31 Day Challenge - Day 31: Recreate Your Favorite Challenge

I can't believe that it's already the last day of the challegne (and that means the last day of May too!!!) I want to say a big Thank You to Kelsie for organizing this and I had a lot of fun doing it with her and the other ladies too :)

Today's challenge is "Re-create your favorite challenge"; and to switch things up some of us decided to do mani's from the other girls, I was inspired by Amanda's first "Red Nails" post which you can see here. I used her mani as my inspiration but put my own twist on it using some of my favorite colors.

Here are the nails:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus
-Sinful Colors - Flutter
-Ulta - High Roller
-Essence - You Belong To Me
-Out The Door - TopCoat

I like the pink and gold gradient effect on here and the one accent nail adds a pop of color. As I already said, I have had a fun time this past month coming up with the mani's and showing them off to everyone. My mani's may be a little sparse in June as I catch up on some swatching, nail mail, Sally Hansen strips, and some other things that I have been putting off this month.

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their RECREATE YOUR FAVORITE CHALLENGE NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 30: Inspired By A Tutorial

I can't believe there is only 1 mani left after this! It has been fun and I have loved getting to know the girls better too :) Today's challenge is Inspired By A Tutorial and I knew exactly what I wanted to do, Grunge Nails. You can see the tutorial posted by Nails Adored here! Jamie always does good nails, and this tutorial was very easy to follow (though I didn't follow exactly...lol)

Inspired By A Tutorial Nails:

Polishes Used:
-NYC - Sidewalkers
-Sally Hansen - Parrot
-Sinful Colors - Cream Pink
-Pure Ice - Scandal

I was really pleased with how this mani turned out. Each mani with this effect would be different and that is one of my favorite things about it. No matter how it turns out, it is always right ;)

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY A TUTORIAL here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 29: Inspired By The Supernatural

Today's challenge is "Inspired By The Supernatural". I decided to do nails inspired by the "Mothman", which a a legendary creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia from 15 November 1966 to 15 December 1967. In 2002 the movie "Mothman Prophecies" came out and introduced this supernatural creature to a broader audience. The Mothman is reportedly connected to the Silver Bridge collapsein 1967.

Supernatural Nails:

Polishes Used:
-NYC - Sidwalkers
-Kiss Nail Art - Black
-NYC - Matte Me Crazy
-Red Rhinestones

What do you think? Have you seen the movie? When it first came out it really creeped me out. I hate all movies where things "pop out" at you.

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY THE SUPERNATURAL here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 28: Inspired By A Flag

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Today's challenge, Inspired By A Flag, corresponds directly with Memorial Day, so that's just perfect to be inspired by the American Flag :)

Inspired By A Flag Nails:

Polishes Used:
-Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
-Sally Hansen - Pacific Blue
-Red & Blue Rhinestones

I was going to coat this with 1 coat of Gelous but when I applied to my pinky nail it seemed to make the color of the Rhinestone's bleed so these pictures are shown without topcoat.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was out in California this weekend for a beautiful wedding. Here is a quick photo of my dressed up for the wedding.

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY A FLAG NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 27: Inspired by Artwork

Thanks for your understanding with me missing yesterday's post but as I mentioned I was traveling and didn't have  a chance to post ahead of time. Yesterday's challenge was Inspired by Artwork. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do for this so I looked up the "Art" category on Pinterest. hehe.

Here is the inspiration:

Inspired By Artwork Nails:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques Formula 2 Plus
-Sinful Colors - Easy Going
-Essie - Marshmallow
-Essie - Borrowed & Blue
-Sally Hansen - Frozen Creamsicle
-Zoya - Pippa
-Sally Hansen - Parrot
-Funky Fingers - Mad Hatter
-Kiss Nail Art - Beach Pink
-Kiss Nail Art - Soft Purple
-Essie - Meet Me at Sunset

I didn't try to recreate this exactly but I noticed the art was a handful of rich colors against a light background so that was my inspiration.

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY ARTWORK NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

No 31 Day Challenge Today

Hey Ladies! I am currently flying back from California to Pittsburgh today and with the time zones it ends up taking ALL day, so I promise I'll be back tomorrow with day 27 AND day 28 of the challenge :) -Stephanie

31 Day Challenge - Day 26: Inspired By A Pattern

This challenge is, "Inspired By A Pattern'. Since I was sort of lame yesterday, I incorporated a little fashion into my pattern by doing Burberry inspired nails. I love anything with stripes and straight lines (in case you couldn't tell) so this was right up my ally.

