Star Bright - Reverse Stamped Glow in the Dark Stars

We're almost at the end of the 31 Day Challenge! Today's prompt is "inspired by a tutorial" and I took the opportunity to try reverse stamping, a technique I've never tried before. I always like the results other people get from it, and the Challenge is all about pushing yourself, so advanced stamping seemed like the way to go. I did struggle, but the finished product doesn't look too shabby! I used this tutorial from Drama Queen Nails for my guidance.

Nail polishes used:
Formula X Dark Matter
OPI Angel With a Leadfoot
Serum No. 5 I Gleam In Pink
Serum No. 5 Solar Power
Serum No. 5 Orange You Sunny
Serum No. 5 Ultra Violet
Serum No. 5 Indi-glo
Vivid Lacquer plate VL002

If you wanna try out this technique, be sure to visit Drama Queen Nails for her tutorial. The basic gist of it is that you create your own decals by stamping and painting on a plastic bag or a piece of wax paper. You peel the "decals" off, flip them over, and stick them on your nails.

I used five of the Serum No. 5 neon glows for this look, and it was AWESOME in the dark. Tiny little glowing stars, floating around. I love that they glow different colors, too.

Check out the other tutorials I've tried in the past:

• Cutie owl half moons
• Candy mermaid scales
• Floral pond manicure

Glittery Skull Cameos

I always take the opportunity to use "glitter" day of the 31 Day Challenge to do some hand placed glitter nail art. I don't have the strength of mind to attempt it most other times. This time, I had some new triangle glitter I wanted to play around with, so I grabbed that and some glitter skull decals and went to town. I ended up with these pretty kickass skull cameo nails!

And you know what? The placement wasn't even that bad or time consuming!

Nail polish and products used:
Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt (white base)
Orly Glowstick (neon yellow)
Black holographic triangle glitter (use code CHALKBOARD15 for 15% off!)
Joby glittery skull decals
White wax rhinestone picker pencil

I started off by painting my nails with two coats of white, and then two coats of neon yellow. The white base helps the neon pop! I did my topcoating strategy a little differently (read: poorly), but if I had it to do over again, I would have done a layer of quick dry topcoat next.

Then, using a slow drying clear polish as the glue, I stuck on the pieces of triangle glitter one by one. I basically worked in edges, painting a thin stripe of clear along one side of my nail, placing the glitter using the wax pencil, and repeating until the outline was complete. I used tweezers to attach the skull decals. At this point, if you were following my ideal topcoat strategy, you'd apply a final coat of topcoat to seal in the glitter and the decals.

There's no such thing as too much glitter, so be sure to check out my glitter manicures from years past!

• Wet N Wild Correction Tape
• Hand placed glitter party nails
• Midnight Mermaid glitter placement

Rainbow Pinwheel Nail Art

Ah, the rainbow prompt of the 31 Day Challenge. So bright, so happy! I've done some rainbow pinwheel nail art -- it also reminds me of the top of an umbrella, for some reason. I went for the brightest, most cheerful colors I could find, and freehanded the design over a white base.

Nail polishes used:
China Glaze You Drive Me Coconuts (pink)
China Glaze Sun Worshiper (orange)
China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (yellow)
China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada (green)
China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle (aqua)
China Glaze Sunday Funday (blue)
China Glaze That's Shore Bright (purple)

I started out with a white base, and then freehanded spiraling blocks of color. I rotated the block placement between each nail for more visual interest. Then, I outlined the sections with black and a small nail art brush. I finished with topcoat and that was that!

I didn't think I'd have as much trouble with this prompt as I did. Unfortunately, it was the first of my challenge stumbling blocks this year. Though I ended up with a design that I actually do like a lot, I tried probably 4 or 5 other manicures before arriving here! So frustrating at the time, but I feel good about it now.

This manicure photographed a little streaky, but of course it doesn't look like that at all in person. The struggle is real.

Taste the rainbow:

• Rainbow half moons with cloud French tips
• Rainbow gradient with black and white glitter
• Lady Rainicorn from Adventure Time