely one to try again in the future !