Inspired By A Pattern:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus
-Ulta - High Roller
-Kiss Nail Art - Black
-Kiss Nail Art - White
-Essie - First Dance
-Out The Door TopCoat

So I only did 2 accent nails with this one because I didn't want to go too crazy looking at all my nails during the day. Complete black and white stripes can make you CrAzY! Sidenote: I am really happy with my nail shape / length right now - let's hope I don't have any accidents!

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY PATTERN NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 25: Inspired By Fashion

This is really dorky and lame, because FASHION as a theme is so broad and you can do just about anything! I wasn't really feeling too creative today so I went with some simple color blocking in fun spring and summer colors; all of these, pastels, neons, and color blocking are all fairly current trends in fashion.

Inspired By Fashion:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus
-NYC - Soho
-Wet 'n Wild - I Need a Refresh-Mint
-Sally Hansen - Parrot
-Kiss Nail Art - Soft Purple
-Kiss Nail Art - Beach Pink
-NYC - Matte Me Crazy

I know, I know, sort of simple and boring but the colors are fun so who cares :-P. What is your favorite fashion trend of this season?

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY FASHION NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 24: Inspired By A Book

Today's challenge was "Inspired By A Book". At first I wasn't sure what to do, and my friend Amanda asked me what books I had read recently. One of the more recent books that I read was "Too Close To Miss", by John Perich. John is my cousin and this was his debut book (is that what they call it?)

Here is a little synopsis of the book from the Amazon website:
"Mara Cunningham knew that sleeping with a married man was a bad idea. But when her lover shows up in the hospital after his wife and son are murdered, the rumors about Mara turn dangerous. Now she's the prime suspect in a double homicide, and the real killers will stop at nothing to silence her. Mara's race against time takes her from the dense heart of Boston to the dark woods of New Hampshire, from gritty streets to the halls of power. Before she's through, she'll learn just which of her friends she can trust - and she'll stare death in the face."

It was a book that kept me reading and was easy to get through, if you want to download it for kindle, you can get it here, for free :)

Inspired By A Book Nails:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Fomula 2 Plus
-Zoya - Pippa
-Essie - Meet Me At Sunset
-Essie - First Dance
-Essie - Fair Game
-OPI - On Collins Ave
-Kiss Nail Art - White
-Out The Door Topcoat

As you can see, I tried to replicate the color. I also tried splatter mani to get the "bloodstained" look. I hadn't tried this technique before but plan to do a splatter mani on it's own in June. What do you think?

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY A BOOK NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 23: Inspired By A Movie

Today's challenge wasn't too bad. I am not usually too creative but I had fun with this challenge. I am getting better with my freehand and using nail art brushes, but my smallest brush isn't as small as I think I would like it.  My movie inspiration was Wizard of Oz and each of my nails represents a different aspect of the movie, so here we go.

Inspired By A Movie:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus
-NYC - Sidewalkers
-Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
-Sinful Color - San Francisco
-Kiss Nail Art - Black
-Kiss Nail Art - White
-Kiss Nail Art - Silver
-Sally Girl - Epic
-Sally Hansen - Parrot
-Pure Ice (no name polish?)
-China Glaze - Solar Power
-China Glaze - Ruby Pumps
-Konad - Special Green
-Out The Door - TopCoat

Boy, that's a long list of polishes. My pinky nail is inspired by the twister which takes Dorothy from Kansas to Oz. My ring finger, which is composed of two different shimmery reds represents Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers. My middle finger is inspired  by the blue and white pattern of Dorothy's dress. My pointer is based off of the Yellow Brick Road, and finally, my thumb represents Emerald City. Do you like?

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY A MOVIE NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 22: Inspired By A Song

I am not very creative at translating songs, books, etc into manicures so bear with me for the next couple of mani's. I actually did my song mani as just a plain mani to showcase sometime in June when the challenge was over, but once I was done, I immediately thought it reminded me of Diamonds in the sky; and therefore, Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds, by The Beatles.

