Honor Nails You Love for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi friends!


It has finally come to an end.  Today, is the last day of not only the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge but also the weekly version that I have been doing.  The 31st challenge is to honor nails that you love.  This can be a nail art look, a favorite nail artist or a specific manicure that you love.  I always chose a manicure by a favorite artist of mine to recreate.  There are so many talented nail artists out there that it can be difficult to choose.  I went through my inspiration folder and kept coming back to this gorgeous firefly manicure done by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails a few years ago for the #31DC2014.  She is the champion of this challenge, so I thought honoring one of her creations was fitting.  You can see her original manicure here.  I hope my version does it justice!

Inspired by a Tutorial for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hello all!

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I finally have my nail art look for this past week's #31DC2016Weekly challenge.  This past week, we were doing nail art inspired by a tutorial.  Nail art tutorials are flooding social media over the past year.  With the addition of video to Instagram, there have been an over abundance to tutorials available to everyone.  It used to be just a blog thing and a little bit on YouTube.  But now you can learn how to do any type of nail art technique with the flick of a finger.  I decided to follow an old tutorial by my favorite short nailed lady, The Nailasaurus.  Sammy does great tutorials and is a huge inspiration for me.  Love her.  You can find her quilted nail tutorial here!

For this manicure, I started with a base of Kiko "Pearly Golden Coffee #514" which is a dark brown with golden shimmer.  I applied two coats and a quick dry glossy top coat.  After I let that dry for a few minutes, I added a matte top coat.  Before that dried completely, I used a dental floss pick to create the cross hatch that gives this mani a quilted look.  I tried to make them as uniform as possible but obviously they are not perfectly spaced out.  Oh well!  I still think it looks super neato.  I added tiny gold caviar beads to the intersections with a little bit of top coat.  For a little extra pizzazz, I also added a few accent nails of OPI "What Wizardry is This?" which is a brown/golden textured polish.

Overall, I am pretty happy with this manicure.  I would have liked my lines to be more uniform but in real life, you can't really tell.   I want to try this in a ton of other colors and maybe try it with a glossy top coat instead of matte.  Have you ever done a quilted mani before?  We only have one more prompt left in the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge weekly edition!  Be sure to check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by!

 - Amy (McPolish) McG

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Inspired by the Supernatural for the #31DC2016Weekly

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I know I am a little late on this week's prompt, but at least I have it for you now!  Being out of town on the weekends really messes with my blogging schedule.  For this prompt, I went with a classic supernatural being, the mermaid.  Everyone loves mermaids.  Mermaid nails, mermaid hair, mermaid fin blankets and pool gear...we see them all.  Who doesn't love The Little Mermaid?  Nobody because it's an awesome Disney classic.  For my mermaid inspired nails, I decided to go with a teal mermaid tail design.

Inspired by a Flag for the #31DC2016Weekly

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This week's prompt is probably the least inspirational of them all.  We are creating a manicure inspired by a flag.  I usually do a three colors fan brush mani using the colors of a certain flag.  Most flags are only one or two colors.  This year, I decided to recreate a flag on my nails.

In a few months,  I am going to be checking off a country I want to visit from the top of my list.  I am heading to Iceland!  And I am super duper excited :)  So why not use Iceland's flag as my inspiration?  The Icelandic flag uses the same three colors as my own country's flag: red, white and blue.  But it is in the shape of a left sided cross.

First, I painted a base coat of white with Digital Nails "I See London".  Then I used striping tape to create the cross and painted in the spaces with blue and red.  The red is Mary Kay "Radiant Red" and the blue is butterLondon "Blagger".  I did have to do a lot of clean up.  The striping tape was not being cooperative.  But after that was done (and I came to grips that it was not going to be perfect), I topped with all off with a glossy top coat.

Only three more prompts left in the weekly challenge!  To look at all of the other people participating in the weekly version of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Many thanks!

 - Amy McG (McPolish)

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Inspired by Artwork for the #31DC2016Weekly

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For this week's prompt for the #31DC2016Weekly, we are doing manicures inspired by artwork.  They can be famous artwork, local artwork, paintings, sculptures...anything artsy.  My inspiration is a famous piece by Wassily Kandinsky called Squares with Concentric Circles.  It is an abstract painting with concentric circles in a grid of squares.  I bet you couldn't have guessed that based on the name of the piece.  Ha!  I have always been a fan of abstract art and this seemed like an easy piece to recreate.  The circles are sloppy and I am really good at sloppy.

