31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Final Week Roundup

Wow!  I can't believe I finished this entire challenge.  And on time!

I had such a fun time doing the challenge this year.  I am quite please with myself that I completed it.  Like I had stated earlier, I fell off the challenge last year around week three.  So I was very exited to get to this last week (or 10 days to be exact) because I didn't get to these prompts last year.  These last challenge themes are all inspired by art and movies and other nail art.  I attempted a lot of hand painting this last week and I hope that you like my newbie skills.  Let's get right into it as there are 10 looks this time.

Click through for all the goodies!!

 Day 22: Inspired by a Song

Here starts the hand painting!  Be gentle ;)  I was inspired by The White Stripes song "Seven Nation Army".  The video for this song is just as entrancing as its driving beat.  Check it out here: music video.  I tried to mimic the growing chevrons and do my best at little Jack and Meg White.   The black and white was done with stripers and the rest was done with acrylic paints.

Day 23: Inspired by a Movie

 "The Fifth Element" is one of my favorite movies.  Whenever is happens to come on TV I cannot help myself...it must be watched.  I did a base of Zoya Farah and Flynn using the Saran Wrap method to look like stone.  Then I painted on the symbols for all 5 elements (fire, earth, wind, water and the supreme being) with dark brown acrylic paint.

Day 24: Inspired by a Book

 This simple manicure was based off of the colorful cover of the the book "Room" but Emma Donoghue.  The book is told from the prospective of a 5 year old boy that lives in a small room with his mother.  I used nail polish in primary colors to look just like the book cover.

Day 25: Inspired by Fashion

 With New York Fashion Week just ending, there was a ton of eye catching new looks to choose from.  I found this fresh outfit from Michael Kors.  I really liked the graphic nature of the floral pattern and the contrasting color combo was killer!  To recreate this look on my nails, I started with a base of Sally Hansen "Soy Latte".  I used Revlon "Posh" to stamp with MoYou London's Pro 06 Plate.  I spilled 3/4 of my bottle of Posh trying to mix together a darker green color.  Sad...that was my favorite green.

Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

 I have seen this quatrefoil pattern all over Instagram this year.  It it fairly simple to do but give such a cool effect.  I used Cult Nails "Tempest" and "Nevermore" along with dotting tools to create this black and white mani.  Tempest and Nevermore are my most favorite black and white polishes.  One coat wonders!

Day 27: Inspired by Artwork

 Warhol Dinos!  RAWR!  I did a take on a NailStamp4Fun mani to create some Andy Warhol inspired nails.  I used Winstonia Store W220 plate to create the T-rex using a technique called revered stamping.  I stamped with image with black polish, filled in the stamp with the colored polish while it was still on the stamping.  Once it was all dry I stamped the colored in image directly onto my painted nail.  Simple and fun and colorful!  I was super thrilled when this manicure was featured on HelloGiggles in Sarah Waite's nails of the day column.  I blushed.:)

Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

 I'm Irish (big surprise, McG and McPolish probably gave it away).  So I did a simple design based on the irish flag.  The colors are Revlon "Posh" and Zoya "Thandie" with a white striper.  I do this design frequently for flag inspired nails.  Quick and easy.

Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural

 Supernatual is a broad term that can include anything from ghosts to demons to aliens to elves.  I was searching for images of druids and fairies for inspiration and couldn't find anything I liked.  Then the Link plushie sitting on my polishing desk jumped out at me.  I should to nails inspired by my favorite little fairy, Navi, from the Legend of Zelda video games.  She is always flitting about telling Link "Hey!  Listen!  Look!  Watch Out!"  It's not annoying at all, I swear. My base color is Zoya "Sailor" and the rest is acrylic paint.

Day 30:  Inspired by a Tutorial

Have you heard of a Blobbicure?  Well it is a cool technique of making these amorphous blobs of wet polish that just flow together.  I first saw this on Anya Sobka's Instagram account and then Tam from OhMyGoshPolish did a Youtube turorial.  It is simple and anyone can do it.  But it is very thick and takes a while to dry.  I used three Tillie Polishes for this skittlette of sorts (Espresso Yourself, Forbidden Fruit and Glam Squad).  Have you tried this technique yet?

Day 31: Honor Nails You Love!

It was incredibly hard to choose only one mani that I loved.  But decided on a beautiful design that has I have been obsessed with since last years challenge.  I saw these amazing dawn/twilight landscape nails by Lindsey at Wondrously Polished (see them here) and knew I had to recreate them one day when I had the skills.  Since I have been doing more hand painting lately...now is the perfect time to try!  I did a 4 color gradient for the background and acrylic paint for the mountain silhouette and stars.  I am so happy with how these came out!  I hope I did Lindsey proud.

Yay!!!!  That was a great challenge.  But now I am ready to just do so swatches and easy stuff.  Ha!  I was able to try out a few nail art techniques that I will definitely add to be repertoire.  I hope you liked all of the round up posts this past month.  What nail art look was your favorite?  I you want to see all of my creations in one easy spot, check out my Pinterest board for the challenge.

Congrats to everyone that completed the challenge this year and many thanks to everyone the helped encourage and inspire me. 

SMOOCHES!!

-Amy McG aka McPolish