Alphabet Nail Art Challenge : Z for Zebra

Helloooooooo everyone ! So it's the final theme today for the last letter in the alphabet, and today it's "Z for Zebra". It doesn't feel like it's been a month (including the 4 day gap when I went on holiday to Brittany) since I started this challenge as it's gone really quickly ! I'm going out with a bang with today's design though, so here it is !

I've done zebra print once before but that was a long time ago, waaaay before I started blogging and sharing photos on here and to be honest it really didn't look that great and I found it quite difficult to paint ! I loved the zebra print stamp on the Konad M-57 plate but I've gone off stamping recently and so I decided that I really needed to try doing it freehand again and I'm so glad I did !

I started with a base of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, which I left to dry completely before starting my gradient (to avoid getting annoying bits of make-up sponge on my nails) using OPI Planks A Lot and OPI Suzi's Hungary Again, and I used black acrylic paint to do the zebra stripes. The rough effect of the stripes were done by doing a "dabbing" effect with my nail art brush when painting on the acrylic, which I think really adds to the whole look !

I did think about maybe doing the stripes in white to make a bigger contrast with the gradient background, but I'm glad I stuck to the black because it really does look good in my opinion ! I even did both  hands, I'm glad I'll be able to keep my designs on for a bit longer than 24 hours for a while now as there were several days during this challenge when I would have loved to keep the design on !

Right, it's getting late now and I'm heading off to Ikea tomorrow so I'm going to go to bed to make sure I get plenty of sleep ! Goodnight everyone !

NOTD : Matte Zebra Print

Good evening everybody ! I hope you've all had a lovely Wednesday, mine's been jam-packed with work and nails, I've got so much on my plate at the moment ! Today I have a nice and simple manicure for you all today, something I've never tried before, but I'm really glad I have done now though !

I've seen several different "black on black" nail designs all over the internet, and I'm not quite sure where it actually stems from, perhaps it's just like leopard print or florals or whatever ! I've had this idea in my head for quite a while now, and I don't know why I've only just got round to doing it now ! I did have another design for today's NOTD, but I decided it was too late when I started my manicure session to do anything too intricate !

The only colour I used for this design was OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, which I mattified with my P2 Matte Victim topcoat I got in Germany last year. After waiting for that to dry, I stamped on the zebra design on Konad M57 with the OPI colour, it's as simple as that ! I had originally tried stamping using Seche Vite and then another different top coat, but they didn't show up at all, which I was very surprised about !

So that's it for today guys ! What do you all think of this look ? I don't like the fact that I can't put Seche Vite over it otherwise it'll ruin the design, I'll let you all know how it holds up ! I've already managed to dent the nail on my index finger, but that's because I cooked my dinner straight away afterwards ! Still, nothing major so far !

I'll see you all again for another NOTD tomorrow everyone, have a great day !