This manicure was created entirely with Zoya nail polishes.  I have so many of them!  I painted the circles onto my UberMat to make a decal of sorts.  Once they all dried, I peeled them off of the mat and cut them into squares.  Then they were each places on the nail over a base color and topped with a glossy top coat.  Easy peasy!

Here is my manicure against a photo of the original painting.  They aren't exactly like the painting but it is completely inspired by it.  I am happy with how these turned out!

We are in the last month of the weekly challenge!  This week, the rest of the nail art world started the traditional 31 Day Nail Art Challenge.  You can see all of the weekly challenge participants by following the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  If you want to scope out the daily challenge participants, just use the tag #31DC2016.  So much fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

 - Amy McG (McPolish)

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Inspired by a Pattern for the #31DC2016Weekly

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For this week's prompt for the #31DC2016Weekly, we are all doing manicures inspired by a pattern.  There are an infinite number of patterns to chose from.  Classic prints, fabric patterns, patterns used in art, patterns seen in nature, modern and ancient architecture...the sources are endless!  I was inspired by Damask patterns.  These are intricate prints that usually have some floral elements to it.  It looks classic and expensive.  I chose a bold Damask inspired image from the UberChic 7-03 plate to create this look.  I started with an alternating base of silver and black the stamped over that base with the opposing color.

The black polish I used was Cult Nails Nevermore and the silver metallic was Sally Hansen Silver Sweep.  Both of these were once coaters and stamped beautifully.  I think I like the silver stamp over black the best but they are both give a nice effect.  I did top this with a glossy top coat.  It would have looked amazing with a matte top coat as well.  Unfortunately, the matte top coat I used absolutely trashed this mani.  So mad.  I should do a matte top coat comparison for you all.  Would you be interested in something like that?

I hope you liked this manicure as much as I did!  It's simple but very pretty.  Be sure to check out the other participants doing the weekly challenge using the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Next week, the traditional daily version of this challenge begins.  See Sarah's post about the daily challenge here.  So you will be seeing tons of people posting about these same nail art themes all month long.  My challenge will end on the same day at the daily challenge so we can all celebrate completion together!  Yay!


Thanks for stopping by!
 - Amy McG (McPolish)

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Inspired by Fashion for the #31DC2016Weekly

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For this week's prompt, we are doing nail art looks inspired by fashion.  I am never quite sure what to do for this prompt.  So I use inspiration from a specific article of clothing/jewelry?  Do I go with a specific fashion trend or look?  Inspired by a fashion designer?  I don't know,  So I went a little vague and took my inspiration from a fashion trend but put my own spin on it.  Camouflage aka camo print.  We see this used in military battledress, hunting gear and country fashion.  I did my spin on it and added from metallic flare with magnetic polishes.  I have been enamored with Masura magnetic polishes.  They are so multidimensional and mesmerizing in the nail.  I used two colors from the Precious Stones line to create this distressed camo look and I love it how it turned out.

Inspired by a Book for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi loves!

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Late again with the challenge post this week!  I am sorry.  But you can forgive me, right?  This week we are doing nail art inspired by a book.  Last year, I didn't even make it this far into the challenge.  But this was the book I would have chosen.  We all love George R. R. Martin's epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire.  I read the first book in the series, A Game of Thrones, last year after being completely addicted to the television series.  You must have been living under a rock for the past 5 years if you haven't heard of this show.  But the books are so amazing and totally worth the read.  I just finished the second book in the series, A Clash of Kings, this weekend and just could not stop myself from doing nails inspired by it.

A Clash of Kings is all about the war of the 5 kings and all of the major houses in Westeros fighting for the crown.  I used a set of nail water decals that I have had for a few years for this look.  They are the depiction of 5 major houses sigils.  House Stark is a dire wolf's head.  House Lannister is a roaring lion.  House Targaryen is a three headed dragon.  House Baratheon is a stag.  And House Greyjoy is a giant kraken.  I have each of these sigils on my five nails.  The background is a base of Zoya "Chantal" with butter London "All Hail the Queen" dabbed on top with a crumpled piece of plastic wrap.  I like it both with a glossy and matte top coat but the matte version just looks so cool.  It looks like the sigils were burnt into sparkling sandstone.  Love it!

Why it has taken me so long to use these decals and do some Game of Throne inspired nails is beyond me.  I do not believe the indie shop that made these decal is still open.  I got these as a gift from Indie500Nails a few years ago.  But you can stalk their Etsy shop and see if they come back (Tentacle Studios).  I love how this manicure turned out.  Do you?  And tell me your favorite character in the series (book or show).

