Gradient Nails for the #31DC2018Weekly

Hey there!!

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People...I will catch up with the challenge.  I am currently still a week behind but I will remedy that this week.  Pinkie swear!  but I do have my gradient nails for you today.  And I love them!  My fellow nail art pal, Gianna, recently did this amazing muted neutral toned gradient floral  manicure and I knew I needed to recreate it.  It spoke to me!  See the original mani on Nailstorming's IG page.  I took her idea and changes it up slightly.  But it is very similar.  Not as perfect as hers but I still dig it.

Gradient Nails for the #31DC2017Weekly

Hello!

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Just a few days late on my manicure for the weekly challenge, but hey, that's why the weekly version is great.  You have all week to complete it!  For the gradient prompt, I knew I wanted to try my hand at another scaled gradient but changed my mind at the last minute and did more of a reciprocal gradient.  If you want to know more about the different types or gradients, check out SimplyNailLogical's guide.  I am happy with how they turned out but I think the traditional scaled gradient with the colors going the same direction would have been better.  Oh well!  Still looks cool. :)

Black and White Nails for the #31DC2017Weekly

Happy Easter!

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I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend (for those of your who celebrate).  For this week of the challenge, we are doing black and white nails.  I know, my nails are not just black and white.  But I through a little pop of color would be nice.  Neon pink always goes well with black and white.  So I used it for a double accent nail in this manicure.

Glisten and Glow - Oh, The Places You'll Go Collection

Hi friends!

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Today, I  have a fun little collection of cremes and shimmer toppers to share with you all from Glisten and Glow.  This collection is inspired by the Dr. Seuss book 'Oh, The Places You'll Go' which is something many of us got as a graduation gift because it is inspiring and encouraging.  The cremes in this collection match the book's color palette perfectly!  Glisten and Glow is known not only for their amazing top coat but they do amazing cremes and holos as well.  Along with this collection, G&G has released a new matte top coat.  And it is great!  I will be showing you all of the manicures in both glossy and matte versions using Glisten and Glow's top coats.  Let's take a look!

Wintry Butterfly Skittlette

Hi friends!

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Today, I have a quick little nail art to share with you all.  I did this mani on a whim trying out some new nail art vinyls from Whats Up Nails and just loved it so much that it needed it's own post.  Vinyl nail art stencils have taken over the world.  They make complicated nail art so simple that anyone can use them and still get a good mani.  Beginner or expert nail artist...no problem.  Whats Up Nails has so many patterns to chose from that is can be overwhelming.  Usually, I have a set idea of a manicure in my head and then find the tools and polishes to make it.  But this time, I let the pattern of the vinyls guide me.  I saw these delicate butterfly vinyls and got a vision of crystalline butterflies flitting about in the the snow and ice.  Like a wintry butterfly garden with snowflakes and ice flowers all around.  (what can I say, I miss the snow and winter isn't winter without it. there's no winter in Florida)  So this manicure organically happened out of my longing for snow and ice.

Honor Nails You Love for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi friends!


It has finally come to an end.  Today, is the last day of not only the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge but also the weekly version that I have been doing.  The 31st challenge is to honor nails that you love.  This can be a nail art look, a favorite nail artist or a specific manicure that you love.  I always chose a manicure by a favorite artist of mine to recreate.  There are so many talented nail artists out there that it can be difficult to choose.  I went through my inspiration folder and kept coming back to this gorgeous firefly manicure done by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails a few years ago for the #31DC2014.  She is the champion of this challenge, so I thought honoring one of her creations was fitting.  You can see her original manicure here.  I hope my version does it justice!

Inspired by a Song for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi friends!

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Sorry that I am a day late on posting my #31DC2016Weekly mani but I had numerous nail art fails yesterday and ran out of time.  But I am happy with today's attempt!  This mani was inspired by the hit song from DNCE called 'Cake by the Ocean',  I am certain you know this song, it has been a huge hit!  Not only is this song super fun but I have been dying to try out beach nails.

My base is a gradient of Zoya "Ling" and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Shocking Nude" made with a makeup sponge.  Then I a a spray water marble technique to make the water effect.  I dropped a drop of white nail polish into water then sprayed it with some aerosol hair spray.  The alcohol in the hair spray makes the paint separate and gives it that cool effect when you dip you nail in.  

