Day 24: Inspired by a Book Cover

Today's challenge was supposed to be inspired by a book. As a profoundly superficial person, I chose to be inspired by a book cover instead. I had my latest bagbook (I always carry a piece of easy reading with me) just lying around when thinking of this challenge, and the inspiration hit me instantly.

I started with two coats of Revlon Frankly Scarlet (love the name!), which is one of my long time favourite reds. I think I got it from my mother as a present, even before I really got into nails and blogging. So thanks a lot, mum, and yes, you will be held responsible.

 Just take a look at that subtle golden shimmer!

Progressing with the mani from light tones to darker ones, I sponged on some OPI from A to Z-urich near the cuticles and China Glaze Short and Sassy to still a bit smaller area. Finally, I sponged in some "stripes"with China Glaze Loft-y Ambitions and Nicole by OPI Black Cat-cha Later.

For sponging in this mani I used a piece cut out of a regular kitchen sponge. Not very high-tech, but it worked perfectly! I've also got some sponge tip make up applicators in my nail art stuff, but I prefer the kitchen sponge for this look and coarser sponging.

My hands looked really creepy after the sponging, it would have made a great Halloween mani. My culticles were blood coloured all over and the surface of the nail was gritty like there really was blood all over them. Eugh! Needless to say the cleanup was a mess..
Here are all the polishes I used, and the book:

The book was good in its genre, by the way. I've quite recently found Nesbø, read a few of his books and still like his style. If you're after a page turner in crime novels and read your Larssons, go for Nesbø.

Day 23: Inspired by a Movie

This was a mani, that was just meant to happen. I knew I was going to Paris (just to change a plane, but anyways) and I needed a movie-inspired mani. The first movie I came to think of was the classic romantic weeper Casablanca, where the quote "We'll always have Paris" is from. And you know which polish that brings to mind...

While I'm not a big fan of romantic movies, I fully subscribe to the idea of "having" or preserving eternally the most precious moments we experience in our lives. Even their memory can fade in time, but they do leave their mark on us, accumulate in us and make us what we are.

I started out this mani with two coats of OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede, and sponged some OPI Russian Navy Suede to the tips. On the ring fingers I added floral stamping with Konad White pearl stamping polish and m40.

Sorry about these pics, by the way. They were taken with my phone in Paris CDG airport, partly standing in the line to board a plane (like the previous one). But as this was a Paris mani, it had to be pictured in Paris, so just bear with me

There is no topcoat here, because I wanted to preserve the suede shimmer finish. I was a little worried about the stamping, but it endured really well without a topcoat. So don't hesitate to try that at home!

Day 22: Inspired by a Song

Today's mani was inspired by a song, and the song is Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square by the Mnhattan Transfer. You can check it out in YouTube.
It still touches me... Just don't take any make up ideas from this vid, unless it's Halloween..

 Base is two coats of China Glaze Midtown Magic. I thought the base was brown, when I looked at the bottle, but it was burgundy on the nail. Amazing shade! If I'd known that, this baby would have made its way out of my untrieds a lot earlier..

Midtown Magic was actually where I got the idea on the first place. Seeing the name I instantly jumped to humming the line "... there was magic abroad in the air..." of the song. And that's how I came up with Berkeley Square song and that's how I came to think of an Indian restaurant near the square in London, where we went with my husband to enjoy our most overwhelming food experience ever. The restaurant, called Benares, had a Michelin star at the time, and I think it has closed down for a few years ago. So it really was a one-time experience.

To honour that place and our night there the nails were to have some Indian style deco. So I added stamping with Gosh Silver and BM 212, plus a few tear-shaped rhinestones. I think these resemble the pictures you see at the walls of cheap-but-excellent indian restaurants, with traditional designs with silver and glass stones on a black velvet base.

I can't see why I don't have a pic of more than three fingers. The stamping wasn't bad at all as far as I remember - thanks to my trusted silver stamping polish Gosh Silver. I'll just try to remember to include more fingers next time!

Day 21: Inspired by a Color

I made this mani before I began with this challenge, but I was definitely inspired by the colors I used:

These beauties are OPI Big Hair, Big Nails and Y'all Come Back Ya Hear. I fell in love with these jellies -eh, I mean sorbets- and was lucky to catch some more of them just recently from a certain 50% Off basket in a certain salon where a certain credit card experienced certain abuse, but more of that some other time...

The colours were so bright and in-your-face, but fresh at the same time. It was almost a shame to add anything, but when my husband suggested an Explosive sign, I simply had to. The yellow in the sign is Essence Colour&go Sundancer, the black is Konad black special polish throughout. Part of the explosion was stamped from BM204, some are freehand. The crackle on my pointer and ring finger is BeYu Crackling top coat 202.

Could've done better, could've done worse. Better what goes to the explosive sign, worse with choosing the colours and the idea. I'll have to play with these jellies again soon!

And here, as usual, are all the polishes I used:

I'm in the last third of the challenge now! Wow, I did get this far! I'm trying to get this challenge through before Christmas so I can show you my holiday manis as I wear them. It would be soo lame to get them out in January when everybody is totally fed up with Christmas..

Day 20: Water Marble

Today's challenge was the one I'd been dreading the most... the big bad water marble!

The base was Astor POP color 139 - a supermarket polish for 2 euros that really exceeded my expectations. It could have been one-coater even on my long nails, but I did two coats just in case. Amazing brush, opacity and formula. I'm definitely going to haul more of these!

The marbling was done with the Astor, plus China Glaze's Ahoy, Senorita Bonita and Thistle. I'd read in other blogs these polishes were okay with marbling, and I wasn't going to take any risks.

So, how was it, water marbling for the first time? Well, bad, to be honest. After the first nail I thought "Hmm, this wasn't so hard", after the second "What the f*** is happening here" and after re-doing the second for the third time "I'm not going to make this". Just look at this mess!

But after all, I managed to finish the mani and marbled both hands. I'm not too proud of the result, but I'm definitely proud of my resilience. I know only few other persons who could possibly think spending hours on a manicure is not a complete waste of time, and in times like this, I'm extremely happy to have them somehow around me.

Here are all the polishes I used. I hope I'll gather the guts some day to try the water marble again. It was still kinda fun. I enjoy doing things I'm simply not good at - a kind of perversion, I guess...