May's Freehand Challange Recap

Happy Monday Lovelies!  I can't believe June is upon us already, that means the year is about half over.  There is still so many more nail art goals I want to complete before the year is over, so I got to get in gear.  I am really happy that one of the goal that I am managing to complete (or maintain) is participating in monthly challenges.  Yup, I completed all the prompts in May's Freehand IG Challenge.  The Freehand Challenge is a great challenge because it gives you ideas to help you practice your freehand skills or help you learn freehand techniques you have never tried before.

Here is a quick recap of May's prompts...

The first prompt was Cartoon, which I did complete but did create a blog post for,  I did, however, post them on IG.  I created these Perry the Platypus nails, because he is my favorite character from my daughters favorite cartoon 'Phineas and Ferb.'  Seriously, who doesn't love a crime fighting platypus?!

The next prompt was for any kind of freehand over a gradient.  As you know gradients are my new favorite things, and this turned out to be my favorite nail art design that I created for this challenge.  I love everything about my 'Outline Flower Over a Gradient' design, the bright colors, the 'Fairy Dust' sparkle, and the flower design.  It was very difficult for me to remove this design because I loved it so much,  http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/05/outline-flower-over-gradient.html.

The next prompt was for a Nature design.  When I think of nature, I think of things that a green and growing, bright colored and pretty.  I was reluctant to create another flower design, but I'm happy I did.  I created these abstract vines and flower design for the Nature prompt http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/05/abstract-vines-and-flowers.html.

The last prompt of the Freehand Challenge was Favorite Color.  This leaves open so many realms of possibility.  I, of course, had to use blue but decided to also incorporate my favorite technique, gradient, and my favorite pattern, vertical stripes.  The resulting affect was this interesting Fading Stripe design, http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/05/fading-lines.html.

With this last design I completed another month of the Freehand Challenge.  I have been participating in this challenge, since its start in April, and I will be participating in until I can no longer paint my nails or they stop posting the challenge, whichever comes first.  If you haven't tried out this challenge, I strongly recommend you do.  If you don't have IG, I've posted June's prompts at the bottom of this post.  If you are on IG, share your challenge manis with #freehandchallenge so that we can find them easier.  Even, if you are to shy to share you should still give it a try.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

 



April's Freehand Challenge Recap

Hello Lovelies!  I apologize for the lack of new posts lately, but between traveling, a cold, and life in general I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything.  However, I did finish up all of April's Freehand IG challenge prompts.  The last prompt I have not shared with you here yet.

For the first prompt, Flowers, I created an Easter themed scene http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/04/garden-easter-egg-hunt.html.  I was very proud of this design.

For the second prompt, I created a geometric design that I think was probably my least successful design of this months challenge prompts, http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/04/geometric-freehand-fail.html.  I love the idea but I think my execution could use some work.  Of course, this was created with my non-dominant hand, so maybe with my dominant hand (or more practice) this would have turned out a bit better.

Prompt number three was animal prints, so I used this as an opportunity to create my first zebra print design ever, http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/04/matte-metallic-zebra-print.html.  Again, I like the concept of this design but feel I could use some practice.  But for it being my first zebra print I don't think its so bad.

The next prompt, dotticure, was and is my favorite prompt.  I love dotticures because they are so easy to create and so versatile.  http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/04/clustered-dotticure.html.  I decided to go with bright colors for this prompt, because it just seemed right, plus its spring time, and I needed a brighter perspective.

 The last prompt is to recreate a design, either of our own or of another artist.  I had a difficult time with this prompt because I have never recreated another's artwork for fear of not doing them justice.  It took me a couple of attempts but I finally recreated something I thought was presentable.

I decided to recreate a design from one of my biggest IG inspirations @ane_li.  She has created so many interesting and creative nail art design most of which are painted freehand.  My recreation hardly does her original (in the bottom left corner) justice, but I really liked the design.

For those of you who are curious, I did not create an individual post for this last prompt, because I didn't create the original design.  There is an excellent video on @ane_li IG feed of her painting this design.  If you are not familiar with her work I highly recommend you check out her account.

