Electric Carnival Half Moons

Half moon day! I love half moons and every year during the challenge, I say that I'm going to wear them more often and then I never do. So here's my look for this year -- it started out in a different place than it ended up, which is some kind of mix of "electric carnival," "60s mod," and "old wallpaper." I dig it, but had one main issue, which we'll talk about below.

The base of this manicure is LVX Midori, this gorgeous yellow-green shade that I adore. Like, ADORE it.

However.

Midori has this tendency to seep through and discolor any other shades that are used on top of it (even if there's a coat of topcoat between them). It's worse with light colors, but Midori even altered the deep cobalt blue that I used in my stripes. I didn't remember this when I reached for it, and by the time I realized, it was too late. In this case it was okay, because the color palette ended up looking kinda cool and retro, but this was not originally what I had in mind.

The process for these is pretty easy. I put down two coats of Midori plus a coat of quick dry topcoat. Once it was set, I used half moon nail vinyls to block off the moon area, then painted freehand stripes with JINsoon Cool Blue and Deborah Lippmann Whip It. As you can see, Midori turned Cool Blue into "Cool Teal" and Whip It into coral. Oh well!

Next, I removed the vinyls, and added the arcing stripes in the open moon space. The final step, of course, is to finish with topcoat. Carnival chic!

Here are my half moon manis from the past four years of the challenge:

• Sweet and girly leopard half moons
• Retro striped half moons
• Delicate lace half moons
• Autumnal gilded half moon stamping

Autumnal Gilded Half Moon Stamping

Today is half moon day for the 31 Day Challenge, and the nail art I did is not exactly my most inspired! I do like the outcome, it's just not a showpiece. Truth be told, I was just not having it last night. We are a little more than halfway through the challenge now, and it is starting to catch up with me. Sleep was on my mind!

Nail polishes and products used:
Enchanted Polish Vampires Suck
Priti NYC Chrysanthos
Nailz Craze NC03 stamping plate
Half moon Nail Vinyls

After painting my nails with Vampires Suck and letting it dry completely, I blocked off the half moon shapes with the vinyls. I stamped over the vinyls using Chrysanthos, and then removed them to reveal the un-stamped half moons!

Since Vampires Suck is a gorgeous holo, I had to include some direct lighting shots, despite the stamping being harder to make out.

Take a trip down memory lane with these half moon manicures from previous years:

• Sweet and girly leopard half moons
• Retro striped half moons
• Delicate lace half moons

Marbled Blue Swimming Pool Stripes

I like stripes. I do them quite a bit, often freehand (a girl's gotta practice), but today's 31 Day Challenge nail art required the use of nail vinyls. I combined them with the saran wrap marble technique for a blocked, marbled look that reminds me of a swimming pool. Steph Stone did a swimming pool nail art tutorial recently that used the same technique for the aquatic effect. Let's dive in!

Nail polishes used:
LVX Cashmere
JINSoon Cool Blue
Straight nail vinyls

I painted my nails with two coats of Cashmere and added a layer of quick dry topcoat to speed up the drying process. Once the base was dry, I applied both Nail Vinyls brand straight vinyls and KBShimmer straight vinyls with random spacing. The reason I used two different brands was they each had different sizes I wanted to use -- the smallest stripes are from Nail Vinyls while the medium and large blocks are from KBShimmer.

I painted one thicker coat of Cool Blue over the top, and then dabbed wadded up pieces of saran wrap over the wet, freshly painted polish. This removed some of the blue and left it with a cool tie-dye marble effect! The only thing left to do was remove the vinyls and finish with topcoat.

Stripes all day:

• Dusty green tape stripes
• Rainbow blocked stripes
• Green ombre vertical stripes

Matte Metallic Gold French Tips, with Bonus Glossy Shots

This may very well be the simplest nail look I've ever done for the 31 Day Challenge, and I did it intentionally! We have this bowl at my house, and it's a gorgeous matte black with a gold rim. I was feeling really inspired by it and decided to try a matte gold french tip with a black base. Plus, could you bear to add anything else to this gorgeousness?

Products used:
Duri Into the Further (black)
Lacquistry Amazeballs Extra Fine (gold)
Essie Matte About You (matte topcoat)
Half moon Nail Vinyls

This look is easy to do! Start by painting your nails with black, and applying a coat of quick dry topcoat. Make sure your nails are completely dry before moving on! I used half moon vinyls for a more rounded French tip, but you could also use French tip guides if you prefer. Paint on a coat of your gold polish, and then remove the vinyls. Seal with glossy topcoat, let it set, and finish with matte topcoat.

This also looked great before I added the matte topper. My choice of gold, Amazeballs, looks better glossy, but I think I prefer the black when it's matte. Which one do you prefer, overall?

More metallic mania!

• Nfu Oh 61 silver holographic
• Magnetic metallic with gold leaf
• Distressed metallic gradient