Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 31 - Recreate Someone Else's Mani (From Earlier In This Challenge)

Well here we are: the last day of the Laid-Back 31DC. It's been fun, but I am ready to be finished. I think I bit off more than I can chew in these past few months. I absolutely loved this challenge, and am so happy that Debbie of The Crumpet created a laid-back version for us. This challenge was one of the hardest for me because I had a terrible time choosing which mani to redo. In the end, I chose this gradient stamping mani from Smashley Sparkles. She did this one for the Merge or Melt day, which was definitely my favorite day of  the challenge. Everyone did so much fantastic nail art for it! Here is my attempt at recreating it!

I did not have these same polishes, so I decided to just use my China Glaze holos for this. I started out with a white shimmer base to help the colors pop. I used Julep Kate, then created a gradient using China Glaze Infra Red, Get Outta My Space, and Sci-Fly By. I don't have the same stamping plate either, so I used the closest thing I had, which is an image from my Large Cheeky plate D. I used Pure Ice Black Rage for the stamping.

Here is my gradient before I added the stamping. Boy, I sure do love a gradient. They are just so pretty!

I think it turned out pretty well. I do love a good gradient with stamping. Be sure to check out what everyone else did!

Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 30 - Your Favorite Nail Art Technique

Um...I have to decide what my favorite nail art technique is? Well, I can't. So, you get a combination of two of my favorites. :) I really love a good gradient, so I definitely had to incorporate that, and I threw on some stamping too, because that is another favorite of mine.

I used one of my newer polishes, because I wanted to bring something pretty and new to the blog. I got this set of polishes from Sephora that are from the Disney Princess collection - these ones are inspired by Princess Jasmine. The color I used is called Your Wish Is My Command and it's a pretty, glass fleck, pale purple. I used Julep Mandy for the gradient (this one is a favorite of mine). I stamped over it using Konad Special White and Mash-42.

Here is Sephora by OPI Your Wish Is My Command all by itself.

Thanks for looking - only one day left of the challenge. Make sure you check on what the rest of the girls did for this challenge.

Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 29 - Inspired By A Blogger

Well...what a tough decision. There are so many bloggers that I love to follow, so I really couldn't figure out who I wanted to use for my inspiration on this one. I was catching up on my blogs this past weekend, and suddenly got my inspiration from a bloggers background. This is a blog that I have been faithfully reading for over a year now and I hope you will be able to guess who it is!

Alright, well if you couldn't guess, it is Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails! Her background on her blog is so cute, represents her well with the purple and the bow, and looks great as nail art. :)

I used L.A. Colors Tropical Breeze as my base for this manicure, then used Pure Ice SuperStar! to add dots. I used Cheeky Plate B09 to stamp a bow on each finger using Konad Special White, then colored in the bows with Pure Ice Black Rage. Hope you like this, Rebecca! :)

I hope you like this one. I think it turned out really cute! Make sure you take a look at what every one else did.

Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 28 - Inspired By Your Favourite Colour

I can't choose a favorite color. I think they are all beautiful. I am, however, quite partial to green, blue, purple, and pink.  :) Since I have been doing and awful lot of manis with those first three colors, I decided to do a nice pink manicure - with glitter. If glitter were a color, it would be my favorite. I wore this mani for my birthday, which was way back on 4/19. Anyway - here it is!

I started off this manicure with Wet n Wild Think Pink!. It is a great hot pink cream and is ages old. I'm not sure if they make it anymore. I think I've had it for 10+ years. I then taped off a couple sections to added three different pink glitters. The flakie is Zoya Chloe, the holo glitter is Wet n Wild Hannah Pinktana, and the bright pink iridescent glitter is Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter. I had to wait a days to get some sun. Unfortunately that meant I managed to get a bit of tip wear and chipping, but it's not too bad.

Here is Think Pink! all by itself - an oldie but a goodie!

There you have it - be sure to take a look at what the other girls did for this one!

Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 27 - A Mani Inspired By You

A mani inspired by me...what does that mean, exactly? Well, I decided to interpret it as a mani that showcases the things that I like. So, I did just that. I tried to do a nice skittle mani to show off the things that make me, well, me. Of course, I can't encompass my entire being on 5 nails, but I tried to include some of the things that I love and enjoy - video games, animals, nail art, love (and my husband), and flowers.

I used three of my new China Glaze Holographic polishes, a new polish I got from Butter London, and an old favorite from Nubar. I used Konad Special White to stamp and freehand the designs on my nails.