I really enjoyed April's prompts.  I think this is a great challenge, and is really helpful for practicing your freehand skills.  So, you know I will be participating in May's challenge (prompts listed below).  I hope you enjoyed these nail art designs, and I hope you'll give this challenge a try.  Thanks for stopping by see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

 



Clustered Dotticure

Hello Lovelies!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Today's nail art was created for this week's Freehand challenge on Instagram.  The prompt for this week is a dotticure.  I personally love creating dotticures, in my opinion they are one of the easiest form of nail art out there.  All you need is a dotting tool, a toothpick or bobby pin will work equally well and, of course, some polishes.  I've created a few different dotticures so I tried doing something a little different for this one, this is what I came up with this time around...

Materials I used:
Base coat - Yellow Stopper
White base polish - Color Club 'Blank Canvas'
Three shades of polish - Essie 'Sittin' Pretty,' 'Serial Shopper,' and 'Vices Versa'
Three dotting tools - small, medium, and large
Top coat - Rica 'Glossy Glam'

I started out with three thin coats of my white base polish.  This is not my usual go to white, I often use Sinful Colors 'Snow Me White' but I decided to give this one a try.  Though it takes an extra coat to get the desired opacity it isn't as thick and has a smoother application.

I then proceeded with my dotticure.  For this design, I started with my smallest dotting tool and dotted a cluster of three dots in each of my polish colors.  I did two more layers of dots, increasing the dot size with each layer.  I overlapped some of the dots and the color pattern is random.  I topped it all off with Rica 'Glossy Glam' top coat, now that I've figured out the base time/way to apply this top coat it has become my favorite.

The colored polishes I used for this design are from last year's Neon collection from Essie's.  In all honesty, these are the worst neons I have ever worked with but they were perfect for this design because of the white base coat I used.

This is a great color scheme for the coming months, perfect for summer.  Its bright and eye-catching.  I can imagine wearing this to the beach, oh how I miss the beach, and summer, and all things warm.

I had a lot of fun creating this design.  I really do like creating dotticures, I could wear them everyday.  Dotticures are great for beginners and are a great way to test out different color combinations.

I hope you enjoyed this nail art design, I highly recommend giving a dotticure a try if you haven't tried one already.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



Matte Metallic Zebra Print

Hello Lovelies!  For today's nail art I created a freehand zebra print for this week's Freehand Nail Art Instagram challenge.  I have never drawn zebra print before so I figured it was time, and since animal print was the theme for the week it was a perfect prompt.

Materials I used
Base Coat - Yellow Stopper
Off-white matte polish - Essie 'Wrap Me Up' from the Cashmere Matte collection
Gold polish - Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 'Go for Gold'
Small brush
Square gold studs

I started off with two clean coats of Essie 'Wrap Me Up' and allowed it to dry completely.

While I was waiting for the base polish to dry completely I used a small brush and gold polish to hand painted zebra stripes on my mid-finger.

On my ring and pointer finger I taped off half of my nail at an angle and again painted zebra stripes on the exposed area with my gold polish.  I immediately removed the tape.

I reversed the exposed area on my ring and pointer finger to give it a neat angled appearance across the three fingers.

I performed a bit of clean up and added some square gold studs across the angle as well as one on my pinky and thumb to dress it up a bit.  Because, this is a matte polish I did not apply a top coat, in order to get the studs to stay I simply used nail glue.

I really like matte and metallic combinations and for a first attempt at zebra stripes its not to bad.  I actually prefer the non-studded version of this design though.  Sometimes, less is more.  I am really enjoying the Freehand Nail Art Challenge on Instagram.  I hope you enjoyed this nail art design, thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



Geometric Freehand Fail

Hello Lovelies!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday!  I am finally back home after spending some quality time with family and am just getting back into the swing of things.  Today, I am sharing my freehand geometric design for the Freehand Nail Art Instagram challenge that I am participating in during the month of April (man! I can't believe it is April already!).

Materials I used:
Base Coat - Seche Vite
Silver polish - Cinema Swatch Lacquer's 'Smoke & Fire'
Black polish - from a Nail Art stripper
Detail Brush
Large dotting tool
Top Coat - Seche Vite

I began with two coats of my silver polish, this silver is one of the limited edition polishes from Cinema Swatch Lacquers second Walking Dead trio.  I love The Walking Dead and I love this polish which was created to represent Carol, one of my favorite characters.

