31 Day Challenge - Day 4: Green

A second post today!  Might as well get a load in before I start my new job, the frequency is seriously going to decrease as of Monday (although after a month I'm going to be in uni for a couple of months, so obviously then painting my nails will take priority over essays).

Today is day 4 of the 31 day challenge being organised by Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner.  We're working our way through the rainbow, and today we're on green.

I'm finding it quite difficult to get inspiration just from a colour, I think I need a bit more guidance than that...Coming up with ideas is always the hardest part of a manicure for me (so keep the suggestions coming on Facebook, in comments or by emailing me).  So, today's manicure is in no way inspired by the colour green, other than being green, but I thought I'd seize the opportunity to try out the cling film technique.

I used China Glaze Exotic Encounters and Zoya Meg.  I really like the effect this technique gives, and it's so quick and easy - perfect if you're in a rush but want something more interesting than just plain nails (which you should, all the time...).  From what I've read on other blogs, you can do this via two methods.  You can either paint the second colour on and then dab it off with some cling film while it's still wet, or you can use the cling film to sponge the second colour on to the nail.  I used the former (I always get former and latter mixed up, but I think I mean former...).  I was going to try both techniques, one on each hand, to see if they produced different results.  But I didn't.  So...yeah, no idea which technique is better.

Anyhoo, next up in the challenge is blue nails on Saturday.  I have a manicure using China Glaze Man Hunt...such a pretty blue.

Check out all the other blue nails:

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Nicole at The Color Republic

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Nail Narcotics

Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

Mixed Mama

Joanna at Sweet Polish of Mine

Patty Greenberg

Liz and Lisa at Lozlosa 

Mari at Nailista 

Greta at How Was Your Day?

Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

Gini at Sassy Paints 

Chameleon Stampede 

Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Teal Tuesdays: Teal Triplets

Today is Tuesday, and therefore teal!

This week's theme is triplets - we did a poll to see which teal polishes everyone has, and then selected the top three, and we all had to use one of those to do our manicures this week :)

 Of the three polishes, the one that I have is Zoya Zuza.  I was feeling summery, as it was actually sunny for once when I did these, so I wanted to combine Zuza with some bright colours.

I used striping tape to do this manicure.  The underneath colours are both Max Factor - Cactus Green and Bright Orange. I added a layer of Seche Vite and a little fimo orange (just because I bought them months ago and hadn't used them...).  I like how this turned out, but putting all the striping tape on takes so long!

Have a ganders at all the other Teal Tuesday participants:

Gnarly Gnails

Nails Beautiqued

Geeky Owl

Mandy's Polish

Fancy Phalanges

Colorsplash Nails

Simple-and-Beautiful

Persistently Glittery

No Holos!

Cherries Sweets

The Frenzied Polisher

Caitlin's Creative Corner

Lacquered Libra

Nail Polish Lane

Once Upon a Polish

Subtlety is Overrated
Elyssian Beauty

My Collection

People sometimes say to me "You must have so much nail polish!".  I always insist, of course, that I don't.  to be fair, it all used to fit in a shoe box.  It doesn't any more, but it's still far less than a lot of people's (I don't yet have a room devoted to nail polish, although I am working on my boyfriend...).

So anyway, I thought it'd be a good idea to photograph my collection so people could see what I have.  And because I was bored.  So here you go - all polish names are from left to right.

OPI 

Not Like The Movies, Fresh Frog of Bel Air, Teenage Dream, Grape...Set...Match, Over The Taupe, Mermaid's Tears, I Juggle...Men

Zoya Yara + Konad

I was a little stuck for ideas today, so I decided to raid my collection of polishes that I've yet to try.  I recently bought some new Konad plates as well - not that I've used the other Konad plates I had - so I thought I'd give stamping a go too.

The Konad design is more visible in the photo below.

I used two coats of Zoya Yara, which is a lovely khaki polish packed with loads of gold shimmer (the first photo's the most colour accurate, but you can see far more gold in person).  On the accent nail is one coat of Barry M Instant Nail Effects Gold Foil, stamped with an image from Konad plate M83.  It's all sealed off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I was originally going to paint all the nails with Yara and stamp on the accent nail with the gold, as I think that polish would be perfect for stamping, but in the end I decided it'd look a bit random.  What do you think?