South American Favela Painting Project Nails

 
Arden: Hi everyone!  Today we're supposed to create "South American" nails in the 33 Day Challenge.  Goodness gracious-- that's a whole continent of inspiration to choose from!  It was quite a difficult task.  I ultimately decided to use this picture for inspiration, created by an artist duo who've painted these awesome enormous mural on the walls of a favela in Rio de Janeiro.  To learn more about the Favela Painting project, click here.  (And if you're interested in how art has flourished in the slum favelas of Brazil, might I recommend the excellent documentary Favela Rising?)

I created these nails by painting the lighter shade of each color on every nail.  I then painted strokes of the darker color on top of each nail using the cloud/stairs method.  Next, I added white jagged lines using our Color Club white striper polish.  Finally, I made little black dots/lines for the windows on the buildings using the Color Club black striper polish.  I added a top coat and they were good to go!

Colors used (thumb to pinkie):
Sally Hansen Barracuda
Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant glosstini Blue Hawaiian
Revlon Minted
OPI Did It On 'Em
CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Coral Silk
Essie Geranium
Sally Hansen Pink Blink
Essie Pink Daquiri
Julep Leila
Sally Hansen Butterscotch

Ok, so these are obviously not in any way a super realistic depiction of the favela murals, but they were bright and fun and geometric, so I still think we can call them a success.

As always, be sure to check out the other entries in today's 33 Day Challenge group after the break.

Mexican Desert Nails

Arden: Hey everybody!  Today's prompt in the 33 Day Challenge is "Mexican nails."  Not gonna lie-- I have no idea what that's supposed to refer to.  I didn't want to portray any stereotypes, so I decided to do something pretty safe: a desert sunset landscape.  The inspiration for these nails came from this paper mosaic I made a couple years ago and now hangs on my wall:

To create these nails, I started with a base coat, then painted on one coat of white polish (Sally Hansen White On).  Then, starting at the base of my nail, I took a nail art brush and painted on strokes of the navy polish.  I repeated this method for the purple, pink, yellow, and gold polish.  Finally, I took a striping brush and painted on the ground and the cacti.  (And then added a top coat of Essie Good to Go.  Can't forget that top coat!)

Colors used in the sunset:
Julep Lacey
Zoya Mira
CoverGirl Boundless Color Fuschia Girl
Zoya Creamy
Essie Good as Gold

The edges of these were a little messier than I would've liked, but overall I think they turned out pretty good.  If I were to do it again, the only change I'd make would be not to paint a cactus on each nail-- maybe just the pointer and ring finger.

As always, be sure to check out all of the other great nail art designs below!

Striping Tape Multicolored Nails

Arden: Hey everyone!  Today's prompt in the 33 Day Challenge is "tape manicure."  I originally was going to do a manicure that involved regular Scotch tape, but then I saw this design on Pinterest and just had to try it out!

I started with one coat of L'Oreal All in One Base coat, and then painted two coats of Sally Hansen White Out.  I added a coat of Essie Good to Go to help my nails dry faster, and then applied striping tape in a random, vaguely spiderweb-like pattern.  I think I used 4-5 pieces of striping tape per nail.

I then cut up a makeup sponge into a bunch of little pieces (one for every color I would be using).  I took the first color I was going to use, dabbed a bit on a piece of junk mail (wax paper or aluminum foil also work well), dipped a piece of sponge in it, and sponged a tiny amount on each nail.  I repeated the process for each color.  When I was done, I removed the tape with tweezers and followed up with a top coat.

Colors used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pink Blink
CoverGirl Boundless Color Fuchsia Girl
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening
Essie Mint Candy Apple
Color Club London Calling
Essie Butler Please
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac

I think these turned out AMAZING.  I freaking love them, they might be my most favorite nails I've ever done (I know I say that kind of a lot).  I just loved the sponged nature of the rainbow colors, and how crisp the tape lines look in comparison to the smudginess of the colors.

This was also not that difficult to do-- sponging on colors was great because if I messed up, I could just sponge something else on top of it and no one could tell.  The most time-consuming part of this manicure was applying all of the striping tape (as it always is with striping tape manicures).  The rest was super user-friendly!

What do you guys think of this manicure?  Let me know in the comments!

If you haven't entered our giveaway yet, you should do it!  You can see all the rules and prizes here.

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Also, be sure to check out all of the other people who are participating in the 33DC below!

Blue Waterfalls

Arden: Hey everyone!  I'm emulating the Nailasaurus' new favorite nail art technique again today!  I've already done a colorful (feathery) version as well as a green (wormy) version, but today I decided to try out a monochromatic striped look, much like the Nailasaurus' original blue waterfall.

[I think this post is going to be very picture-heavy and not terribly explanatory, so if you'd like more details on how to do this pattern yourself, follow the Nailasaurus' tutorial here.]

I started with a base coat, and then added two coats of CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant glosstini Blue Hawaiian.  I then used one of the striper brushes from our MASH nail art brush set to add stripes on top in a variety of blue shades.  I started at the base of my nail, and brushed upward (as straight as I could) toward the tip.

Colors used in the stripes:
Essie Midnight Cami
Essie Blue Rhapsody
Essie Butler Please
Essie Beach Bum Blu
Zoya Liberty
Julep Tracy

I'm not gonna lie-- I wasn't too thrilled with these nails until I added Liberty and Tracy-- two colors that are texture polishes that are packed with glittery goodness.  With a top coat added on top at the end you couldn't tell at all that they were textured, and their glittery-ness (that really needs to be a word) really kicked this manicure up a notch.  It made me want to get more glittery polishes to add that little bit of kick to my nail art designs all the time!

What do you think?  Have you tried out the waterfall look yet?  Hit us up in the comments!