Next, I used a little cake image from a Winstonia plate.  I did a little reversed stamping and colored in the cake with pink and purple and threw it on the nail.  I topped it all off with a glossy top coat.  And bam!  Cake by the Ocean!  Haha.  I know it is a little silly and literal but they used a great big slice of cake on the beach in the music video, so I though it was fitting.  Plus, I really like how the spray watermarble turned out.  If you haven't seen the video before, check it out below!

Be sure to check out all of the other ladies participating in the challenge but perusing the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks!
 - Amy McG (McPolish)

*products purchased by me*

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Inspired by a Color for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi!

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We are in the final stretch of the challenge!  This is the part of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge that I typically fizzle out.  For the last 10 days of the challenge, you are supposed to do manicure inspired by colors and movies and fashion.  It was always difficult for me to come up with something new and exciting every day.  Now that I am doing the challenge weekly, I will have more time to come up with cool nail art looks for these tougher prompts!  This week, we are doing manicures inspired by a color.  I chose a color of manicure that is classic and traditional.  My mani today is inspired by pinky nudes.  Pink toned nude polishes are so classic and work appropriate.  People may say they are boring but I love wearing them.  Plus, they can be jazzed up in so many ways.  So that is what I did...jazzed them up :)

I started with a base of a soft gradient of pinky nude cremes from Cirque Colors.  The darker pink is "Jane on Jane St." and the lighter pink is "Whitney".  They are both delicious creme colors with amazing formulas.  All of the Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection cremes are fantastic.

Next, I applied these cute water decals from Nicole Diary in a delicate black floral pattern.  I have been really impressed with the water decals from this brand.  They are so easy to apply and smooth onto the nail flawlessly.  They are super thin and even stretch a little to fit around even the curviest nail beds.  They don't wrinkle when you apply a glossy top coat either.  You should definitely check them out!

I did this mani on both a glossy top coat and then a satin matte top coat just to see which I liked best.  I like them both!  Which do you like best?

I am really happy with out this manicure turned out.  It is very delicate and girly but still appropriate for work.  I am excited to see what everyone else doing the challenge has come up with this week,  Be sure to check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to see more awesome nail art!  Have you been enjoying this weekly challenge?

Thanks for stopping by!

 - Amy 'McPolish' McG

*polish purchased by me and water decals sent by the maker/stockist for honest review*

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Half Moon Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Happy 4th of July fellow Americans!

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I am a few days late with my mani for the #31DC2016Weekly this week but you will forgive me, right?  I have been hanging out by the beach with my mother this holiday weekend and just haven't been able to sit down and write this post.  I have a few minutes now, so let's get into it!!  This week's prompt is Half Moons.  I always like this nail art look.  It looks classy and can be made pretty funky, too.  I wanted to repeat my manicure from last year.  But that is not the point of the challenge.  You are supposed to do something new to you.  So, this year, I did a little gradient half moon.  This look was very much inspired by a recent tutorial by The Nail Trail.  In Hannah's look, she did ruffian instead of a half moon but the blue gradient under the nude nails looked so good, I just had to try it myself.   I made my half moon a little bit larger than you would typically see but I really wanted to show off the colors better.

Pahlish - Venetian Carnival Collection

Hi there!

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Pahlish has another collection of beautiful holographic polishes this month.  I am always impressed with Shannon's holos, the colors are rich and the rainbows are fly.  The Venetian Carnival Collection is a set of six linear holos in some nice bright shades for summer.  To cut down on the repetition in my descriptions, I am just going to tell you about them all right here.  All six were very smooth and easy to apply.  They all have a fairly strong linear holographic effect with a sprinkling of some microshimmer.  I used two coats with a glossy top coat for each of them and my accent nail is a gradient of three colors from the collection.  Let's take a look at these beauties!

Gradient Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi friends!

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This week's prompt for the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge is gradient nails.  I attempted a scaled gradient that turned out to be a complete nail fail.  So I ended up settling with a classic two color gradient with a little bit of stamping on an accent nail.  I always like doing gradient nails.  They are sort of messy but always give a nice effect.  I used a makeup sponge for my gradients.  Since I have short nails, the two color gradient seems to work the best.  But I have done up to a four color gradient on my shorties.  I can't get as smooth of blend with four colors as I can with two, so I prefer the two color method.

For this look, I used two Cupcake Polish holographics.  The pink holo is "Barbie Girl" from the Life in Plastic Awesome Sauce Indie Box.  The purple is "Berry Good Looking" which is the most popular Cupcake Polish ever.

