33 Day Challenge day 33!!! Freestylin'!

Hello!

Well, I made it! I am chuffed I completed the challenge on time, posted every day and even got a few good manicures in there! Go me!

Our final challenge was either a recreation of someone else's mani , or to go freestyle so I combined a bit of both with some #33DC skittles. I started with a base of China Glaze Electric Beat on all my nails (leaving a half moon on the middle finger). A simple glitter gradient on my pinkie, with Barry M Silver Glitter and Dollish Polish I Triple Dog Dare Ya! and a thin coat of OPI Silver Shatter on my thumb framed my recreations on the ring, middle and index fingers. The ring finger sports a Nailasaurus waterfall, as seen in the challenge by Brandy's Nailtastic Blog, Fingerfood, and Glam-madam. The polishes used were China Glaze First Mate, and Blue Years Eve, Models Own Feeling Blue and Rimmel Your Majesty. The middle finger was inspired by Sarah at Penny Pinching Polish - a half moon with added leopard print, because why the hell not. This one used Blue Years Eve and Your Majesty. And my index finger was another Nailasaurus design, as seen by Nailaddict, Ros and Brandy again (and I loved my original version so much, I wanted to do it again!) I used the same colours as I did for the waterfall, and I think the addition of a couple of shimmery polishes really adds depth.

So, that's it! Which of my 33 manis has been your favourite? My top 3 were the 3 colour gradient and pattern, Indian and new technique, with my South American Macaw coming in a close forth. 

33 day challenge. Done.

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 32 - Shapes!

Penultimate day of the challenge! Eek! What will I do with my time now? *Looks around at squalor I'm living in...* Perhaps it's time to tidy up a little bit...

Anywho...today's theme was shapes. A pretty wide brief I'm sure you'll agree and yet I went for something simple. Some drag marble hearts using two MUA shades, which are just £1, have new improved packaging and names! Superdrug do free delivery if you spend over £10, so these are perfect for when you've spent £9.26 and you're too tight to fork out for delivery. Yes, I squeak when I walk. Digressing again... The shades I used are Moody Mink and All Nude and I simply applied a thick coat before adding dots with a large-ish dotting tool and dragging through them with a toothpick. Moody Mink is a little more purple than these pics show - liked a greyed out lilac-y taupe. Think OPI Parlez Vous OPI and you're nearly there.

Simple shapes :)

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 31 - 3 favourite polishes!

Just three days to go on the challenge! Eek!

Today's theme was to use your three favourite polishes and I'm sure I've said this before but asking me to pick a favourite polish is like asking me to pick a favourite child, and I only have two of those not nearly 900! So I went with three of my favourites, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Barry M Gold Foil and Color Blub Revvvolution, and skittled it up! I started with a base of Ruby Pumps on three nails, and once that was dry I added a rough line down the middle with Gold Foil and a fan brush. The ring finger was painted in Gold Foil and a heart was added in Revvvolution and on my index I went for a fail safe braid with all three.

Not perfect (is it ever?) but quite festive I think!

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 30 - same pattern, different colours!

Day 30! Eek just three more to go!

Today's prompt was to use the same pattern in different colours. Now, you may have guessed I have a little bit of a thing for feathers, specifically peacock feathers but anything feathery really. So I took the change today to combine two new stamping plates and create a peacock feather mani in colours I love. I used metallic green, blue and purple underneath a peacock pattern and black underneath a single feather, all stamped with gold. The single feather is from Bundle Monster 419 and the pattern is from MoYou Pro plate 03.

You may be wondering "Hey Helly, where's your thumb at?" Well, before I got my pictures, this happened. Bum.

Never mind! I'm tempted to file my nails into almonds...might finish the challenge off first though!

I love my peacocks, and owls :) I even have a peacock father tattoo which I love love love! I wouldn't get an owl tattoo though...I would never be able to get this out of my head...

A Owl?

Anyway, to almond or not to almond...what do you think?

Hx

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33 Day Challenge Day 29 - your favourite pattern!

Helloo!

I had a bit of a brain fart when it came to this manicure. I was convinced it was due to come after the Europe prompt and so did it in a bit of a rush before checking and realising it was still a couple of weeks away. Doh! Anyway, I was mostly happy with how it came out so I'll go with it... I chose paisley as my favourite pattern, and I could have taken the easy way out and stamped it, but I decided to try and freehand it with a Barry M nail art pen. The detail could have been a little finer, and it would have been nice to not have had to go over the design 4 times (hence the blurry pinky) for the pen to be opaque, but beggars can't be choosers. I used 3 coats of Sally Hansen Jaded as the base, and the accent is a couple of coats of a Poundland feather polish (which I talked about in this post). Freehanded random paisley and done. I'm still not convince by the feather effect (hairy nails, anyone?), but I think I can handle it in small doses.

What's your favourite pattern?

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 28 - lines!

Hi all!