Want to see what other ladies have chosen as their book inspiration?  Check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Only 7 challenge prompts left!  We are in the home stretch :)


Thanks for stopping by!
 - Amy McG of House McPolish

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Inspired by a Movie for the #31DC2016Weekly

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Sorry, I have been a little slow posting here on the blog.  Busy, busy, busy.  But I do have my nail art look for the weekly version of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge to share with you all today!  Yay!  I had a vision in my head and I am happy to say they turned out so similar to what I was thinking.  I love it when that happens!  I was inspired the by the Disney movie 'Brave' and the main character, Merida.  One of my coworkers has a new puppy named Merida, so I have been hearing her name frequently and the movie is just stuck in my head.  Whenever I think of the movie 'Brave', I have visions of Merida's flowing red locks against her velvet gown running through the forest.  Don't you?  Hopefully, you can see the inspiration in my nails :)

I started with a base of Zoya "Honor" which is a bright forest green shimmer with a matte velvet finish.  It just screams green velvet dress!  In my head, her dress is this color but I think in the movie it is a little more teal/blue.  But red haired lasses rock forest green, right?  I left the base in it's matte velvet state and carefully painted on sweeping waves of fire orange hair using P2 "Craggy Coast" from the Brave and Beautiful, Rustic Folk Collection.  I mean so perfectly does the name of this polish fit this manicure and inspiration??!?!  I painted some swirls of black to define the hair but did not top coat any of this manicure.  (actually I did try a glossy top coat after I took this photos and smear the black all over the place...but I will spare you that failsauce)

I really, REALLY liked how this mani turned out.  It was exactly what I envisioned and I think represents the movie nicely.  The contrast of the matte and shiny is great.  Do you agree?!?

Be sure to check out all of the other ladies participating in the challenge but perusing the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Many thanks!
 - Amy McG (McPolish)

*products purchased by me or sent as a personal gift*

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Inspired by a Song for the #31DC2016Weekly

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Sorry that I am a day late on posting my #31DC2016Weekly mani but I had numerous nail art fails yesterday and ran out of time.  But I am happy with today's attempt!  This mani was inspired by the hit song from DNCE called 'Cake by the Ocean',  I am certain you know this song, it has been a huge hit!  Not only is this song super fun but I have been dying to try out beach nails.

My base is a gradient of Zoya "Ling" and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Shocking Nude" made with a makeup sponge.  Then I a a spray water marble technique to make the water effect.  I dropped a drop of white nail polish into water then sprayed it with some aerosol hair spray.  The alcohol in the hair spray makes the paint separate and gives it that cool effect when you dip you nail in.  

Next, I used a little cake image from a Winstonia plate.  I did a little reversed stamping and colored in the cake with pink and purple and threw it on the nail.  I topped it all off with a glossy top coat.  And bam!  Cake by the Ocean!  Haha.  I know it is a little silly and literal but they used a great big slice of cake on the beach in the music video, so I though it was fitting.  Plus, I really like how the spray watermarble turned out.  If you haven't seen the video before, check it out below!

Be sure to check out all of the other ladies participating in the challenge but perusing the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks!
 - Amy McG (McPolish)

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Inspired by a Color for the #31DC2016Weekly

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We are in the final stretch of the challenge!  This is the part of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge that I typically fizzle out.  For the last 10 days of the challenge, you are supposed to do manicure inspired by colors and movies and fashion.  It was always difficult for me to come up with something new and exciting every day.  Now that I am doing the challenge weekly, I will have more time to come up with cool nail art looks for these tougher prompts!  This week, we are doing manicures inspired by a color.  I chose a color of manicure that is classic and traditional.  My mani today is inspired by pinky nudes.  Pink toned nude polishes are so classic and work appropriate.  People may say they are boring but I love wearing them.  Plus, they can be jazzed up in so many ways.  So that is what I did...jazzed them up :)

I started with a base of a soft gradient of pinky nude cremes from Cirque Colors.  The darker pink is "Jane on Jane St." and the lighter pink is "Whitney".  They are both delicious creme colors with amazing formulas.  All of the Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection cremes are fantastic.

Next, I applied these cute water decals from Nicole Diary in a delicate black floral pattern.  I have been really impressed with the water decals from this brand.  They are so easy to apply and smooth onto the nail flawlessly.  They are super thin and even stretch a little to fit around even the curviest nail beds.  They don't wrinkle when you apply a glossy top coat either.  You should definitely check them out!

