Doctor Crafty's Green and Orange Abstract - NCC Recreations

Hey y'all!

It's finally Friday!  This makes for exciting news for most of the us, and today I'm excited to be able to bring you my final recreation for this month's Nail Challenge Collaborative theme, celebrating 3 years of nail art goodness.  Today I've decided to recreate Doctor Crafty's Green and Orange Abstract Geometric nail art, which I thought was a really unique and colorful, fun look.

A Girl and Her Polish's Soft Neon Gradient - NCC Recreations

Hey y'all!

It's finally Friday, and that of course brings the next round of Nail Challenge Collaborative posts!  This month we're celebrating 3 years of NCC nail art by recreating past NCC looks.  For my third, I've elected to recreate A Girl and Her Polish's Soft Neon Gradient, a gorgeous look on which I think I missed the mark.

Geeky Owl's New Year Confetti - NCC Recreations

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  It has been a bit of a hectic week around here, so I've not had a whole lot to say, but I'm really excited that today I get to show you another recreation to celebrate the third anniversary of the Nail Challenge Collaborative.  I feel like although I've only just joined the NCC myself, I've been a fan of so many of these ladies for a long time, and that certainly includes the artist I'm recreating today.  Here is my version of Geeky Owl's New Year Confetti nail art.

Aquatic Houndstooth - WIDW

Hey y'all!

Hope you're all recovering from green beer-fueled benders last night, because of course that means the luck o' the Irish is with you!  Today's What I Did Wednesday features the swatch of OPI Get Your Number that I swatched on Saturday, with some stamped gradient nail art on top.

Guest post from Catriona at BGPolish

Hey y'all!

Happy Mani Monday!  Today I'm turning over the reins to one of my best blogger buddies, Cat.  I've talked about Cat before - she's certainly no stranger to this blog, but she's definitely been a godsend to me during the days here when I was grateful to have someone to talk to because all my American girls were either asleep or at work.  She's also a talented young nail blogger in her own rights, so I'm super pleased to have her guest posting here today.

Take it away, Cat!

Green and Gold Plunging V Nail Art - NCC Inspired By Fashion

Hey y'all!

It occurred to me a few days ago that I had managed to schedule the entire month of March with posts but neglected to do any St. Patrick's Day looks, a grievous error which I hastened to rectify.  Today of course is NCC Friday, and I decided that I could do a really great green and gold look utilizing a current fashion trend.

Firey Striping - WIDW

Hey y'all!

I'm back with another What I Did (With It) Wednesday!  Today I'll show you the nail art I created with my swatch of Finger Paints Surreal Sunset - this black and matte striped design that is full of fire!

Magical Mondays - Hermione!

Hey y'all!

It's that time of the month again!  No, not THAT time, the time when I team up with bloggy buddy Cat from BGPolish to honor Harry Potter in nail art!  This month we've chosen to give some love to the brightest witch of her age, Miss Hermione Granger.

#dressgate #thedress - What color are my nails?

Hey y'all!

When I woke up this morning, almost the very first thing I saw in my social media feed was referencing some huge debacle that the internet had while I was sleeping, about the color of #thedress and the two camps who saw it differently.  Over the course of the day, the rest of the UK picked up the debate and I decided I couldn't let it go without commemorating #dressgate with some nailart.

Marbling with Permanent Marker (Sharpie) Nail Art

Hey y'all!

Happy Ash Wednesday?  Since today's holiday didn't really inspire me to do any nail art, I thought I'd look forward to tomorrow, which is the start of the Chinese New Year.  This is the year of the sheep or goat, and that didn't really inspire me much either, but I wanted to try a new technique that has been making the rounds of the nail artist community recently, which is the hot new trend of using alcohol-soluble inks for nail art.  You can purchase the inks in bottles at craft stores, or more economically you can look in your office supplies and find permanent felt-tip markers, most commonly known under the brand name of Sharpie.  What I ended up with didn't really look very Chinese New Year, but it still looks pretty cool.

Obligatory Pink Hearts Valentine's Day Stamped Nail Art

Hey y'all!

I'm not sure how Valentine's Day manages to sneak up on me every year.  I imagine it has a lot to do with not being a big celebrator of V-Day, and also a deeply ingrained dislike of all things pink and "girly" but I felt a bit obligated to at least give y'all one cutesy VD look that's super fast and easy (so you still have time to replicate it for tomorrow).

Magical Mondays - Ford Anglia meets Whomping Willow

Hey y'all!