I must say, I'm rather proud of this manicure! I didn't want to just go for stripes for the 'lines' prompt, so I made a stamper decal using Konad S6, Konad Black and Barry M silver and gold foils. I paired it with black and gold studs, and gold and black studs on the thumb (Models Own Bora Bora and gold studs painted black!). I had a few bubbles and a wrinkle when I applied the decals, but I actually think in this case the foil polish was quite forgiving and it didn't look horrendous. Well, I hope it didn't!

Possibly my favourite mani of the challenge? It's high up there at least! Not long to go now...

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 27 - 3 patterns!

Hello!

Today's challenge was to incorporate 3 patterns into your manicure, and I went with classic dots, stripes and random splodges! I used black as a base and Color Club Molten Metals for the patterns, and then mattefied it! I think the effect was quite striking, even if the execution wasn't fantastic...

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 26 - something from Pinterest!

Hi!

It's not often I pin something and then recreate it in the same day! But, I loved this so much that I did just that, albeit unintentionally. I'd pinned this manicure by Love, Varnish, Chocolate and more earlier in the day, and when I sat down and checked which challenge mani I was due to do that evening, the gods were shining on me and I went for it! I used a different stamping plate, but the polishes used were the same - China Glaze Exotic Encounters and A England Saint George for the stamping (from Bundle Monster 404). My version isn't as perfect as Deborah's lovely original, but I still liked the combination and it's one I'd use again.

Are you a pinner? You can follow me on Pinterest here!

Hx

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33 Day Challenge day 25 - new technique!

Hi loves!

I had an utter brain block when it came to this challenge. I've been blogging and doing nails for a few years now, and I could not think of a technique that was new! I've tried drag marbles, splatters, spun sugar, tape, cling film, watercolour, one stroke, plaid, water spotted, stamper decals, fan brush... Stumped. In the end I went with something that I have played with before, but not posted on the blog, and added a new element too! My lovely friend Tracy sent me some foils to try a while ago, and they are a lot of fun! I've not perfected it quite yet, but with the foil I chose today it didn't matter too much. And then I stamped on top of them too, which I'd never done before. I loved the result!

I started with a base of China Glaze Aquadelic, which was the closest colour I had to the base colour of the foils. That way, if there are any gaps once you've transfered your pattern, it's not so noticeable. Once that was dry I added a layer of foil adhesive and let it go tacky - about 10 mminutes. Then it's simply a case of applying the foil, rubbing it over with a cotton bud and hey presto, the image transfered! I did miss a couple of patches, but as you can see it wasn't too noticeable, and as this wasn't a repeating pattern I put on a bit more glue and went over it again.

I then topcoated - and this is where it could have gone horribly wrong! See, metallic foils don't tend to like topcoat, especially fast drying ones like my favourite Poshe. The topcoat wrinkled the foil a little bit, but actually it didn't matter because of the pattern again. But a top tip I learned in hindsight is to apply a layer of PVA glue (like the glitter peel off method) and let that dry before topcoating. It just adds a layer of protection between the foil and the chemicals in the topcoat. Anyway, once that was dry I stamped over with an image from Bundle Monster 406 and Konad Black Pearl.

You could get the same effect using the cling film/saran/plastic wrap method, but I think the gold is bolder using this foil and I loved it! I really must play more often :) That's if I ever manage to stop browsing websites looking for more...

Hx

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33 Day Challenge Day 24 - most owned colour!

Hi again!

Today's prompt was to feature the colour you have the most of, and I think mine is either pink or purple. So I went for a compromise and settled for lilac (plus the two gorgeous base colours were sat in my untrieds, all lonely and unloved!) I used Face of Australia (a lovely gift) in Castle on a Cloud - a really pretty soft lilac with subtle shimmer and paired it with Emily de Molly Simplicity (perfection in a 12ml bottle). Then I added Color Club Diamond Drops to my pointer and some silver and white stripes with Barry M nail art pens to my pinky and middle fingers and tada! My topcoat bubbled a bit so don't look too close...

I do love a bit of a skittle!

Check out the other ladies taking part!

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33 Day Challenge day 23 - Geometric!

Hi!

I'll admit right off the cuff that I was stumped with this challenge. The last time I did a challenge that involved geometric nails, they turned out so good I didn't think I could top it. And I was right. In the end I went with some simple stamping, albeit in holo (is that the nail-bloggers version of technicolour?) so I hope you'll forgive me! I had intended to make a decal of the image, and infill some of the negative spaces, but I ran out of time for that too. Still, it's pretty! I used Born Pretty's orange holo (it's not named, but is number 5 if you're interested) and stamped with Color Club Revvvolution and Pueen 36. And of course it was the dreariest day evah so pictures are taken under my bright kitchen halogens and with flash. Can you say sausage fingers?

Sorry that was a bit of a lame effort! I promise to try harder, Scouts honour!

Hx

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