I did this mani on both a glossy top coat and then a satin matte top coat just to see which I liked best.  I like them both!  Which do you like best?

I am really happy with out this manicure turned out.  It is very delicate and girly but still appropriate for work.  I am excited to see what everyone else doing the challenge has come up with this week,  Be sure to check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to see more awesome nail art!  Have you been enjoying this weekly challenge?

Thanks for stopping by!

 - Amy 'McPolish' McG

*polish purchased by me and water decals sent by the maker/stockist for honest review*

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Watermarble Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

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For week 20 of the #31DC2016Weekly, we are doing watermarble!  Oh, the dreaded watermarble.  This is typically the hardest prompt for people.  I am still not that good at doing this technique.  I have had the most success with jelly polishes and Pipe Dream Polish cremes.  Every year, I use some of the Pipe Dream Polish cremes to do this prompt.  They just watermarble so well!  This year, I used three polishes from the Mellowed Out Cremes collection.  Unfortunately, they are no longer available.  But Pipe Dream Polish does have a new collection of Tie-Dyed Jellies out right now that watermarble very well.  I haven't been able to snag them yet but I plan to!

For this mani, I used three colors: Chillax (dusty blue), Peace Out (dusty purple) and Peace Out (dusty orchid pink).  They applied smoothly and I did not use a base color under my watermarble design.  So what you are seeing is just one coat of the watermarble over the bare nail.  They are super opaque!  I would like to say that it only took me one try for each nail but I had to redo the watermarble design over and over again.  Like I said, I am not a pro.

Then I just had to add a little bit of holographic bling to the mani.  Everything is better with a little sparkle, right?  I topped this manicure off with a think coat of Ride the Boogie, also by Pipe Dream Polish.  It is a simple topper with silver holographic glitters of various sizes.

I hope you liked this manicure!  Watermarbles are always hard and I am stoked when they come out nicely.  This ends the second part of the #31DC2016Weekly.  Next week, we start the home stretch and the most difficult themes.  I will have to use my creative brain much more for the rest of the challenge.  If you want to check out what other ladies have been doing for the challenge this week, check out the tag #31DC2016Weekly on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!

Many thanks!

 - Amy McG (McPolish)

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Galaxy Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

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This week's prompt is a fun one!  I always like doing galaxy nails.  It is really difficult to mess them up and you can try so many color combinations.  I always say "this year I am going to do pastel/neon/colored galaxy nails" and then just do traditional galaxy nails in the end.  I am infatuated with space and photos of far away worlds, so the traditional galaxy designs are always my favorite.  This year, I decided to use all Zoya colors!  Zoya makes the most perfect galaxy nails base color, Storm.  Storm is my most used Zoya nail polish for sure.  It is black and sparkly and magical on the nails.  When in doubt, Storm out!

Half Moon Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Happy 4th of July fellow Americans!

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I am a few days late with my mani for the #31DC2016Weekly this week but you will forgive me, right?  I have been hanging out by the beach with my mother this holiday weekend and just haven't been able to sit down and write this post.  I have a few minutes now, so let's get into it!!  This week's prompt is Half Moons.  I always like this nail art look.  It looks classy and can be made pretty funky, too.  I wanted to repeat my manicure from last year.  But that is not the point of the challenge.  You are supposed to do something new to you.  So, this year, I did a little gradient half moon.  This look was very much inspired by a recent tutorial by The Nail Trail.  In Hannah's look, she did ruffian instead of a half moon but the blue gradient under the nude nails looked so good, I just had to try it myself.   I made my half moon a little bit larger than you would typically see but I really wanted to show off the colors better.

Glitter Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

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For the 17th week of the weekly version of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, we are doing glitter nails!  Usually, I would do something super sparkly and glitterific.  But today I am sharing a minimal glitter manicure.  Glitter placement can be tedious but very rewarding.  I have done completely covered nails before but this time I just had to phone it in with only a few glitters.  That is my style though.  Minimal but pretty.  Right?

For this manicure, I started with a base of Kiko "486 Tea Rose" which is a dusty pink mauve creme.  Then I used a toothpick to place diamond shaped glitters down the center of my nail.  These glitters were provided to me by Mr. Nail Art.  They are a nice purple holographic shade that really shift and shine in the light.  Once they were in place, I topped everything off with a a glossy top coat.

Aren't those little holographic diamonds pretty?!

A simple mani but one that I still liked a lot.  I hope you liked it, too.  Be sure to check out the rest of the glitter manicures done this week for the challenge by scanning the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  

Thanks!

