Summer Challenge Day 12: Favorite Beach Memory

Today is Day 12 of the challenge and it is almost over! I will miss having something pushing me to try new things with my nail art, but my nails and cuticles are ready for a BREAK! :] Anyways, for today's theme, I had a hard time deciding on a favorite beach memory, mostly because anytime at a beach is going to be a great memory - I LOVE the beach! Finally, I settled on attempting to recreate Myrtle Beach, since that is where I've gone on vacation with my family for the past three summers. Since I had done ocean/sand for another manicure I tried to take a different approach and recreate some of the things we did there on my nails!

On my index finger is a symbol I associate with Myrtle Beach and SC in general, but I don't think it's their official logo or anything. I just see it on a lot of bumper stickers and key chains! It's a moon and a palmetto tree.
The middle finger is my interpretation of part of the Ripley's aquarium logo. I've gone there twice and I love it - anywhere I can go to see animals I'm happy. Here's a picture of the sign to give you an idea what I was going for.

Then, going along the same idea, the ring finger is part of a sign for Broadway at the Beach, a giant outdoor shopping center where we've gone probably about a hundred times. They have fireworks and performers and great food. Here's the logo:

And last, my pinky shows a simple sunset - because our condo is oceanfront and nothing beats watching the sunset over the ocean! Ahh, I miss it there :] Hope you all like the mani, and don't forget to check out the other girls!

Kelly

Summer Challenge Day 11: Seashells

Hello everyone, I hope you are all enjoying your weekend, as I'm sitting here updating this from WORK! :p It's time for Day 11 of the Summer Challenge and it's a fun one - sea shells! I recently went shopping at Sally's (dangerous) and they were having a sale on those little Cina packets with different glitters and fimo shapes, etc. So I bought one that just happened to have crushed up seashells in it and I thought they would be perfect for this challenge :] This is sort of a different look for me, I'm not used to the texture of having things actually sticking out from my nails, but I think I might sort of like it!

How convenient, the pack came with 5 different colors, one for each finger! I used a base coat of Rimmel Gold Silk, but in the pictures it comes across as more of a nude or skin color than a gold. It was meant to look like shimmery sand.

So, what do you think? I ran into the same problem here as I did when I made textured "sand" on my nails using glitter - it wouldn't stay on five minutes if I needed to use my hands for something (i.e. cleaning, typing, etc). Is there some trick to doing a textured nail or is it just the price you pay - any help would be much appreciated!

Kelly

Summer Challenge Day 8: Beach

So, I had lots of ideas for this mani, but I ultimately decided to go a little more abstract and try something new for me - glitter! Not that I'm new to glitter in general, but I have never sprinkled actual glitter onto wet polish. I thought it would be a cool texture for sand, though, so I gave it a shot!

And just for a different view, here's one with flash and a better view of the glitter I used:

The glitter is actually micro glitter I got from Walmart! It came in a pack of 5 colors and it's actually pretty good to use for frankening :] The polishes I used were (from top to bottom) Revlon Dreamer, Essie Trophy Wife, and LA Colors in a tan shade. I stuck the sand to the wet tan polish. My only complaint about this mani is part of what makes it cool is the texture of the sand, so you can't use topcoat - meaning it got messed up in about five minutes. Oh well! Hope everyone had a great weekend :]

Kelly