40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Week 2 Teal + Pattern-on-Pattern

We're underway and getting down to the nitty gritty of the nail art challenge. :)  Hoping I didn't mess up my assignment!  Prompts are assigned in a really cool, but seemingly complicated, way so crossed fingers I'm on track. ^_^  This week, the color is teal and I was assigned the pattern-on-pattern prompt.

I am actually not a fan of pattern-on-pattern so I sort of dreaded this one, and creativity was difficult as I am uninspired by the prompt.  I feel like it can turn ugly and messy really quickly - I've seen even the best of nail art bloggers struggle with it.  I wanted all my colors to be teal, but I discovered I did not own as many teal shades as I thought.

Inspired by the experiment on my thumb in my last faux ombre pattern post, I used Just My Cup of Tea'l by Girly Bits as the base; Teal We Meet Again by Sephora OPI as the second color; and Swoon flakies by Girly Bits as the tips.  As my second pattern, I layered on mermaid scales vinyls by What's Up Nails using Teal Oops by Colors by Llarowe.  Per usual (ha), this didn't exactly turn out how I envisioned, but at least the scales are visible over the SOPI layer.  Because life is cruel (jk), you can see I accrued some tip wear before taking photos.  Too many layers of polish. :/

So I'm curious to know - what are your thoughts on pattern-on-pattern manis?

 

Shade with indirect lighting

Shade lighting

I used Dazzle Dry by Girly Bits before putting on the vinyls layer.  Trust me, this lives up to the hype.  I was blown away how much richer the color popped after putting it on.  Definitely am going to have to do a comparison post to show you what I mean!  Not only that, but I was pleased to see it dried very fast and created a very hard, resilient top coat.

Disclaimer:  I am in no way affiliated with the products mentioned in this post.  All opinions are my own.  All products were purchased for my own usage.

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40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Week 1 Hobbies

I have joined another nail art challenge!  Another great one hosted by Crumpet's Nail Tarts.  I am challenging myself to the one-a-week prompt style.  I typically post manis on Monday, so this'll be an adjustment for me at first.  This week's prompt is hobbies!

Now, I consider myself to have many hobbies.  Crafting has always been my number one, but since I'm living with my parents that's kind of gone on the backburner due to space constraints (and them not being fans of how much room it takes)... plus I wasn't sure how to do nail art on that.  I enjoying cooking and baking, but, there again, haven't been really able to do that since this isn't my house.  I'm slowly getting to where make-up *might* be a hobby; nail polish definitely is, but I have a feeling plenty of other manis will be about that.  And then there's a few hobbies I've mine I've let go dormant: photography, scrapbooking, crocheting....

However, the thing I am most passionate about is animal advocacy: I could easily do it as a full time job.  I currently volunteer for my friend's rescue as well as dedicate my time to being a helicopter mom to three kitties.  I am also the random weirdo in your local pet store teaching you (and sometimes the employees!) about proper pet care while shopping.  While this might not be considered a traditional "hobby," it IS what I am most passionate about right now.  And I could come up with some nail art for it. :)

I used three untrieds from my A Box, Indied stash to create this mani: Pahlish Fields of Gold (March 2015), Contrary Polish When in Rome (Aug 2015), and Different Dimension Witch & Famous (Oct 2015).  In conjunction with some white polish as well as cat vinyl decals I purchased from What's Up Nails, I created a mani inspired by the colorings of my three adorable furbabies.  This came out a little more Halloweenie than I intended, but that's bound to happen when I'm working with polishes I haven't tried on before this.  Also when what's in your head doesn't translate as well as one hoped.

I had some difficulty applying the Contrary Polish.  I am not sure if this is due to it not liking my basecoat or that is simply its consistency.  I have had this issue in the past with Contrary Polish.  While the first coat is streaky and drags, the second coat evens things out.  The Different Dimension I had no difficulties with, although I'm not sure how I feel about the bigger brush.  Pahlish is a brand I'm already familiar with and have quite the stash already, whereas Contrary and DD I'm newly introduced through ABI.

Tell me in the comments below what you think!  And let me know what your favorite hobby is that would inspire your nail art mani!

 pinkie = Maddie

ring = Brandon

middle = Annabelle

pointer is a fun decal :)

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the polish brands mentioned above.  All opinions are my own.  Polishes were purchased by me for my own personal usage.

An InLinkz Link-up