31DC2013 Challenge Recap!

Nothing is sweeter than finally completing a 31 Day Nail Challenge. Granted it took me more than 2 years to finally complete it and some people have completed two of these in that time, but I'm going to celebrate anyway! It is actually fun for me to go back and recall all the early manicures that I created in 2013 before loosing steam on the last third of the challenge. Let's take a look, shall we?

31DC2013 Day 31 - Honor Nails You Love

Today is the final day of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The challenge for today is to honor nail you love. I chose to create a manicure inspired by Christina of Let Them Have Polish. It was a while back that she posted a photo of her thumb nail on Instagram with this design. It reminded me of bubble chocolate and I knew that I would have to recreate it some day...

31DC2013 Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

Turns out today is 2 for 1 day because I'm really wanting to finish up the 31 Day Nail Challenge. Day 30 of the challenge calls to create a manicure inspired by a tutorial. I chose to try my hand at a quatrefoil print by Christabell Nails. I first saw her tutorial on Instagram, but she does have an extended version on YouTube as well which is what I would suggest you check out. It is so simple to create this look using just two shades of polish, a dotting tool and a small brush. Who could have imagined...

31DC2013 Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

I've got only a few days left to complete in the 31 Day Nail Challenge and I couldn't be more excited. Day 29 of the challenge called for a manicure inspired by the supernatural. Since Halloween is just around the corner, all things ghost and goblin came to mind. I've been wanting to try this particular technique for creating sheer ghosts for a while. I'm not sure who originally came up with the idea, but I see it done a lot these days...

31DC2013 Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

Hi Lovelies! Today I'm forging ahead to Day 28 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The theme for today is a manicure inspired by a flag. I had a tough time deciding on a design for this one mainly because I was pretty set against recreating a country flag. I started racking my brain for other creative flag ideas and I was coming up blank. It wasn't until I saw the Messy Mansion stamping plate innocently hanging out on my table waving it's little pirate flag that inspiration hit!

31DC2013 Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork

Hi Lovelies! Up next in the 31 Day Nail Challenge is Day 27, Inspired by Artwork. I'm always drawn to Asian inspired art featuring bamboo so after a quick search online (this is literally the 3rd image that comes up in Google when I search for "bamboo art"), I knew what I wanted to do.

31DC2013 Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern

Hi All! I'm continuing today with Day 26 of the 31 day challenge. The task for today was to create a manicure inspired by a pattern. I have long been wanting to stamp the houndstooth pattern, but somehow don't seem to get around to actually following through. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and finally make it happen. Polished by KPT Fall-O-You for me is a perfect shade for the task. It reminds me of a great Fall jacket and I think the houndstooth pattern suits it well. Now if I could actually find a jacket that goes from charcoal gray a the top and gently transitions to and army or olive green at the bottom, I'd be sold...

31DC2013 Day 25 - Inspired by Fashion

Shame on me. I just resumed the 31 Day Challenge and here I am 2 (+365?) days behind already. Have no fear though, I'm still determined to catch up or at the very least complete the rest of the challenges. Day 25 is possibly one of my favorites with a challenge to create a fashion inspired manicure. I have drawn inspiration from fashion many times and lately in particular I'm drawn to shoes. This pair of shoes has been in my 'inspiration' folder for quite some time and this was the perfect opportunity to bring it to life...

31DC2013 Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

Today I would like to show you my manicure for Day 24 of the 31 Day Challenge. Now some of you might be thinking "Day 24? What happened to Days 1-23?" so let me explain. Days 1-23 are way back in September of last year when I started this challenge. I lost steam after the first three weeks and at the time thought I would finish up "soon". Well somehow "soon" turned into a full year and probably would have been even longer if a whole bunch of talented nail art bloggers and fanatics weren't in the midst of doing this challenge AGAIN! I thought for me this would be the perfect time for me to pick up where I left off and post my challenges along with them. Hopefully that will keep me motivated to complete the challenge and get that nagging voice out of my head that keeps reminding me that I left something unfinished.