On my index finger, I used China Glaze Not In This Galaxy, and on my middle finger, I used China Glaze Get Outta My Space. My ring finger has China Glaze Take A Trek, on my pinky I used Nubar Reclaim, and then on my thumb,  I used Butter London Fishwife. Oh my, holo rainbow goodness! Here is a pic with these fabulous five before I added my stamping and nail art.

And an outdoor shot! Oh my!!

Make sure to look at what the others did for this challenge!

Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 26 - Inspired By Your Country

Oh my, inspired by my country. I think a lot of Americans have forgotten what the U.S. stands for, and I can't really claim to be super patriotic, but after finishing this mani, I feel quite patriotic once again. In case you are worried, fear not - I am not going to talk about politics AT ALL. I want to focus instead on the great things about America, because we do have things to be proud of. Being American is about the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and this country was built on the desire of a few great men to have those freedoms, and we are lucky that they did so much for us.

Anyway, here is my U.S. - inspired mani.

On my index finger we have an image of the moon landing - one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

On my middle finger, I have Rosie the Riveter - We Can Do It! I'm a little bummed on how this one turned out...I made her head too small - haha.

On my ring finger , I have the Statue of Liberty - she says "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", and she is beautiful. What a beautiful thing to say and believe in.

On my pinky, I painted the liberty bell, the symbol of our country's independence.

On my thumb, I drew the first flight, by the Wright brothers, which happened right here in my home state of Ohio.

Wow, see America does have things to be proud of: brilliant scientists, extraordinarily strong women, the lovely desire to shelter others, amazing inventors, and the promise of liberty. I'm so glad I did this mani. It reminds me of all the great things that America stands for, even if it sometimes gets clouded by current events.

Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 25 - Inspired By Your Childhood

My nail art today is inspired by...flying toasters! I don't know if any of you that are old enough had a Macintosh as a kid, but I did and I LOVED the After Dark Flying Toasters screen saver. I could watch that all day, and I did. So entertaining. We would wait for the computer to sit long enough so that the screensaver would come on and then watch those flying toasters, and this super epic song would play while they flew across the screen like an army making toast. So I am paying homage to the good old days, when computers were gigantic, and had hardly any memory on them, but they were awesome and new and the wave of the future. :)

So I started off with two coats of Pure Ice Black Rage. This is still, hands down, my favorite black polish. It is so opaque after just one coat! Then I added my nail art using China Glaze Desert Sun & Call Of The Wild for the toast, Julep Harley for the toasters, and Pure Ice SuperStar! for their wings. :)

Here is a picture of Pure Ice Black Rage all by itself.

And for those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, here is a link to a video on YouTube. And wouldn't you know, while I was looking for a video, I found out that they make this same screensaver for Windows 7 - WHAT?!

Flying Toasters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cm7tv5cM8g

Yay! Alright - so let's see what everyone else did for their childhood memories. Thanks for stopping by!

Laid-Back NEW31DC Day 24 - Inspired By A Game

Ahhhh! I've been waiting for this day to arrive! Now, those of you who have been following me for a while, you know I am a gamer. I LOVE video games. I do (somewhat) have priorities though, so I don't put in as much game time as I would like. BUT, I got all my homework done early this weekend, so I could have the time to do some decent nail art (and celebrate my birthday, coincidentally)! So, without further ado, here is my Minecraft mani! Yay!

I love the way this mani turned out. So. Much.

I absolutely adore Minecraft - I can't really explain it. I just can't stop digging. And building things.  :)

So now for an explanation of each of the nails. On my index we have a creeper. I hate these stupid things. Because they do just that - they creep up on you and then you die and your house has a giant hole in it.

Next, we have my middle finger, with one of my favorite tools. Yep, the pickaxe - I LOVE digging. I seriously just can't stop.

On my ring finger, we have some of the local fauna. Heehee - little block pig. So cute, and a great source of food. :)

On my pinky is something I simply cannot live without. Because when it gets dark, the monsters come out...and I need to see where I'm going, or die. When I'm in a cavern, I light that thing up like a Christmas tree, because I am terrified of the dark. Thank goodness for torches.

And last, on my thumb, I have recreated one of my favorite scenes - look at all that stuff to dig!!! It's my least favorite nail, but I tried to recreate the entrance to a cavern as best as I could. :)

Overall, I am pretty happy with this one. And it was so much fun to really take some time and really do some decent nail art that I love.

Make sure you check in on what the rest of the girls did! There's bound to be some other gamers out there!