Ahhh... it's nice to feel myself returning to a "normal" posting schedule.  I'm going to be reverting back to the M-W-F nail art schedule, with Swatch It on Saturdays - a schedule I haven't been on since November, before the 31DC and the 12DOC challenges that consumed the past two months!  Also, my goal is to get a tutorial up on YouTube every 2 weeks for now, until I get faster with filming and editing videos (it takes forEVER!).  Today, though, the focus is all about my monthly collab with Cat of Belle Glamour, and our mutual love for all things Harry Potter.  This month we decided to pay tribute to one of our favorite scenes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - when Ron and Harry fly Mr. Weasley's flying Ford Anglia right into the Whomping Willow in their effort to get to Hogwarts on time!

31DC-D30 - Something You've Never Tried Before

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Ahh... the penultimate day of this month-long challenge, and it's a Friday to boot!  I'm glad to see this week come to a close, and frankly, the month as well.  Today's prompt challenged us to do "Something You've Never Tried Before" and I decided it was a perfect time to try leadlight stamping (as well as clear some jellies out of my untried box).

31DC-D29 - Blue Base

Hey y'all!

Well, I finally saw the dentist yesterday, and prognosis: root canal.  Fun!  All I can say is that I'm happy that I'm not in the overwhelming pain that I've suffered the past 5 days waiting for that appointment!  Now we can return to regular broadcasting... whatever that means around here.  Today's prompt for the 31DC is Blue Base, so I decided to play around with another abstract technique to create this look.

31DC-D26 - Metallic Fishtail Braid

Hey y'all!

Short post today as I'm struggling with a bad tooth that's giving off a lot of temperature sensitivity and it's got me in a bit of pain, so the dentist should be expecting me!  Today's prompt is Fishtail Braid, and I've gone metallic for a soft but chic look accented with square studs.

31DC-D25 - Complement and Contrast

Hey y'all!

Happy Sunday!  Today begins the last week of the 31-Day Challenge, and I'm so grateful the end is in sight!  I really could kick myself for not getting a head start on it, because I feel like I've been in rushed catch-up mode for the past three weeks!  I haven't had a chance to cruise through the other challengers' nail art looks other than what's on IG, nor have I been able to read any of my other favorite blogs, or even respond to the comments that have been left for me, and that makes a hugely sad panda.  To that end, let me first apologize for not being quite so "present," and also assure you that I will be playing catch up during the first week of February to get things right.  For now, however, we continue pressing on, and today's prompt is Complement and Contrast.  I had really been wracking my brain trying to be clever with this prompt, and the answer dawned on me as I was looking at the trim of one of my makeup bags!  As I was growing up, I was always taught not to mix brown and black because they don't complement each other.  I think these days that rule has been pretty well tossed, but there are most assuredly some brown/black combos that don't work.  With that in mind, I created my own brown and black modified French tip nail art look that my grandmother would have hated, but I definitely love.

31DC-D23 - White Base

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  I've been a bad blogger.  See, I had built up a couple days' worth of buffer on this challenge and this week I've managed to piss them away, so today's nail art was done hastily last night after two days of shopping and binge watching TOWIE, because apparently I *am* a basic B.  To my defense, I can honestly say that I started watching it because I wanted to nail down the accent, so I'm not sure how many more seasons I'll be able to stomach before I become completely allergic to the orange.  ANYWAY... today's prompt for the 31-Day Challenge is White Base, so I fell back on a bit of stamping to create this musical manicure.

31DC-D21 - 3 Shades of Green/Yellow

Hey y'all!

Happy Humpday!  Today's prompt for the 31-Day Challenge is to use 3 Shades of Green and/or Yellow, which I kind of did a couple of days ago in green and I don't have 3 shades of yellow that are far enough apart to actually make a look with them so I am doing green again.  Isn't that exciting?  Pfft.  Whatever.  I don't need your pity.  I decided to make a double-stamping look into a bamboo forest and throw in a yellow accent nail just for SnGs.

31DC-D20 - Rainbow

Hey y'all!

Today's prompt for the 31-Day Challenge is Rainbow, and since I've done a lot of different rainbow looks in
the last year or so, I really wanted to try to come up with something... different.  I started looking around for other nail art designs combining rainbow with animal print, and I found a lot of the standard leopard and tiger and zebra patterns, so I had to start thinking outside the box for something unique.  I certainly think I've accomplished that with this look - rainbow tortoise shell.

31DC-D16 - Tranquility

Hey y'all!

Ah, Friday is here at last, and this one in particular also would have been my dad's 74th birthday, so I am thinking of him today.  The theme for the 31-Day Challenge today is Tranquility, which is a nice, open prompt that gives lots of wiggle room for technique and interpretation.  Because I liked yesterday's green smoky watercolor effect so much, I wanted to practice with it a bit more, so I give you these blue smoked nails to represent the theme.  They have an aquatic feel that I think translates to tranquility for a lot of people.