The challenge for Day 24 is to create a manicure inspired by a book. I chose a fun little book titled, Everything Men Know About Women. As you can see, I was inspired by the cover because (SPOILER ALERT) all the pages in this book are blank and somehow plain white nails didn't seem like much of a challenge...

31DC2013 Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

It has been nearly a month since I created my last manicure for the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I think it is about time I picked it back up and tried to finish it. Today I would like to show you my manicure for Day 23 of the challenge, inspired by a movie. Since it is so close to Halloween, I couldn't help but try my hand at the always popular The Nightmare Before Christmas manicure...

31DC2013 Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

Today I would like to show you my manicure for Day 22 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The challenge today is to be inspired by a song. I decided to go with one of my current favorites, Merry Go 'Round by Kacey Musgraves. If you have not heard this song before, you can listen to it on YouTube. The lyrics of the song really resonate with me. I was so excited that I got the chance to see her in concert this summer...

31DC2013 Day 21 - Inspired by a Color

In an attempt to catch up with the challenge I would like to show you a second manicure today. This is my manicure for Day 21 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The challenge is to be inspired by a color. I was inspired by the name of this beautiful blue Tawdry Terrier Howling at the Moon lacquer. I instantly knew that I wanted to try adding a howling wolf to it...

31DC2013 Day 20 - Water Marble

Today I would like to show you my water marble manicure for Day 20 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I watched and re-watched a bunch of videos by My Simple Little Pleasures in preparation for this since marbling is not my forte. I love all her marbles with Color Club Halo Hues so I decided to try it for myself. Countless hours and wasted polish later, I would like to present you with my manicure...

31DC2013 Day 19 - Galaxies

I have fallen far behind in the 31 Day Nail Challenge and I'm not sure I can catch up, but I will try. Today I have my galaxy manicure for Day 19 to share with you. I looked at many images of galaxies for inspiration and was set to try and replicate one of them, but once I started actually applying the polish all that was thrown out the window and I just went with it...

31DC2013 Day 18 - Half-Moons

Today I would like to show you the half-moons manicure for Day 18 of the 31 Day Challenge. I was initially playing around with Shimmer Candace for the glitter challenge yesterday, but Candace seemed to be too sophisticated to just be a glitter accent and demanded to be the center of attention...

31DC2013 Day 17 - Glitter

For day 17 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge, a glitter manicure, I knew I wanted to play with some of my loose glitter. I got this hex glitter a while ago and thought it would be fun for nail art when I wanted something different from the standard hex glitter. For some reason it has stood unused... until now that is...

31DC2013 Day 16 - Tribal Print

I am now a day behind  in the 31 Day Nail Challenge so today I would like to show you day 16 of the challenge which is 'tribal print'. I must confess that I always admire those who attempt tribal print nails. I happen to be unreasonably scared of trying them for myself, probably because I need lots of practice with freehand. I was tempted to do this challenge with stamping, but decided to be brave and try it freehand, so be nice to me :)

31DC2013 Day 15 - Delicate Print

I can't believe it is already Day 15 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. It seems to be flying by so quickly and we are about to get into the really challenging portion. Today's challenge calls for a delicate print manicure. I instantly thought of lace at the mention of delicate and decided to play around with stamping. As my latest obsession seems to be stamping over textured polish, I couldn't resist including this PixieDust in my manicure...

31DC2013 Day 14 - Flowers

Today I have for you a floral manicure for Day 14 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I have had this manicure in head ever since reviewing the OPI Euro Centrale collection, although I didn't get a chance to try it at that time. It has been begging to be brought to reality ever since and I'm so excited to finally be 'forced'/ have an excuse to try it thanks to this challenge...

31DC2013 Day 13 - Animal Print

I'm back from vacation and trying to catch up with emails and various other bloggy stuff including comments, so please bear with me. Today I would like to show you my manicure for Day 13 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The challenge is animal print. I have been wanting to try a manicure inspired by the beautiful patterns of poison dart frogs for a while now so I jumped at the opportunity to do it today. The hardest part was picking out which beautiful pattern to try...