The Lacquer Legion: On Holiday

The Lacquer Legion is a group on Facebook that posts a nail challenge every month.  This month's theme is "On Holiday."  This holiday inspired theme includes showcasing landmarks from around the globe, favorite vacation spots, summer activities, etc.  I chose Paris! #nailart

Scales and Feathers

 
Day 29 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Green/Blue."  I instantly thought of a peacock feather for the colors.  For an "animal-print" theme, I chose different nail plates featuring feathers, scales, or anything that looked like that.  I'm not a bird person in the sense that I'd want a bird as a pet, but I did build bird houses when I was little and I like feedings birds.  And I really like bird or feather prints or jewelry, so this was a fun mani to create.

Love is Black and White

It is the 28th day of the Bundle Monster Challenge, and the theme is "Love."  The Bundle Monster holiday nail plate set has so many cute designs for Valentine's Day.  I was sad I didn't get to try them all back in February, so this gave me a second chance to try some different ones.  I guess I could have done a love themed nail at any time, but I was busy participating in other challenges and never had time.

Maleficent Nail Art

I originally created this design for the release of the new Maleficent movie featuring Angelina Jolie.  I'm a huge movie buff, and a Disney fanatic (obviously, since I happened to have this Sleeping Beauty light box on hand), so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a movie mani.  I've been doing a lot of them for the summer with so many good movies coming out.

Seeing Spots

I've finally caught up to present day in my posts for the Bundle Monster Challenge, so I was able to include some mid-way photos to go along with the steps.  Day 26 of the challenge is "Polka Dots."  Bundle Monster has quite a few dot-themed nail plates, but this overlapping dot look was a little different.  If my nails were longer, the design would look better, but it still turned out okay.

Shine Bright Like A Diamond

Diamonds are a girl's best friend :)  Day 23 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Sparkles."  Sparkly nails usually involve lots of glitter and crystals...which I still used.  But part of the challenge is to use Bundle Monster's products, so I found a couple nail stamping plates featuring diamonds and my creation was born.  Diamonds are the quintessential "sparkly thing" all of us girls want and love.

Cupcakes

I LOVE cupcakes!!!  But really, who doesn't?  Day 22 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Icing."  Icing makes me think of cake or cupcakes, but cupcakes are more fun to paint on nails.  There is this cupcakery near my house called Icing on the Cupcake, so I modeled my cupcakes after some of their flavors: Chocolate Mint, Red Velvet, Raspberry Lemonade, and Pinkdelicious.

Ice Cream Nails

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!  One of the many things I love about summer...ice cream!  There is nothing like a cold, delicious treat to cool you off on those hot summer days.  Lately I've been crazy about making my own ice cream too.  I have this ancient ice cream maker that my uncle gave me when I was little.  At least it is electric so I don't have to crank, but it is super loud!  So far I've made a strong coffee ice cream, and the last one I made was strawberry with marshmallows, shortbread cookies, and caramel swirls.  Yum!  Next, I think I'm going to try to make a tropical flavored sherbet. 

Day 21 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Ice Cream."  Since it is summer, I've seen a lot of ice cream manis being posted on Instagram, Pinterest, magazines, everywhere.  Ice cream nailspiration isn't hard to find right now.  I've been dabbling with painting with acrylic paint on my nails.  The paint is easier to control and dries a lot faster, so layering paint for designs isn't such a tedious process.  Here is my take on ice cream nails using primarily acrylic paint.

All Smiles

Day 20 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Happiness."  At first I was debating if I should paint something that makes me happy.  But then I decided to go with a more literal approach and went with happy smiley faces :) Plus I had a smiley face fimo cane, and I never use my fimo cane arsenal enough.

Starry Celebration

Day 19 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Celebrations."  It was hard to think of something to represent this theme that hadn't already been part of the challenge.  I decided to do a stars/shooting stars/fireworks type thing.

Fun Nail Art

Day 18 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Fun!"  I scoured my Bundle Monster stamping plates to find images I felt embodied this feeling.  I settled on: (1) a moustache since those are so popular right now, (2) shoes because I love them, (3) Nintendo because it brought back a feeling of nostalgic "fun," and (4) popcorn because I associate that with movies (which I also love), and I love eating popcorn in general...especially cheese popcorn.  Yum!

Kisses!

Day 17 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Kisses."  Originally I was going to do each nail differently, but after some technical difficulties with the stamping, I decided to make them all the same.  Usually the "comic" style nail (black rim with white shine detail) is done with a solid color in the center, but I decided to mix it up with a pattern.  Whenever I think of comic book women, they always have big pillowy red lips, so it made sense to put the two aspects together.

Pretty Purple Flower Nails

Day 14 of the Bundle Monster Challenge is "Flowers."  I've been wanting to try a dotting flower nail for a while so this was the perfect excuse to do it.

This design is definitely a beginner level nail, but simple designs can still be amazing. And adding metal studs always upgrades a design to make it more fancy.  I picked a pastel color since that always goes well with flowers and looks sweet.  I'm also trying to use more purple polishes in my designs.  For some reason I like to buy a ton of purples, but then never use them.  I'm definitely addicted to nail polish.

Pop Some Bubbly - Champagne Nail Art

Day 13 of the Bundle Monster 30-Day Nail Art Challenge is "Celebratory Drink." Nothing says "celebration" quite like champagne since that's usually the only time you drink it, except of course mimosas at brunch.  Although that could be "celebratory" in my case because I am NOT a morning person, so to wake me up early on a weekend for brunch is a miracle and cause for celebration.  Plus I love breakfast food, so that is always a celebration for me. 

But back to nails...  Since I'm using champagne as my celebratory drink theme, I decided to paint my nails in the champagne color scheme.  Champagne bottles are usually green with gold labels, so those are the colors I used.

Confetti Nail Art

For the month of June, Bundle Monster is having a 30-Day Nail Art Challenge to celebrate their 5th birthday.  Each day is some sort of birthday/celebration type theme.  I was a little late getting in on the challenge, so I missed the first week, but I couldn't wait to participate in the remaining challenges.  Day 11 of the challenge is "Confetti."

Hello!

I'm just starting my blog, so please bear with me as I add to my collection of posts and tweak and build my site.

For those who have already been following me on Instagram and Pinterest, you'll see some of my previous posted nail art creations, but with how-to explanations on how to recreate the designs.  I paint my nails a couple times a week, so I'll also be mixing in some new stuff with pictorials.

Enjoy!