#31DC2014 - Day 13: Animal Print aka Hides Head In Shame...

Whas happenin’ smexy people! It is a GORGEOUS Saturday here in sunny Pretoria and man, I wish the pool was a little bit warmer! My summer time sadness is almost OVER! Whoooo! But for now let’s get back to the reason why you are actually here: The 31 Day Challenge. And today we have animal print so let’s do dis ting!

Day 13: Animal Print

The idea of the #31DC2014 is to, well, challenge yourself right? And that is exactly what I tried to do here. Challenge myself to something different from the conventional leopard or zebra print mani. In hindsight, I should’ve just stuck to that because EPIC FAIL! But quite a bit of effort went into this mish mash of a mani so I didn’t want it to go wasted so let’s take a look at my utterly sad attempt at an Abalone Shell mani...I do apologise in advance.

SOURCE

I started out by laying down 2 coats of China Glaze Spontaneous on all my nails. I then made random blobs with China Glaze Grape Pop, China Glaze Spontaneous, China Glaze Starboard, Sinful Colors Bali Mist and Sinful Colors Endless Blue all over my nails and blotched them up using the saran wrap method. When this was dry, I used my thin nail art brush and WOW Nail Polish #393 and made random swirly patterns over the nails. Then I took a little bit of Avon Star and the gold polish from Tip Top Go For Gold duo set and mixed it together and just lightly dotted it over the nails with my thin nail art brush. Lastly, I took the tiniest bit of Essence Miss Universe and just touched here and there on each nail with a thin nail art brush. I didn’t add any topcoat as I kind of wanted to keep the uneven look as the shell isn’t perfectly smooth.

The overall mani I like! I really do! But it doesn’t look anything like the shell or like it did in my head! *EEEEEEEGH!!!!* I has a sad...but I did try so that makes me feel a little better. And the next time I try it I will definitely know what to do differently. So to future successes!

Lots of mad love...

 

Saran Wrap and Love...

Hi lovelies! Have you guys ever had those moments where you feel totally amped and you don’t know why?? I am feeling like that at the moment! I’m busy recovering from a nasty cold that I had since last week but I am feeling energetic! I think it might be because I found a map online that shows me all the Barnstorming locations in Saints Row 3. WIN! Aaaaaand now I can’t decide what is more sad...the fact that a location map for helicopter stunts on a video game gets me excited or that I’m still playing Saints Row 3 (I CAN’T AFFORD SAINTS ROW 4 AT THE MOMENT OKAY!!!! Don’t judge me! *sobs*)

What the lil dude above said mkaaay! Source

Anyhoo, you guys are here for mani’s. I’m focused, I swear!

Today’s mani has something in it that I usually do not like but man, I genuinely like how it brought everything together! I am a silver girl. Always have, always will be. But when I was finished with this mani I thought it needed something. Something to just tie everything nicely together. That’s when my GOLD studs caught my eye...My first initial reaction was “No...Nope...not going to happen!” but after much mental deliberation I caved and tried it. I am glad to say I was pleasantly surprised!

I started by laying down a base of Essence Galactic Glam. When this was dry I used the saran wrap method and Tip Top Nail Chic Cha Cha Cha to create the effect over the base color. To finish everything off, I added a generous amount of top coat and placed my golden studs down on my ring and middle finger.

I know this mani isn’t the most hardcore or artistically challenging but I love how it came out! I love the marble slab like effect of the saran wrap method and those little studs really stole my heart for a little while. Good on you gold, good on you!

Lots of mad love...

 

Tip Top Nail Art Concept: Saran Wrap Nail Art

Hi there lovelies! Hope everyone had a great weekend! I had a pretty decent one. Was just irritated and annoyed because I'm struggling a bit with a bad skin allergy and it's really just making me feel crappy and out of it. Had to go for blood-tests today and I was TERRIFIED! But I survived...WIN! And this is my happy place so I won't let it get me down!

Before I get into today's post, I have a little bit of news. I will be taking part in a nail art challenge called the “M.T.V. Challenge” with For The Love Of Nail Art and Ordinary Misfit for the next few weeks. It's a combination of two of the categories from the “31 Day Challenge” that a lot of bloggers are attempting at the moment but it's just quite a bit shorter. If you would like more information on the challenge or would like to join us, you can read about it HERE.

Now on to le good stuff...

I've been taking part here and there where I can in the Tip Top South Africa Nail art concept for the past few weeks and it has really been a blast! I took part again this week and the concept was Saran Wrap nail art. When I saw the technique, the first thing I though was “water”. Also, I've really been missing Durban a lot lately so I decided to take the mani from there...

Nail Polishes used:

• Tip Top Nail Chic Black Forest
• Tip Top Nail Chic We Have An Agreen Mint
• Tip Top Nail Chic Blue Meets Green
• Tip Top Nail Chic Cha Cha Cha
• Tip Top Nail Chic Meringue Surprise
• Tip Top Nail Addict Cafe Cafe
• Tip Top Nail Addict Secret Road

Tools Used:

• Small thin nail art brush
  
  
  
  

  

  From Left to Right:
  We Have An Agreen Mint, Blue Meets Green, Cha Cha Cha

  
  
  
  
  Left to Right:
  Meringue Surprise, Secret Road, Cafe Cafe
  
  
  
  
  

I started out by laying down 2 coats of Tip Top Nail Chic Blue Meets Green. This next step I did finger by finger. When this was dry, I layed down a thin coat of Tip Top Nail Chic Cha Cha Cha and immediately went and pushed up and down lightly with a crumbled piece of saran wrap over it.

I went in with a thin nail art brush and drew the basic shapes of the shells and starfish with Tip Top Nail Chic Black Forest like I saw in this tutorial over at Coewless Nails. When the shapes were dry, I filled them in with the various colours and the nail art brush. To finish the shells and starfish off, I just lined them all again with the nail art brush and Tip Top Nail Chic Black Forest.

This mani made me feel so happy! Had a little bit of the sea on my nails and it definitely reminded me of summer, sun and fun!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colours you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige!

Lots of mad love...