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

Monday Mani: all the purples by Girly Bits

A few months ago, I created my most popular mani post to date.  I loved it so much, I really wanted to do it in other colors.  For a recent challenge in the Girly Bits fan group, I decided to use purples I own by GB to recreate the faux ombre I had previously done in green (but that was different indie makers).  I love this one just as much and I hope you do, too!  For the first time, I did these all under studio lighting.

Now, there's a little bit debate about my calling it a "faux ombre".  The art degree in me argues this counts as an ombre because it's the same color graded.  However, I've been told in the nail world an ombre is across fingers, and a gradient is per nail regardless of color choices.  I called it faux because I didn't blend.  But maybe it's faux because it's on each nail.  I'm curious your thoughts so please weigh in on the comments: do you categorize this as an ombre or a gradient?

I used Girly Bits Twitterpated, Remember Aja, and Seriously Sassy.  As usual, all applied beautifully.  Twitterpated was more sheer than I anticipated.  I ended up doing three coats because I don't like visible nail line.  Remember Aja I've already worn and it's one of my favorite purples of all time.  Seriously Sassy made the perfect tips.  I taped off on the diagonal and accented each polish with black striping tape.  I experimented on my thumb with one diagonal and one straight to see how it looks, and I totally like it and will do manis in the future this way.

What do you think of this look?  Are you excited for me to do other colors?

 

Disclaimer: all opinions are my own.  I am in no way affiliated with Girly Bits Cosmetics.  I purchased these items myself.

Monday Mani: #52WPNMC with Superficially Colorful Tsahik Accented by Darling Diva The Alchemist and Dark Ritual

This week's Monday Mani features red, orange, and green from the #52WPNMC nail art challenge.  My mani was inspired by Lacquerologist's gorgeous mani from last week, which I discovered in my feed on Instagram and you can find on her blog here (and, yes, I SO want that KBShimmer now!).

I used Superficially Colorful in Tsahik for the orange, Darling Diva in The Alchemist for the red, and Darling Diva in Dark Ritual for the green.  I'm not a big fan of orange in general and, thus, don't have really any in my stash, so I thought I was *really* stretching it using Tsahik, but thought I could roll with it since it's described as a bright holographic orange/coral red polish.  What I discovered pleasantly surprised me: while in indoor lighting it clearly leans coral in hue, in the outdoors it lights up to an almost-neon orange.  Crazy cool!  Formula was ah-mazing on this, and could easily be a one coater depending on how you applied it.  I went for two thin coats.  As is the case with my Darling Diva polishes, no application issues there either.  Although I was a little impatient applying topcoat (need to get better about that!), it really brought out the holo in Tsahik, which otherwise dries as semi-matte.  Dark Ritual is a deep blackened evergreen linear holo and The Alchemist is a bright red holo.

Tell me in the comments what you think!  It's hard to put these colors together - did I pull it off?

Indirect outdoor lighting under shade

Full shade

Full shade

Full direct sun

Monday Mani is about showcasing beautiful indie polishes that I've purchased through lifestyle shots. So many swatches out there are captured under lighting and conditions that aren't common of every day. My intention is to show mani's under typical lighting and wearing conditions so you can decide if the beauty is right for you or not. Please note that although colors are accurate on my computer monitor (Macbook Pro), colors do vary among devices. Professional blogger swatches are perfect - here's my life lessons from a handmade artisan.

Disclaimer: All reviews and opinions are my own. Products were purchased with my own money. No affiliation with Superficially Colorful, Darling Diva, and their respective products.

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Mani: #52WPNMC - Girly Bits Cosmic Ocean and piCture pOlish Sea Jewel

It is week 31 of 52 Week Pick N Mix Challenge (#52WPNMC) for which I chose the prompt Oceanic.  I picked two ocean-y colored and named(!) polishes just for the occasion, then used tip guides to create a faux mermaid tale reminiscent effect.  Although, on afterthought, I kind of wish I had thought of mermaid scales.  (And, yes, been less lazy with the clean-up.)

I used basecoat then put down two layers of black undies to make the colors pop even more (although I know the colors look fine on their own, I just wanted the extra effect).  First came two layers of Cosmic Ocean by Girly Bits Cosmetics, a blue/green/purple duochrome.  I could not find the purple, but I definitely saw several dimensions of blue and green.  It's just stunning (I've actually used it in my nail polish jewelry).  Then, using the tip guides, I put on a thick layer of Sea Jewel by piCture pOlish, a green and silver metallic green that dries with a smidgen of texture.  I layered on topcoat, which really made things pop even more.  I didn't have any troubles with application, and both dry fairly fast with my nail chemistry.

It is hard to capture all of the colors of Cosmic Ocean because it changes so easily and frequently under different lights.  You can literally move two feet and see a different color dimension to it.  I'm really digging how this mani turned out.  Tell me in the comments below what you think!

Under shade lighting, highlighting the dark green color aspect

Under shade lighting, highlighting the dark blue hues

Shade lighting

Direct sun, showing off all the sparkle!

Shade lighting, angled to show dark blue hues

Shade lighting, angled to show various dimension

Monday Mani is about realistically showcasing beautiful indie polishes that I've purchased.  So many swatches out there are captured under lighting that we simply don't use every day.  My intention is to show mani's under typical lighting and wearing conditions so you can decide if the beauty is right for you or not.  Please note that although colors are accurate on my computer monitor (Macbook Pro), colors do vary among devices.

Disclaimer:  All reviews and opinions are my own.  Products were purchased with my own money.  No affiliation with Girly Bits or Picture Polish and their products.

An InLinkz Link-up