If you google image the song you get a lot of trippy, colorful photos and art, which makes sense. LSD.... But I took a literal approach with this one as I think that my mani looks like Diamonds in the Sky.

Inspired By A Song:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus
-NYC - Black Lace Creme
-Sally Hansen - White Veil
-Out The Door - TopCoat

How do you like it? I liked this mani a lot but I can't say it's that awesome for "inspired by a song", especially since I did it backwards. LOL

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY A SONG NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge: Day 21 - Inspired By A Color

I can't believe we are already 2/3 of the way through this challenge, and unfortunately we are done with my favorite section, "patterns". Here is day by day breakdown as a refresher.

So today's challenge was inspired by a color. This one is so vague I wasn't really sure what to do, so I looked through some other bloggers sites who had previously done the challenge and it seems like today is a bit of "anything goes"; which I like :) One of my favorite shade trends lately is teal. I have fallen in love with all greens, teals and blues lately so I just went with that.

Inspired By A Color:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus
-Sally Hansen - Parrot
-Sally Hansen - Blizzard Blue
-China Glaze - Crushed Candy
-Out The Door - TopCoat

What do you think?

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their INSPIRED BY A COLOR NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 20: Water Marbled

*Sigh* I hate water marbling, and this was probably my worst time ever. I considered re-doing it but it just feels like so much work and who knows if my next water marble would be better. So...I will get straight to the pictures.

Water Marbled:

Polishes Used:
-Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
-Sinful Colors - Neon Melon
-NYC - Side Walkers
-Out The Door TC

As you can see, nothing about this mani worked. In my mind neon yellow and grey would be OK, but the gray sort of just turned the neon from yellow to green, and IDK if if was beause the yellow is matte, but it didn't spread out well in the water at all. Oh wells.

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their WATER MARBLED NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles

Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

And on a better note, because I don't want the water marble fail to be the last image in your head, my husband and I went to a wedding last weekend and here is a cute shot of the two of us :)

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 19: Galaxies

Today is Galaxy Nails! I have tried this once before, and I actaully liked my previous mani better, however, this is very similar. I used the same colors and tried the same technique, the only difference is that I didn't take as much time on these so they aren't as perfect. That's ok, galaxy nails leave so much room for interpertation that no matter what you do it won't look bad!

Galaxy Nails:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus (P.S. I really do think this is helping to strengthen my nails)
-Nicole - Midnight Madness
-Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
-China Glaze - Solar Power
-Funky Fingers - Mad Hatter
-Spoiled - Shrip on the Barbie
-Spoiled - Jewelry Heist
-Out The Door - TopCoat

What do you think? Have you tried galaxy nails before?

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their GALAXY NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles
Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 18: Half Moons

I got some nail mail this past weekend and was looking to try out one of my new polishes so I was able to use this challenge to incorporate that polish, Lux, from AdorBeautySupplies.etsy.com. The polish came quickly and its very pretty. Also, since neons are so hot right now, I just had to use some of that too! Here we go...

Half Moon Nails:

Polishes Used:

-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus

-Wet 'n Wild - How I Met your Magenta

-AdorBeautySupplies - Lux (Indie)

-Out The Door TopCoat

How do you like this? Next time I will be using Lux alone. It's a nice custom polish with a white shimmer base, tiny gold and pink glitters. The formula was pretty nice and it was almost opaque in only 1 coat, although I still used 2! (Which seems to be hard to find these days). What do you think?

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their HALF MOON NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles
Jess - Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge - Day 17: Glitter

Glitters! Everyone's favorite polish to remove ;) ;). Anyway, I did this mani earlier this month when I purchased this polish. I went simple today because the glitter is so pretty on its own. Here we go.

Glitter Nails:

Polishes Used:
-Nailtiques - Formula 2 Plus
-Wet 'n Wild - Bow In My Presence
-Out The Door TopCoat

This is such a fun glitter polish, micro glitters in light blue and silver with multicolor small hex glitters as well. This looks similar to some of the China Glaze polished out there, but not exact.

If you're not already following Kelsie, Amanda, Erin and Jess, make sure to check out their GLITTER NAILS here:

Kelsie - Kelsies Nail Files

Amanda - Nox Nails

Erin - Erins Beauty Bumbles
Jess - Nearly Natural Nails