31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 28, Inspired by a flag

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Of course I had to go with the Ohio flag!  We have the only non-rectangular flag in the US--too bad I made it look like eyeballs. :P

I used a base of Zoya Purity, Nubar Night Sparkle and Formula X for Sephora in Pyrotechnic.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 27, Inspired by artwork

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Mom and I both read and liked the book The Lady in Gold by Anne-Marie O'Connor.  We're going to NYC in two weeks and we'll be seeing the painting in person, so of course I had to use it for this challenge!

Here's the painting:

And here's the section I knew I could do justice to:

And here are my nails, done with Formula X for Sephora Hypnotic, Color Club Colette and nail vinyls from KB Shimmer:

I wish I could have worn this for more than a day!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 26, Inspired by a pattern

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My pattern inspiration was the Black Watch plaid.  My great-grandmother was Scots, but since my descent is through the female side, I'm not supposed to wear the MacDougall plaid.  Fortunately, anyone can wear the Black Watch plaid!  Here's my attempt:

Polishes used were Sinful Colors Real Teal, OPI Indigo Mood and Zoya Storm.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 25, Inspired by Fashion

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My inspired by fashion manicure was intended to be a little black dress with a simple medallion necklace.  I used Cult Nails Fetish, OPI Push and Shove and some holographic hex glitters.  *grin*  It looks like flip-flops!  So, still fashion, just not quite as high-end. ;-)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 24, Inspired by a Book

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When I saw the prompt for Day 24, I mentally ran around screaming, "Inspired by a book?  One book?  How can I pick one book?  Then I sucked it up and decided to go with the book I'm currently re-reading, All the Stars in the Sky by Sarah Lyons Fleming.  There is a scene in the book where the main character watches the Northern Lights, something I've always wanted to see.  I used Zoya Dream, Essie White Page, OPI Primarily Yellow and OPI Landscape Artist.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 23, Inspired by a Movie

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My movie inspiration was a movie that has made its way so deep into popular culture that it's become a verb, but that so few of my family and co-workers have heard of--Gaslight.  I used Essie White Page, Sally Hansen Wet Cement and Cult Nails Fetish.  I'm super-pleased with my foggy needle marble, but I have to laugh at my attempt at a gas street lamp!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 22, Inspired by a Song

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I've known since the beginning of the challenge what song would be the inspiration of my manicure for Day 22.  My only regret is that I didn't do it justice.  I tried for outlines of Queen Anne's Lace on a sky blue background.  I used Sinful Colors A-Crush and Cult Nails Fetish.

My inspiration was "Black Flowers" by Chris Isaak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5RsJN8NCX8

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 21, Inspired by a Color

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Indigo is one of my favorite colors, so it was my chosen inspiration for Day 21.  I used a base of Essie White Page and then did multiple fan brush strokes of Sinful Colors Matte About Blue.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 20, Water marble

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Damn, I am out of practice!  Anyway, for my horrible water marble, I used OPI Push and Shove and the OPI Color Paints.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 19, Galaxies

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My galaxy nails have a base of Zoya Dream, with swirls of Zoya Purity and Ulta silver holographic top coat.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 18, Half moons

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Yay, a challenge I can totally rock!  For this mani, I used a base of Orly Front Page, and then painted the half-moons with Orly 15 Minutes of Fame, a red jelly base with red glitter.  The gold base toned down the red so it's more pink, but it's so pretty I don't care!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 17, Glitter

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My glitter nails turned out to be less glitter and more crème, but I like the way the glitter pops in contrast.  My base is Orly Makeup to Breakup, a dark teal crème, and the glitter is Gossip Girl, a clear base with various sizes of coppery gold glitter.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 16, Geometric

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My geometric nails have a base of Sinful Colors No Filter, a dark indigo shimmer and straight (or as straight as I could get them) lines of Orly Front Page, a pale gold frost.  Front Page is part of the Orly Infamous collection, which I will swatch when the challenge is done.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 15, Delicate print

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Well, I learned a lesson with this one--a blinding background is not the best choice for a delicate print!  I used OPI Push & Shove as my base and OPI Turquoise Asthetic as a stamping polish with a Fauxnad plate patterned with tiny roses.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 14, Flowers

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Very abstract flowers, but I loved the colors.  I used Essie White Page for my base, and then used a small eyeshadow brush loaded with Essie Highest Bidder and Essie Flowerista, then brushed the whole thing with top coat while it was still damp.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 13, Animal print

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Behold some bad nail art (although the concept was fine).  Lo, my attempt at animal print nails was pretty much a failure--I used Milani Dolce as the base and a black stamping polish and a drugstore plate for the "tiger" stripes.  Try not to choke while laughing. ;-)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 12, Stripes

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I'm fairly pleased with the straightness of my freehanded stripes, but I wish I'd chosen colors with a higher contrast.  The polishes I used were Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Technopagan and Man by Man.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 11, Polka Dots

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I am really proud of this, because not only did I get my dots fairly even, it's my first negative space manicure!  I started with a base of Zoya Naked Manicure in Lavender Perfector, then used an angled eyeliner brush to dot Orly On the Edge over the base.  I finished by filling in the tips with On the Edge.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 10, Gradient nails

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For my gradient nails, I sponged OPI Purple Perspective and Pen & Pink over OPI Push and Shove.

It's not the best gradient, because the purple overwhelmed the pink rather than merging with it and I got pink on my cuticles, but it was fun to do and fun to wear, so I was happy with it.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 9, Rainbow nails

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For my rainbow nails, I did a vertical gradient with OPI Push and Shove and the OPI Color Paints.

Very simple, just sponged lines over the silver base.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 8, Metallic nails

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Essie's fall collection includes a gorgeous medium copper metallic called Leggy Legend.  If you didn't know I'd choose a copper for Day 8, you must be new around here. Leggy Legend is a bright, shiny medium copper that is opaque in two coats.

Leggy Legend is available now wherever Essie polishes are sold.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 7, Black & White nails

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For my black & white nails, I went with two of my favorite e-tailers, Serum No5 and KB Shimmer.  The base for this incredibly simple look is two coats of Guiding Light, a glow in the dark white named after the soap I never missed in the '80s.  The black is one coat of Spot Sign by KB Shimmer.

You can find Guiding Light at Serum No5 and Spot Sign at KB Shimmer.