Urbana Nails

It's finally here! I leave tomorrow to start my work at Urbana (I've been working for Urbana since August). To commemorate this joyous occasion, I of course gave myself an Urbanicure!

I'm surprised with how good the colors turned out. I only needed to blend the yellowish green color with a bright Sally Hansen yellow and my InstaDri Lickety Split Lime. All my other colors were dead on with the logo:

Not too shabby, eh?

It was much trickier to paint my right hand, but the logo still turned out pretty well, if only a bit lopsided. I did do a slightly different design on my right hand fingers, only having "12" vertically and excluded an accent nail, but the coloring is the same. On my left hand I added a 2100 logo for an accent nail since I worked on some Urbana media during my internship with 2100 and also to "promote" the 2100 recruitment session at Urbana.

I've been looking forward to Urbana for a while, but nothing gets me quite in the spirit for Urbana like an Urbanicure! See you in Saint Louis!

30 Day Challenge: Black and White and snowflake fingers

Back on track with the challenge this week with black and white nails.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. It's a little hard to see but I used my China Glaze Catwalk for the grey in the gradient, which looks really great in person. I didn't think I would like this day of the challenge very much, but it ended up being one of my favorites. 

I was really sick last week so I didn't do my nails. I felt like I was sort of in withdrawal! So because of that and also because I received two lovely new polishes from my secret santa at work, I decided to paint my fingernails.

I have to say, I totally love these colors from Essie (I did the opposite colors on my left hand) and think they make a great base for snowflakes. I've never done snowflake nails, and the tutorials make it look a lot easier than it actually is. It wouldn't be so difficult, perhaps, if you used a needle for the small lines. With some practice and different tools, I think I could make these pretty clean looking. Nonetheless, I'm happy with how they turned out. And it was good to practice painting my fingernails again since next week I'll be painting them with the Urbana 12 logo for the conference (more info at urbana.org). 

Nail Art Challenge Day 7: Rainbow

This weeks challenge was actually supposed to be black and white, but I got the two mixed up and did rainbow first (it makes more sense after going through the rainbow in previous weeks, right?). Anyhow, this was my first time using the sponging technique, and I think I need some more practice, but overall I like how it turned out.

30 Day Challenge 6: Purple

Last weekend I did a quick pedi with a few different patterns with a lovely lavender base. It turned out pretty well, but I'm realizing that I have yet to get my dotting and striping technique clean.

On another note, I started using Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream and after a couple days I'm already seeing a difference. I'm excited to see if I can heal up my rough feet in another week or so to the point where clean up is easier around my cuticles.

Give Thanks for Paint

Over the holiday I offered to paint a few family members' nails. My cousins searched my pinterest nail art board and picked two designs they liked. I hadn't tried either of the designs, but thought it would be a nice challenge and they both seemed pretty realistic to do in an hour (I have slow hands).

First up, my lovely cousin-in-law Lyssa's design:

The color accuracy and photo quality aren't the greatest, but this is pretty close to how they looked. This was my first time using tape to get straight lines. I only taped the middle triangle section and hand painted everything else. I think it turned out pretty well and I can definitely see the advantage of taping but I think I'll try to find thin strips of tape so I can have better lines. I used 3 China Glaze paints- Lemon Fizz, Peachy Keen (it's less orange in person), and Shower Together. The color combination is pretty pleasing. This was my first time painting someone else's fingers in a LONG time. It was rather enjoyable.

This morning before we left I quick did my cousin Hannah's toes with this gradient stripe design. It's different from the inspiration photo (which is angled, all one color family, and has much straighter lines), but considering I did it in a rush and entirely freehand, I think it turned out really well.

Again, I apologize for the photo quality/color

Hannah seemed to like the end result, and this design is really perfect for her, given her love for the ocean. I did realize while doing this that I could really use some new tools. If you have advice for brushes or other tools that hold paint well and can do striping and very intricate details, please leave a comment. 

It was really a pleasure to do these designs this weekend! I'll have to find more people back home that would like a free manicure/pedicure, since it's really great practice for me and I find it really relaxing and fun.