Day 30 of OMD Challenge- Betty and Veronica Nails!

What’s my fave comic book for day 30?  Betty and Veronica!  When I was a kid I used to collect Archie comics… but mostly the Betty and Veronica ones!  Jughead and Archie are ok…. but those two girls are  just too cute!

I used the newspaper nails technique with an old comic book from 1990.  Lookit how cute my thumb nail ↑ came out!  It’s a little pic of Betty and Veronica being buddy-buddy with their arms around each other.  Of course, earlier in the storyline they were ready to pull eachother’s hair out…but I’m glad they made up in the end!

I’m really happy with my middle finger- the Betty image transferred really well!  It’s cool because Betty was always my favorite!  Unfortunately, the Veronica nail didn’t come out as good… but I think I didn’t press hard enough when I was transferring the image.  I think the key to good newspaper nails is PRESSURE!  Here’s a closeup of my Betty…

I can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day of the OMD!  I think it’s cute that we all started calling it OMD.  I guess it’s easier than writing out oh mon dieu it’s the rather awesome 31 day nail art challenge giveaway!  I’ll tell you what though … I’ll never hear the phrase ‘oh mon dieu’ the same way! Ever again!! 😀

30. Fave Comic Book (or Character) :

Day 29 of OMD Challenge- Missoni Fashion

Today is FASHION DAY in the OMD Nail Art Challenge!  Warning- I am not a fashionista.  My favorite shoes are Crocs if that gives you any indication of my personal fashion sense!  LOL  But in the OMD spirit I started scouring the web for the latest in fashion trends.  I stumbled upon this slideshow- Best Looks From Pre-Fall 2013 on Harper’s Bazaar.com.  This one Missoni dress caught my eye (source: http://www.harpersbazaar.com) .  If I was thin and/or rich I might wear this one.  What I like most is it’s unexpected combo of blue, black and orange.

I didn’t try to replicate the Missoni design when I was creating this manicure.  Mostly I used the dress for inspiration and loose interpretation :).  This mani was actually pretty easy!  I free-handed the stripes with a detail brush and also made some dots with a dotting tool.  It looked so cool before I put the black dots on too.  I almost wish I stopped there.  But oh well, I’m still really happy with this look!  I like how muted and murky the orange looks against the bright blue!  What do you think of it?

Here’s what I’m wearing…..

Blue ♥ Keks by Butter London (so vivid!)

Orange ♥ Orange Creamsicle by AVON (with a drop of black mixed in to darken it)

Black ♥ NYC Black Lace Creme

29. Inspired by Fashion :

Big Brother 15 Nails! for day 28 of the July Nail Challenge

For any BB15 fans that come across this article- I’m hosting a nail art challenge with Brijit and Eeeek this July!  Today is DAY 28 of our challenge and the theme is INSPIRED BY A TV SHOW.  Since I had to paint my nails with a tv show theme today- I naturally chose my absolute fave tv show of all time- Big Brother US!  Right now season 15 of BB is full swing!  And my two favorite BB15 cast members are Amanda and McCrae– so this mani is for you guys!  I hope you win!

I printed a couple pics of these two love birds from the CBS BB15 website and trimmed them with scissors to fit my nails.  Then I put on a healthy coat of Revlon Quick Dry Topcoat and slapped those babies right on my nails.  I had to squish the pics down on my nails for a few seconds to make sure they were secure.  This worked pretty well since the quick dry topcoat dried fast and acted as a glue.  (BTW- I tried the newspaper nails technique using photos printed on printer paper- TOTAL FAIL. So if you ever wondered whether newspaper nails works with printer paper- it doesn’t.)

I painted my other nails in bright colors and added cool stamps to bring Amanda and McCrae some good luck!  My pointer finger is painted with Elephantastic Pink by OPI and I stamped some hearts on top to bring them some good love vibes.  My pinkie finger is painted green with Orly Jealous, Much? and I stamped some dollar signs on top in hopes that they’ll win the big money prize at the end!

Do you watch BB15 ?  And what do you think of my Amanda and McCrae nails?

It’s not too late to join in on our nail challenge- it will be open til Aug 5th 2013.  More info here!  Check out the other TV show inspired nails below….

28. Inspired by a TV Show :

Day 27 of OMD Challenge- Bead Inspired Nails

Day 27 is all about Jewelry!  There are a lot of fun and creative options for this theme!  It’s hard to narrow it down.  But after sifting through my jewelry-making goodies I found these gorgeous marbled beads.  I haven’t made them into a necklace yet… so why not at least ‘wear’ them on my fingernails?!

