Just Look at the Flowers... - 31 Day Challenge - Day 14

Nothing to Disclose

I had to throw a little pop culture reference into the title... today's theme for the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge is Flowers! Hit the jump to see what I used and learn how I did it! :)

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

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Nothing to Disclose

I love Jason Mraz. Not in the creepy, stalker, 'one day we might end up together' kinda way, though he is totally adorable. No, just the 'he's awesome', 'his music makes me happy', and 'he's so damn charismatic' kinda way. I've been a fan since my friend Jacquie introduced me to his music my junior year of college. Fast forward to 13 or 14 years later, and I'm heading to the Jason Mraz with Raining Jane concert to see him for the 5th time with my friend Ashley. I'll be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure how I would like this show because I had never really heard any of Raining Jane's stuff outside the most recent Mraz album. Man, was I blown away! They were AWESOME, and my face still hurts from smiling through the show! Those women are talented and highly entertaining, there were even times that Mona Tavakoli (the drummer) stole the show from Jason himself! Jason was fantastic as usual, his sense of humor is always a laugh because his jokes are totally cheesy in the best way. When he first came out on stage he started thanking people individually for attending...those are the kind of silly things he does. I've been to plenty of concerts, and this one ranked waaaaay up there in awesomeness! I can't remember when I enjoyed a show so much. Opening for Jason and Raining Jane was Cody Lovaas, a 16-year-old Singer/Songwriter that had a great voice, and dimples for days.

In true Melissa style, I of course had to do some Mraz nail art for the occasion. I chose to replicate the cover of his latest album, 'YES!' on my fingertips! I actually used gel polishes for everything except the nail art on these, both Gelaze by China Glaze and a gel polish I didn't know even existed...GLOW IN THE DARK from Gel II!! I was so excited when I saw it at Discount Beauty Supply here in Vegas. I was like 'Is this real life?'

A few more pictures from the show (click to enlarge):

I used:

For the base color:

CND Shellac Basecoat

CND Shellac Topcoat

Gelaze by China Glaze White on White

Gel II Rave Glow in the Dark

For the nail art:

Black: American Apparel Hassid

Yellow: American Apparel Manilla

Teal: American Apparel Peacock

Navy: American Apparel Passport Blue

Aqua: American Apparel The Valley

Brown: Revlon Brilliant Strength Dominate

Poppy Extravaganza!

Today I have a design that I did a few months ago for the Rite Aid Nail Extravaganza nail art competition. The judges were Suzi Weiss-Fischmann of OPI, Essie Weingarten of Essie, and Julie G of Julie G Beauty. Needless to say, I wanted to IMPRESS. With this design I made it to the finalist round, where I was sent a box of products that I had to use to create a new nail design. Here's the catch, I could ONLY use the tools/polishes in the box. Unfortunately this did not include A. topcoat B. a nail art brush. I did contact the PR people handling the contest to make sure I was not allowed to use topcoat or brushes, and they said if it's not in the box...no.

The kit included: a set of 5 polishes from the Jesse's Girl Julie G line, 2 Essies, a NOPI red, and 5 Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens. I spent 4 hours. FOUR. HOURS. trying to make these products work. Sure, the polishes were all AWESOME. Unfortunately not many of them coordinated, and on top of that, the lack of topcoat meant that anything I drew with the nail art pens wiped off. After several failed attempts (every time I drew something I was mildly OK with, the pen would shit on my nail and make a big splotch...there was a lot of unparliamentary language goin' on that night), I came up with something that I wasn't horribly embarrassed to submit. This round was voted on by the public... needless to say, my design didn't win.  You can view the other submissions on the Rite Aid Nail Extravaganza site.

In any event, I was REALLY happy with my initial submission. I tried a new watercolor technique where I painted the shape of where the color was the boldest/most opaque, then dipped my brush in acetone and 'pulled' the color to create the other shapes.

I used:

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Red: Nicole by OPI Red-y to Runaway Love, sometimes mixed with Zoya Arizona
Darker Red: Essie Blood Curdling
Yellow: CND Bicycle Yellow
Green: Essie Pretty Edgy, sometimes mixed with CND Bicycle Yellow

Black: American Apparel Hassid

Topcoat: Seche Vite

The OTHER design. 

I used:

Essie Merino Cool

Silver, Black, and White Sally Hansen Nail Art pens