31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Week 2 Roundup

Hey friends!

Yes!  I made it through another week of the #31dc2014!  I liked this week of prompts as they gave me a little more direction for nail art ideas.  Things are going to be getting challenging here in the last two weeks.  The prompts really require some imagination and creativity to produce meaningful nail art.  At least that is how I feel.  If you want to follow along with me each day, check out my Instagram account.  But let's get right into my creations for the second week of nail art craziness!

Click through for all the photos!

Day 8: Metallic Nails

I tried my hand at nail foils for metallic day.  I had gotten some sliver leaf foils in a traveling nail polish box earlier this year and hadn't used them yet.  Well...they are kind of a pain in the butt to be honest.  I painted a base color of Mentality Nail Polish "Imply" then tore tiny pieces of foil and stuck then on with clear nail polish.  This foil is so thin it was hard to work with but I did give a nice shiny metallic effect.  The gorgeous red texture polish is "Menace from Mars" by Pretty Serious.  It had a metallic effect as well, much more in person than in photographs.

Day 9: Rainbow Nails

 For this day, I used some neon studs to create a rainbow effect over black.  Of course I had to use a holographic polish to get even more rainbows into one mani!.  The linear black holographic polish is "Stark Raven Mad" by KBShimmer.  They have come out with some gorgeous holographic polishes this year.  The square studs are from Winstonia Store.  Rainbows on top of rainbows!

Day 10: Gradient Nails

 I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this prompt: scaled gradients!  This technique was created by Cristine at Simply Nailogical and she makes it look so fantastical.  I knew I wanted to try out this technique for myself.  And the #31dc2014 was the perfect time to try out new nail art techniques.  I used two AEngland polishes, "Sleeping Palace" and "Her Rose Adagio", and single chevron Nail Vinyls to create this effect.  I just LOVE the way it came out!  If you want to try out this technique yourself, check out Cristine's tutorial here.

Day 11: Polka Dots

 I don't do many dotticures (manicure with dots!).  So I decided to go simple for the polka dot prompt.  I did want to use an interesting color combination.  I like the contrast of the bright yellow and muted blue/grey here.  The base is Zoya "Caitlin" and I used Mentality Nail Polish "Yellow Opaque" for the dots with a small dotting tool.  (the dotting polish was sent as a gift from the maker)

Day 12: Stripes

I had just received two of the new ORLY Holiday Sparkle polishes in the mail and I just had to use them.  So I created a little gold and silver skittlette mani with so much bling that my camera had a hard time focusing.  Wow!  ORLY really hit the ball out of the park with these polishes.  "Mirrorball" is a strong linear holographic silver with holographic hex glitters.  "Bling" is a dense gold holographic microglitter that is opaque with 2-3 coats.  So freaking sparkly!!!  I have not seen this collection out in store just yet, but I am sure it will be out soon.  You need both of these polishes in your life. :)

Day 13: Animal Print 

 For this prompt, you will see tons of classic nail art animal prints: leopard, cheetah, zebra, etc.  I wanted to do something different.  I used real snake skin from one of my coworker's snake's recent shed.  I cut out pieces that fit my nails and sandwiched them between layers of jelly polish.  It's a snake skin jelly sandwich!  I to sponge on a little of the same gold on my other nails onto the snake skin to give it a little more sparkle.  The glittery gold polish is "Selfie Bomb" from Girly Bits Cosmetics which I recently won in a #NailGlossip giveaway on Twitter.

Day 14: Flowers

 My most favorite nail artist and total nail crush is Sammy from The Nailasaurus.  I saw this mani from her many moons ago and tucked it away in my favorites folder.  I knew I wanted to recreate this manicure for the flower prompt!  I purchase these rose decals from Born Pretty Store a long time ago to recreate this mani, but you can get them from Sammy's store as well.  The base colors are OPI "You're So Vain-illa" and Tillie "Sarong, So Right".   I tried my best to mimic her pose too.  And I am sure you can see that I cut down to shorties during this week.  I just can't take those long nails for more than a week!

Two weeks down...two weeks to go!  I hope you enjoyed these nail art looks I am created.  Let me know what your favorites were and if you recreate any!  Be sure to surf the #31dc2014 tags on your favorite social media outlets to see a TON of awesome nail art happening this month.  Here are some easy links: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter

See you next week with more nail art adventures!

- Amy McPolish" McG :)