I wish my teal base color was a little brighter.. but oh well, I work with what I’ve got!  Here’s what I’m wearing:

Teal ♥ NYC Tudor City Teal

Beige ♥ Zoya Pandora

Orange ♥ wet n wild Club Havana

Purple ♥ wet n wild On a Trip

I can’t wait to see the other jewelry-inspired designs for today!  Lotsa bling, I’m sure!
27. Jewellery :

Day 26 Favorite Vacation- PDX

Phew I got this post in before the day was over!  The theme for day 26 of the OMD Challenge is FAVORITE VACATION and my fave has always been Portland Oregon!  My best friend Amie has lived there for about 10 yrs now and I usually make it out there at least once per year.  I always fly into Portland International Airport so the airline code PDX is engrained in my brain!  I’m always scouring the web for good prices to PDX.

Amie and I have done some fun stuff over the years during my vacays- ghost tours, seaside excursions, weddings, devouring mass quantities of meat (her hubbie’s a butcher)… but we usually have the most fun together just doing nuthin and hanging out!  Friendships like that are priceless, don’t you think!?  I have another trip to PDX scheduled for August.  A nice break from work, some Portland sunshine and some much-needed time with my BFF and her family (oh, and pugs too).  Can’t wait!

Here’s what I’m wearing- two coats of a Julie G gold polish called Metallic Heels, some studs from Claire’s Boutique and my black Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.   It was nice and easy, which is perfect for a TGIF-kinda friday!

There’s only 5 days left of the challenge! The links will be open til Aug 5th for any last minute submissions… then we will pick our 4 random winners!  It’s pretty exciting!  From looking at the raffle numbers it looks like you’d have a good chance of winning too- especially if you’ve been participating everyday!  Good luck everyone!

26 Favorite Holiday/Vacation :

Day 25 of OMD Challenge- Dazed and Confused!

It’s INSPIRED BY A MOVIE day in our nail art challenge!  Have you ever seen Dazed and Confused?  I’ve seen it probably 100 times!!  Last night I pulled out my special edition DVD case to find all kinds of fun stuff inside.  There’s a movie poster in there… and check out this cute insert that looks like a high school notebook with scribbles all over it!  This insert was my inspiration for today’s manicure:

I used ten different polishes for this manicure… but the hardest part was getting the right base color.  I ended up layering a couple different shades and then sponged three different colors over top.  The fade effect is very subtle, but at least it resembles the color of the insert now !  I drew my scribbles on with my Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen and then painted a few multi-colored circles on with dotting tools and a skinny detail brush.  I prefer more cohesive designs on my nails- but still, this mani is funky and fun… and I love that it depicts one of my all-time favorite movies!  What do you think?

Tomorrow is INSPIRED BY YOUR FAVORITE VACATION day!  I dunno about my past vacations…. all I can think about is my upcoming one in August.  I need some time off so bad I can taste it!  Some de-stressing and time with my BFF is definitely in order!  Southwest Airlines- take me away!!

25. Inspired by a Movie :

Day 24 of OMD Challenge- Multicolored Mani

Hi to all the nail fans out there!  I’m excited for day 24 of our challenge because the theme is INSPIRED BY A TUTORIAL!  I follow a lot of blogs and I’ve see so many great nail art tutorials- there’s no lack of inspiration for today’s theme!  Do you follow the Polish Alcoholic?  I always think of her as the ‘Queen Bee’ of WordPress nail blogs!  She was also the VERY FIRST blogger to follow my blog when I started blogging 9 months ago.  So naturally, today’s design was inspired by the sweet and sassy Polish Alcoholic.  Check out her tutorial that inspired my mani:  Blue Manicure for Autism

I chose 6 rich colors for this mani:

Blue ♥ Sweet Peacock by Orly

Green ♥ Garden Green by AVON

Silver ♥ Bring on the Snowflakes by Sephora by OPI

Black ♥ Smoke and Ashes by China Glaze

Gold ♥ Golden-I by Sally Hansen

Purple ♥ Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI by OPI

I’ll have to ask the Polish Alcoholic what the name is for this technique.  I just love it and I think it needs to be a real official ‘thing’.  Everyone needs to try this one out!  You don’t need special tools to create these scales- this one is considered a ‘bottle brush’ design!  What do you think?  Are you tempted to try it?

24. Inspired by a Tutorial :