Thank you to everyone who gave me encouragement and feedback along the way (you know who you are. Yes, you!). And, to Mr. Kimett - who never looked bored (on the outside) when I was constantly barraging him with a bazillion questions about design ideas. I hope you'll read the whole post to see the collage of all of the designs together, find out what designs were most popular with you all and which was my favorite. Oh, and there's a celebrity photo...
Here is a collage of each of the 31 designs. Don't they just look fabulous all together!
COLORS
- Red Nails: Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers
- Orange Nails: Outerspace Oranges and Peaches
- Yellow Nails: A Wink and A Smile
- Green Nails: Dark-Green Leaves Light-Green
- Blue Nails: Into The Blue
- Violet Nails: Purple Fire Flop
- B&W Nails: OPI Black Spotted Here!
- Metallic Nails: Metal Meets Matte
- Rainbow Nails: A Little Birdie Went "Oh, Splat!"
- Gradient Nails: Autumn Palette Gradients
PATTERNS - Polka Dots: The Dots Won!
- Stripes: Two-Toned Teal Stripes
- Animal Print: Almost Abstract Giraffe Print
- Flowers: Warrior Woman Style
- Delicate Print: Flower Lattice Over Raspberry Parfait
- Tribal Print: Tribal Style Beaded Design
- Glitter: Glitter Balloons
- Half Moons: Snow Frosted Blue Half-Moons
- Galaxies: Holographic Stars in Colorful Nebula
- Water Marble: Winter Pastels in Water Play
INSPIRED BY - A Color: Blue Ombre First, Then...
- A Song: Love is....Green?
- A Movie: Love and Steel
- A Book: Red Moons and Gold Tips
- Fashion: Four Squares for Fashion
- A Pattern: Band Geek
- Artwork: Abstract Watercolor Painting - On My Nails!
- A Flag: Flagged As...
- The Supernatural: My Inner Dragon Likes Crows Toes
- A Tutorial: April Showers: Following a Waterfall Tutorial
- Honor Nails You Love: Final Challenge Design, Honoring Nails of Oooh, Shinies!
Of all of my posts to date, about 70% of them have been designs for the challenge. It was a great way to kick-start my nail-art journey. Instead of dangling my toes in the water, I dove into the deep-end!
I'm proud of myself for using nail-art in some fashion on all designs - except one. And, I feel I pushed myself on many (which is one of the biggest objectives for doing this and other challenges - so that's sort-of a "duh" statement).
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| Neal Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson from TV show, How I Met Your Mother. Famous for accepting challenges, intended or not, from his friends. |
There were 8 new-to-me techniques: 1) gradients, 2) stenciling/color blocking, 3) free-hand painting to "look like something" (rather than just free-handing a stripe or swoosh), 4) using non-polish mediums (acrylic paint, water color paints), 5) galaxy technique, 6) water marbling, 7) saran wrap, and 8) making a stamp decal.
So what were your favorites? Well, it felt to me (based upon comments, likes and shares on social media) that you enjoyed the Patterns Section of the challenge the best; specifically the Polka Dots, Flowers, Galaxy, and Water Marble. I too enjoyed that section the most.
Based on page views, below are the TOP 3 most popular designs. Interesting, that there is one from each section of the challenge.
- Red Moons & Gold Tips (Inspired by a Book)
- The Dots Won! (Polka Dots)
- Metal Meets Matte (Metallic Nails)
What did I like the best? It's really hard to pick....but if you told me that I'd lose my nail polish collection if I couldn't pick one (Oh - goodness, no jinxes, no putting that out in the universe, no, no, NO!): I'd say my favorite design was of the ogres, Shrek & Fiona, from Love is...Green? I was super proud of myself for pushing to paint something that "looks like something". I am much more comfortable in the abstract.
Also, along the way, I've picked up several followers (yay! and, welcome, again!) and was invited to display my work at Nailpolis. I have a feeling, participating in this challenge helped bring about both of these good things.
So, there you have it. This may have been more than you were interested in reading. You might even be sick of the challenge posts. If so, you're in luck.
I'm done with the #31DC2013 challenge.
Till next time,
Kimett
PS - my next milestone will be Post #50!!! To celebrate, I will be doing a design that is voted on by you!!! If you haven't voted for your choice yet, please do. (You'll find the poll at the top-right of the blog page. If you're viewing this through an RSS reader or in mobile view, you'll have to switch to web view to vote....but please do! Voting is open until midnight, Sunday April 27th.
THANK YOU!