I Heard it Through the Grapevine - 31 Day Challenge - Day 6

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample

Raise your hand if you remember the California Raisins! I know I sure do! Whether a cartoon or more of a claymation sort of animation, I totally loved those guys. I even remember the little plastic figurines–from McDonald's, right? Well, to satisfy the purple theme, I had a few things on my list, but nothing felt right. Chris suggested the California Raisins, and it made me chuckle, so I went for it. It's not my favorite nail art I've done, I kinda rushed it because I got caught up watching that 'Harley & the Davidsons' mini-series tonight from 7 pm until 11 pm. Whoops. Hit the jump for a couple more pictures and to find out what I used!

Turn on the Water(color)works!

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample

I love finding inspiration in clothing and fabric patterns. I love their repetitive nature, and they often lend themselves well to nail art. :) A while back, they had a sale at work, and I bought this dress with the most beautiful design on the hem of the dress. Not only was the dress only $5, but I had nail inspiration too?! Total twofer! To get the watercolor effect, I painted the shape I wanted, and then while it was still wet, I dabbed it with a q-tip that was soaked in acetone. I'm super excited that the design turned out pretty much exactly how it looked in my head! :)

What's your favorite go-to for nail inspiration? Tell me in the comments below! :)

The actual dress I bought is no longer in stock, but here is a picture of it. It's the StyleStalker Aura dress in Lilac: 

I used:

White: Zoya Purity

Black: American Apparel Hassid

Various shades of purples/blues: 

Zoya Pinta

Zoya Mira

Morgan Taylor Making Waves

Morgan Taylor P.S. I Love You

Dermelect Phenom

Nails Inc Green Park

Topcoat: KB Shimmer Clearly On Top Quick Dry Top Coat

 

Disclosure: Some products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. Most were purchased by me. See the legal page disclosure for more information

Spotted!

After some of the recent designs I've done, I wanted to keep it simple today. Super simple. This design was inspired by an interesting invitation fold where 4 semi-circles come together to make a cool looking center. The best part about this design is that is entirely done with a dotting tool! But wait–you don't have a dotting tool? How about a toothpick? Maybe a pin? A nail? Anything with a small, round tip can work! Easy stuff.

Another thing that is nice about this design is that it can be done in a zillion different color combinations if you don't like grey, purple, lime, hot pink, and turquoise! :D (But, let's be realistic- who doesn't like those colors?! Maybe not necessarily in this combination, but still! :-D)

I used:

Grey: Nubar Stronghold

Purple: American Apparel Imperial Purple

Lime Green: Sally Hansen Grass Slipper

Hot Pink: Zoya Lara

Turquoise: Zoya Robyn

Topcoat: Seche Vite

Disclosure: All Zoya links in this post are Zoya Love links, and points earned when you click on them, start an account, and make a purchase go directly back to you— as Giveaways!! :)

A Dash to the Finish Line

So I know I've been posting a lot of tutorials lately, and not as much nail art, so I decided to post something other than a flag today!! :-D  (Speaking of, are there any that you want to see? I have a few requests already, but I'll get to them!  :) )

It always amazes me how designs change even while I'm painting them. This design originated as dashes of all the same length in white over black, with an occasional red accent dash. It eventually evolved to different lengths of white dashes on back creating a wave-ish pattern with no red. Finally, I added color to each nail, making a sort of rolling gradient across the dashes. In retrospect, I wish I would've stuck to one color family for the entire manicure, instead of a different one on each nail. The orange and blue nails were my favorites...maybe I could've done an orange palette with a blue accent nail? (or vice versa?) Maybe next time?

I used:

Black: American Apparel Hassid
White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Dark Orange: CND Electric Orange
Medium Orange: Zoya Arizona
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Dark Green: American Apparel Hunter
Medium Green: CND Green Scene
Light Green: Sally Hansen Grass Slipper
Dark Teal: American Apparel Peacock
Medium Teal: Zoya Robyn
Light Blue: American Apparel American Denim
Dark Purple: Zoya Pinta
Medium Purple: American Apparel Imperial Purple
Light Purple: American Apparel L Esprit
Dark Red: CND Bloodline
Bright Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Pink: Zoya Shelby
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Dress to Impress

Hi, I'm Melissa, I'm 31 (in a week), and I'm a Glee-a-holic.

I'm not ashamed, I love Glee. :-P While watching the season finale the other day, I noticed a dress that Dianna Agron's character, Quinn, was wearing, and decided it'd be a fun nail design. I searched the internet, trying to find an image of the dress, and turned up nothing...until I found a website called Fashion of Glee. OMG, you mean I can fulfill my dreams of having Emma Pillsbury's wardrobe?! (which appears to be almost solely Kate Spade, and I'm totally ok with that)  Anyway, I digress. Because of this website, not only did I have my photo of the dress, I now know where to get it!!!  (I can't afford it, but that's a different story! lol)

I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with....

Blue: China Glaze For Audrey
Purple: Zoya Kieko
Green: American Apparel MacArthur Park and American Apparel California Trooper mixed
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Topcoat: 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat

Which Glee character's style is your favorite? 

Pop Culture Giveaway - Day 3!

Welcome to Day 3 of the Pop Culture Giveaway! Awesome! Day 2 of the giveaway was awesome!  So glad that so many of you were able to correctly identify the inspiration for the nail art! Today's nail art was kind of a little B$#&H, I seriously redid it 3 or 4 times, and it never came out as well as I'd hoped. Damn me for picking cartoons that have outlines. lol (bonus hint! lol)

The hints:

1. It's a heck of a way to see the world.

2. 10,000 years will give you such a crick in the neck!

and an extra clue...

3. I wish I had one of the characters from this movie to help with this nail design!

You have 46 hours- GO! 

The Rafflecopter widget is after the jump! :)