My accent nail is a base of "Barbie Girl" with a stamp of "Berry Good Looking" with a design from the UberChic 4-02 Plate.  I used the UberChic XL clear jelly stamper head to make sure the design was centered.  This is quite a girly mani and I really liked it!  What do you think?

Well, we have made it though the first set of prompts for the challenge.  Next week we start on specific nail art techniques.  If you want to see more of this challenge, he sure to check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on these social media outlets: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  There are some great nail art looks out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

 - Amy McG (McPolish)

*some products used in this post were provided for review*

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Orange Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hello!

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It's the second week of my weekly version of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge and we are doing some orange nails.  Even thought it isn't summer yet,it's still a good time for some neons.  I had some a similar manicure like this sometime last year and wanted to try it again but with neon orange.  First, I painted my nails with a base of Digital Nails " I See London" which is a perfect creamy white creme.  Once that dried, I sponged on a gradient of the same white and Orly "Push the Limit" with the neon orange concentrated at my tips.  Then, I used the same neon orange to stamp a delicate, flowing pattern coming out of the orange tips.  The stamping image is from the Fairy Tale 02 plate from MoYou London.  Overall, I am quite happy with this mani!   The neon orange is super bright and almost has a coral like hue.  It made my camera freak out a little bit.

There are a bunch of you doing the weekly challenge!  I am having a great time seeing everyone's manicures.  You can check out the tag #31DC2016Weekly on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to see all of the cool nail art looks, too.  Next week, we will have some yellow nails!  Care to join me ?


Happy weekend!
- Amy McG (McPolish)

*products were purchased by me*

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Red with Gold Gradient tips featuring Soulstice Napa and OPI Goldeneye

Happy Boxing Day! I really wanted to feature Pretty Serious Boxing Day on the blog today, but since I'm on vacation it's probably sitting in my empty house! I'm out shopping today (scheduled post) trying to catch some of the day-after-Christmas sales. I got two polishes for Christmas (which for my family is amazing) and they aren't anything I already have! Here's hoping for some polish sales today. I do believe Sally Beauty is having a Clearance sale, so make sure you check that out!

Today's mani is Soulstice Napa, a gorgeous red shimmer that hasn't been featured on the blog yet (how'd that happen, it's gorgeous!) with gold tips of OPI Goldeneye. This look is pretty festive and one I wore earlier this December.

I actually don't like how this turned out, but I'm posting it anyway. It was one of those days when I added the gradient tips and immediately regretted it. Napa was so gorgeous on its own it didn't need glitter!

Are you doing any post-holiday shopping for yourself? :)

A Grey Gradient

To be honest, this gradient was a complete and utter failure. I've never tried gradient nails before, but somehow (probably due to the awesome tutorials) I expected it to be easier. It wasn't! I'm not sure if I purchased the wrong type of sponge, or if I just didn't have the patience for this technique, but it didn't work for me.

I started out with a coat of piCture pOlish PMT (the light grey near the cuticles) then attempted to do a gradient with PMT, Maybelline Color Show Impeccable Greys, and Sally Hansen Black Out. I made the gradient on wax paper, carefully dipped the sponge, then pressed it to my nail. I lifted the sponge and saw... nothing! None of the gradient had transferred from the sponge onto my nail, I was left with the plain light grey of PMT with a slight sponge texture. Maybe I didn't have enough polish, so I made my gradient on the paper using more polish, pressed the sponge to it (the sponge looked perfect) pressed it to another nail and... nothing!

With my schedule this week I just didn't have time to go out and buy a different sponge  for today so I did a gradient using the somewhat-dry nail polish brush. It looked a bit neater in real life than it does in photos, but it still wasn't too spectacular..

Grey Gradient

I should have done another glitter gradient, I love glitter gradients! But this challenge is about trying things I normally wouldn't, right?

Grey Gradient

Have you ever over-estimated your nail art skills and ended up with a failure?

Blue and Silver Glitter Gradient

Today I am leaving for vacation for one week! I should have posts ready to go while I'm gone, so unless something goes wrong I don't expect a hiatus. I've packed about 10 polishes in my suitcase, most fun neons or subtle pinks. :) nothing new though. Maybe I'll pick up a couple of new ones while I'm here.

Today I have a fun glitter gradient I did a while back with Essie Aruba Blue and OPI Crown Me Already. I love the combination, and its a great way to cover up some tip wear to prolong a mani, or just to spruce up a mani when you don't want to give up on a fun color.