This pretty grey jelly-ish polish is full of blue and pink shimmery flakies.  When I swatched these for a previous post I did not own a macro lens, but I do now.  Here is a macro shot, it gives you a much better view of how pretty this is...

I then used a small detail brush and black polish to draw different shapes on each of my fingers.  To create the circle I used a large dotting tool.

I then used the same small brush and black polish and outlined the shape in a spiraling pattern all the way to the edge of my nail.

I finished up with my usual clean up and application of top coat.  As you can see the top coat smeared the black polish.  I have been having this problem a lot lately.  I am deeming this a fail because of the top coat smear and because this is a less than perfect freehand design.  In my defense, I did paint this with my non-dominant hand after about a week long break.  I do like the design though, I think the triangle shape on my thumb is my favorite.

Oh well, this is why I practice.  I have another geometric design in mind, that I might create as a second entry for the Freehand Nail Art challenge, if I have time.  I'm off to do something else to my nails.  I hope you kind of liked this design, even if it is the best.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



April Nail Art Challenges

April is in full swing, the weather is getting warmer, plant and animals are coming alive, and manicures are getting lighter and brighter.  Well, for those of use that stick with seasonal colors anyways.  But what designs and patterns should we paint?  If you need some inspiration or a little challenge, join with me in these two Instagram nail art challenges.

First up is the #nailthattechnique challenge.  I have participated in this challenge for the last couple of months and I love it.  Each week's theme is a different nail art technique, the design and colors are entirely up to you.  I really like this challenge because it helps me explore new techniques as well as work on others that I could use some practice.  For April, the glitter tint challenge will be something I have never done so that should be interesting.  The double stamping challenge will allow me to practice my stamping technique which we all know I am not very good at.

The other challenge that I'll be participating in this month is completely new, and I am very excited about it.  It is a #freehandchallenge, each week is a different theme and the only rule that applies is that the design has to be free hand drawn or painted.  This means no stamping, stickers, vinyls, or decals.  So, dust of your brushes and dotting tools because this is all done by hand.  I actually already completed and posted the first week's Flower challenge, it was the Garden Easter Egg Hunt I created.  I'm quit proud of it, and I've already got most of my other themes for this challenge planned out.  I just have to find the time to get them done, that allusive little thing always seems to be the problem, doesn't it?

What is a Nail Art Challenge?

For my fellow plebes out there who have never heard of or participated in a challenge, here is the low down.  A nail art challenge is created by a person or groups of persons, to inspire creativity and challenge a nail artists skills.  Rules are usually very simple and easy to follow and are typically not very restrictive.  For instance, with the challenges above the restriction lies in the technique or theme but otherwise you are free to do what you want.  I have seen some challenges that are color specific or polish type, such as holo, specific but leave other details open for the creator to decide on. 

 

The deadlines provided are also not set in stone, but are there as a guideline.  I find the deadlines very helpful in planning out my manicures and blog posts.  You also don't have to complete every weekly theme, or you can do multiple designs for one theme.  I personally try to complete one design for each week's theme.  When I am restricted by time I might combine two challenges into one nail art design to keep on schedule (or as close to on schedule as I can get).

 

The big question I've been asked, is what do you get in return for completing one of these challenges?  The answer is the simple, joy and the satisfaction of completing (mostly) beautiful nail art designs.  There are no awards or prizes for completing one of these challenges, at least not in any challenge I've found.  These challenges are simply for personal self-fulfillment, to challenge your skills, and inspire your creativity.

 

These challenges really help keep me going and help me when I get a mental block on what to create next.  In addition, to the monthly challenges I often do (but not always) the Nail Polish Queen's weekly challenges.  The NPQ is a group of like minded individuals that share nail art and nail related things in a Google+ community.

 

I hope you will join me in these fun and interesting challenges.  Stay tuned to see what I come up with.  Thanks for stopping by see you next time.

 

Your Fellow Plebe,