 - Amy McG aka McPolish

*glitters provided for honest review, polish purchased by me*

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Geometric Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

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It is week 16 of the #31DC2016Weekly and we are doing nails inspired by geometric patterns.  I decided to use a fun stamping image from UberChic that is sheet of triangles.  Triangles are my favorite shape, three points where two lines meet (bonus points if you know that lyric, if not you can check it out here).  I really liked how this mani turned out except for one thing.  I should have used a black base under my stamping instead of white. You can see the small defects up close but in real life it isn't obvious.  Check out my little mini advanced stamping tutorial at the end of this post!

Click through for more photos!

Delicate Print Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

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For this week's prompt, we are doing nail art using delicate print.  Typically, I have always some kind of stamping with a delicate floral design.  But this year, I decided to go more literal.  I used a stamping image from the UberChic Far East 01 plate that was delicate Japanese writing.  So it's the delicate printed word of a pretty language.  I am about 50% sure that the writing on my nails is Japanese.  And I am pretty sure that I stamped them upside down.  So, if it is not Japanese then is must be Chinese.  There are both Japanese and Chinese elements on this plate, so I am unsure.  I'm sorry.   But I think it looks pretty damn cool!

The true star of this mani is the base.  I started with a layer of Essie "Adore-a-ball" which is a sheer off-white jelly.  Then I topped it with two layers of Digital Nails "Crotch Ice" and one layer of Digital Nails "Crush Leaves, Not Dreams".  Both of these are shifty flakie toppers with amazing shifty shimmer.  Crotch Ice is more blue/green and Crush Leaves is more orange/copper.  Both are beautiful and look like magic on the nails.

After stamping over the flakie base with black polish on the UberChic image, I tried both a glossy and then a matte top coat.  You know I have to MATTE ALL THE FLAKIES!  Some of these photos I took under two lights to show off the shiftiness of the flakies.  I also tried to do a black frame around the nail and it just turned out crappy.  But if I had done it correctly, it would have looked bomb.  Oh well!

So what do you think of these nails?  I thoroughly enjoyed them.  Even if the stamp is upside down.  We are just about half way through the #31DC2016Weekly.  The prompts will be getting much more challenging as the weeks go on.  Are you enjoying this series?  Let me know!  And be sure to check out all of the other participants manicures by veiwing the #31DC2106Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Join in anytime you would like!

Thanks for stopping by!

*one of the polishes used in this mani was provided for review*

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Floral Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

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This week for the floral nails prompt, I wanted to do some more hand painting.  I got my inspiration for this mani from an incredible nail artist on Instagram, Katharina at @cottonconey.  She does such cute floral and cartoon designs and I just love them.  Mine did not turn out as perfect and tiny as hers do but I was happy enough with them to share with you today.

Animal Print for the #31DC2016Weekly

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Holy moly...I am so excited to share my #31DC2016Weekly mani with you all.  I played around with some Masura magnetic polishes again and I am in awe at just how freaking cool my manicure turned out.  I am going to apologize in advance for the large amount of photos of this one mani but you need to see it.  I was inspired by a nail artist I found on Instagram through some shares on the Masura page.  The user @deryabinayulia (this is just an example of her work, you must look through ther account!) does these crazy, amazing looking snake/alligator/reptile skin manicures with gel polishes (I am pretty sure they are gel, I don't read Russian).  I am mesmerized by them.  So I tried to do my own version using magnetic polish and stamping.  I am am tickled pink with my results!

Lots of pics to come!

Striped Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

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For this weeks prompt, Stripes, I wasn't sure what to do.  I kept thinking of the same look I did last year, stripes and flowers.  But I decided to do a take on a nail art look I did a very long time ago.  Stripes of color and little details.  I started with a base of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a quick dry top coat.  For the stripes, used Nail Vinyls to block of sections and painted them in with neon color.  the neon green, neon pink and neon yellow are all acrylic paint that you can get from any crafts store.  I used these because it is so easy to fix mistakes.  All you need to do is gently scratch off the dried paint and start over.  On each nail, I did a tiny little design in one the stripes.  Leopard print, cheetah print, tiny dots and stripes all done with a tiny little paint brush.  Once it dried, I topped it all off with a glossy top coat.   What do you think!?

I like how these turned out but I wish I would have put a thicker top coat on.  The acrylic paint is a little raised and rough.  But the neon colors are bright and fun for summer.  Make sure you check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to see all of the other great nail art looks for the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

 - Amy 'McPolish' McG

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