Summer Challenge Day 1: Bees!

Well, the day is finally here and I am SO excited - the first day of my first nail art challenge EVER!! I really hope I can keep up with each day with work, but I think since it's every other it will be so much easier than most other challenges that are every day :] Thanks Theodora and Kaki for coming up with this challenge!

So, for those of you who are not doing the challenge, or don't know, I'll post a picture of the challenge first.

So, for day 1, the subject is bees! I never thought I would be doing a manicure of something I'm allergic to, but here I am anyway! Maybe Codeine for the next mani ;]
Anyway - I decided to combine two bee designs that I've seen while Googling, and what I came up with was this! (This is pre-cleanup of course - normally my nail arts will not be so sloppy - I hope!)

Right hand...

And left hand!! Now, for my self-critical comments. I really do love this mani and I thought it was great for summer. BUT - I used a toothpick to make the dotted line, and sometimes the black polish I had put on a CD for dipping out of, got a little bit hardened and so it became sticky, leaving a trail between dots. You can especially see this in the second picture on the pointer finger nail. Next time I would refresh my dotting pool more often! I also would probably tape my thumbs because one of the yellows I used (Manishma Lightening) is obviously very staining. The blue (Wet n Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint) came off so, so much easier. I'm also still learning how to clean up the cuticles and edges using acetone and a thin brush - a technique I saw on The Nailasaurus. So, you can see that sometimes I slipped and took off too much (i.e. middle finger on the left hand). Other than that, I thought this was a fun mani and something I will try to recreate in the future once I get better at nail art! Thanks for checking out my blog and definitely look out for some of the other bloggers taking part in this challenge :D Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Kelly