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 !

15 Day Nail Challenge (Day 15) : Anything !

Hey guys ! So today is the last day of Makeup Savvy's 15 day nail challenge (I can't believe it's all over !), and today we have been given the chance to do anything ! Yes, anything. Now I actually think that not having any guidelines as to what we should do on our nails is probably the most difficult challenge of all, and so I decided that I'd try doing a design that I've never attempted before ! So lo and behold, my "never attempted before" nails !

Yeah ! Tribal nails ! Now these sorts of designs were all the rage a few months ago, but I never actually tried it because I thought it looked much too time consuming, and everyone who was doing these manicures actually admitted that it took up loads of time. So I looked around yesterday after I'd decided what to do (it was a toss-up between a floral design and tribal nails), and searching through loads of different tribal manis, before coming up with something that I liked. I didn't want to inclued loads of polishes, and I didn't want to have to use tape to cut off sections, so I wanted to use my Models Own nail art pens as much as possible !

So the polishes I used for this tribal design were P2 Who Cares ?, OPI Big Apple Red, and then my Models Own Wah Nails nail art pens in black and white. I really like how this design turned out, and it didn't really take all that long to do, I've had previous manicures that have taken waaaay longer than than this did ! The fact that I kept the design relatively simple to do made it easy to have my right hand turn out just as well as my left hand, which I love !

Overall, I think that tribal designs are nothing to be afraid of ! Even a simple tribal design looks just as good as more intricate ones do, and for less effort as well (in my opinion anyway) ! I'm sure I'll carry on with tribal manicures in the future, and am looking forward to seeing what else I can come up with for these sorts of designs !

I hope you like this manicure as much as I do !

Tribal Transfers

Hey guys ! Today's post is a manicure I did a while ago, attempting to use the selotape transfer technique. Basically what you're supposed to do is paint your chosen polishes onto bits of selotape, leave them to dry, peel the polish off the selotape (not always necessary) and then cut it into the shapes of your choice to stick directly onto your nail.

Let's just say I failed miserably.

All in all I really liked the way the design turned out, I'm not going to deny that ! However the process was painstakingly long, and the actual manicure in itself lasted all of about 10 minutes. I am however partly to blame for the failure of this design. I didn't remove the polish from the selotape because I couldn't be bothered, I hadn't mapped out the actual finished design that I wanted to achieve using this technique, and worst of all, I couldn't be bothered whilst creating the design on my nails to snip off the protruding bits of polish/selotape at the end of my nails ! Sigh. I guess I'm too impatient when it comes to nail art for this kind of technique !

The polishes I used for this design were OPI Alpine White, OPI Big Apple Red and Barry M Cyan Blue. As soon as I finished taking photos of this manicure I started lifting up the bits of selotape at the ends of my nails and lifting all the pieces up, which was fun in itself but frustrating after having slaved over the design for over an hour (not including the time I waited for the polish to dry on the selotape) !

I've seen this technique work for many people over the blogger community, but I suppose I'm just not one of them ! Not for manicure-longevity, in any case !

And there we go, hope you enjoyed the fails !