Pizza Bunting Nail Art

Today's prompt is "inspired by a flag," and it's arguably the worst prompt in the whole challenge. I was thinking about bunting and how that would be a cute idea to do for flag-day, but wanted to figure out a way to make it more unique. All of a sudden - I had it! At the beginning of the year, Rebecca of Rebecca Likes Nails had crocheted and then gifted me some pizza bunting, and I figured it'd be perfect to try to recreate on nails.

Though my nails aren't as cute as her crochet creation (could anything EVER be?), I think they're unique and fun and who doesn't like pizza, you know? My favorite toppings are pineapple and ham, though lately I've been gravitating towards banana peppers. Also - have you guys tried Pizza Hut's pretzel crust? Pretty sure they just put some butter and salt on it, but man that stuff is delicious.

Previous "inspired by a flag" manicures:

• Racing checkered flag
• Arizona state flag nail art
• Textured American flag nail art
• National flags of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Pizza Bunting Nail Art

Today's prompt is "inspired by a flag," and it's arguably the worst prompt in the whole challenge. I was thinking about bunting and how that would be a cute idea to do for flag-day, but wanted to figure out a way to make it more unique. All of a sudden - I had it! At the beginning of the year, Rebecca of Rebecca Likes Nails had crocheted and then gifted me some pizza bunting, and I figured it'd be perfect to try to recreate on nails.

Though my nails aren't as cute as her crochet creation (could anything EVER be?), I think they're unique and fun and who doesn't like pizza, you know? My favorite toppings are pineapple and ham, though lately I've been gravitating towards banana peppers. Also - have you guys tried Pizza Hut's pretzel crust? Pretty sure they just put some butter and salt on it, but man that stuff is delicious.

Previous "inspired by a flag" manicures:

• Racing checkered flag
• Arizona state flag nail art
• Textured American flag nail art
• National flags of Avatar: The Last Airbender

TUTORIAL: Easy Sideswipe Nail Art with Negative Space

Who's up for a super quick and easy nail art tutorial? This look is a variation on the distressed nail art tutorial that you may have seen around these parts before. I changed the direction, added a bit of negative space, and made it matte. Easy, easy, easy. Perfect for the gal on the go. Hit the jump to check out the tutorial and see this technique in action.




For this look, I used:
Color Club - Je Ne Sais Quoi
Essie - Too Taboo
Julie G - Cabana Boy
Glisten and Glow - HK Girl Topcoat
Essie - Matte About You Topcoat
Kolinsky 777 French/round brush
Pure acetone

If you don't have a round brush, give it a go with whatever clean up brush you have handy! Of course, if you'd rather, you can always go for the classic hole-punch-reinforcement-as-half-moon-stencil method, too.

Mix things up by grabbing different color combinations, skipping the matte topcoat, or using a nail vinyl as your negative space stencil. The possibilities! Share your versions with me on Instagram by tagging @chalkboardnails and hashtagging #hellochalkboardnails.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Nail Art Blocking

In the 31 Day Challenge, some days you win, some days you lose. And you probably won't have the time or the energy to scrap a mani that you may not be crazy about! So here we are.

It's inspired by a book day, and I decided to get creative and try doing three distinct segments of nail art, all related to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. From top to bottom, we've got the Emerald City, the yellow brick road, and the poppy fields. I love the idea in theory, but my execution leaves a bit to be desired.

Nail polishes and products used:
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
Dermelect Belle Epoque
Polish My Life Birthday Suit
OPI Coca Cola Red
Sally Hansen Going Green
Formula X Dark Matter
China Glaze Running In Circles
Painter's tape

So I'm calling this one "nail art blocking" vs. "blocking nail art" because I am actually making blocks of different nail art looks. Blocking nail art, to me, is when the blocking is the essence of the nail art. How's that for logic?

I started by painting my nails yellow and adding the yellow brick road detailing. Then, I added a coat of quick dry topcoat and waited for it to dry completely. I taped off the triangles with painters tape, and then added the Emerald City and poppy fields blocks. A final swipe of topcoat and the mani was done!

If I were to do this again, I think I'd try freehanding the sections instead of taping them. I'd also use a lighter color for the brick outlining.

Previous literary manicures include:

• Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
• The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein
• 1984 by George Orwell

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

Stylized Goldfish Scales Nail Art

It's animal print day of the 31 Day Challenge! This is always one of my favorite days. I do a lot of animal print in my regular nail art work, so I like to take the challenge as an opportunity to get inspired by some unusual animals. This year, I've gone with a freehand stylized goldfish scale print, inspired by Queen Otohime from the One Piece anime. Does anyone else watch?

Nail polishes used:
OPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
American Apparel Hassid

Without giving too much about the story away, Otohime wears a kimono with this stylized fish scale print on it. I tried to directly mimic the way it looks in the anime, and I think I did a nice job! I painted my nails with the red-orange first, then added the yellow detailing, and finally finished it off with the black lines.

I'm pretty enamored with this pattern. It definitely looks like fish scales, though I can also see phoenix feathers or dragon scales. Very bold and cool.

Animal print from years past:

• Blue poison dart frog nail art
• Manta ray patterned nail art
• Nudibranch sea slug nail art

Style Polka Dot Floral Print

This 70's style, fall-appropriate floral is my polka dot nail art for the 31 Day Challenge. It looks fairly complex at first glance, but it's simple when you start to break it down! I just combined dots together in different sizes and colors to create a simple floral pattern. It feels very vintage, don't you think?

Nail polishes used:
DIOSA Dime Piece (light grey)
Jessica Cosmetics NY State of Mind (dark grey)
Jessica Cosmetics Meet at the Plaza (olive green)
Color Club Je Ne Sais Quoi (mustard yellow)
LVX Roux (coral)
American Apparel Berry (burgundy)

This nail art was really very simple, it just took a bit to put all of the unique dot floral pieces together! I used four different dotting tool sizes: my large flat rhinestone picker, a large dotter, a small dotter, and a pinpoint dotter.

I was just about ready to mattify this, but I've been using matte topcoat on so many things lately. I decided to let it rock the glossy look.

Check out more of my polka dot nail art:

• Ladybugs
• Polka dot pyramids
• Punchy dot mix