Day 27: Inspired By Artwork

Day 27 is inspired by Piet Mondrian’s “Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue” made in 1921. When this challenge was next, I knew immediately I wanted to use this piece.

It’s a fairly simple piece, but it has enough elements to make each nail differ and include different elements of the painting.

Let me say that some of my friends taking an Art History class were immediately done with me when they saw this. 🙂

I started off with two coats of Zoya Purity, then added a topcoat because I thought I would use guidelines for the black outlines. Instead, I outlined the lines using a toothpick, filled in the square, and finished with a final black outline. I used Zoya Livingston, Zoya Sia, and Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow to finish the primary colors.

I also made a slightly different version with just my ring finger and thumb with the pattern, and the rest in white. This style makes it a more wearable version, as the primary colors paired with the black and white really popped.

I really enjoyed this design, I hope you enjoyed it as much as me! It’s definitely one of my favorites ever!!

Speckled

Today I have a swatch of Zoya Dove and OPI To Be Or Not To Beagle. Zoya Dove is your classic grey creme, two coats. I absolutely love To Be Or Not To Beagle! It’s such a fun topper with a variety of colors and a great payoff! This polish works with basically any nail polish due to the black pieces and various colorful bits.

Geometric Designs (tutorial)

So today in this sort of tutorial I have some geometric designs that I did on top of Zoya Tiana. Everything I did I used striping tape as my guidelines, so no artistic talent necessary.

Let’s start off with the designs: (please excuse the cat hair 🙂 )

They’re easier shown than described, but basically I cut a bunch of striping tape pieces, then stuck them all on my nails. The complexity ranges from a simple V french to the triangle pattern on the last two nails.

Next I used a cosmetic sponge to apply a gradient over the striping tape. From left to right: Revlon High Stakes, Sephora Formula X Orbit, Zoya Mirajane, and Zoya Willa. (Note: Zoya Mirajane did not really show up, mostly because it is a neon polish not designed for this)

I applied this gradient vertically using Zoya Willa near the base of my nail and Revlon High Stakes near the tip. For the french nail, I used the gradient horizontally, with the colors growing darker towards the edges of the nail. After several coats, I peeled off the striping tape, let it dry, then added a topcoat.

So that’s about it! I hope you all enjoyed and see you next time!

Cartoon Drips

🎉 This is my 100th post!!!  🎉

These are some cute dripping nails using Sephora Formula X High Frequency and black and white acrylic paint. After painting the black drips, I decided to add some white highlights to create a cartoon effect.

I used the same technique to create The Jungle inspired nails, you can check them out over here.

This is one of my favorite designs to do when my nails have grown out a bit and I don’t feel like changing them. They hide the gap created by my growing nail with some super cute nail art. I received quite a few compliments, this is a great way to have interesting and detailed nail art without spending hours.

I also enjoy working with acrylic paint, just because you can erase any mistakes with a toothpick – as long as you add a topcoat first!

Let me know if you want to see how I create this design!

Butterflies

These are some butterfly nails I did a while ago. Instead of the usual monarch colors, I used a more blue/purple gradient underneath the black outlines. Using Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac and Wet n Wild Putting on Airs, I created a gradient, added a topcoat, then used black and white acrylic paint to create the wings.

I’ve seen countless nails using this design, so I’m not sure where it originated, but credit to whoever did – It’s a really cute design!