Instagram Nail Art Challenge (Glam Nails): April Edition

Hello!

Somehow it has been another month and I have completed another round of the Glam Nails Challenge on Instagram. I'll warn y'all now; these designs are quite China Glaze heavy as I treated myself to the Chic Physique collection as a birthday present and I. FELL. IN. LOVE.

If you're in the UK I purchased the Chic Physique collection from here (saves me linking each individual product!).

Anyway, for April the prompts were as follows:

And here are my corresponding mani's!

(Note: I am gradually updating my collection to be cruelty free but to do that I am using up old non cruelty free polishes. Most of these I bought years ago. I hate waste and the companies already have my money so I personally feel the best thing to do is use them up but not repurchase & look for cruelty free alternatives. I will however always highlight when I have used a polish from a non cruelty free brand.)

Prompt 1: Easter

A quick look back at the calendar is all you need to work out why this prompt was Easter! I used China Glaze polish in:
       - Barre Hopping
       - Pilates Please
       - At Your Athleisure
       - Pretty Fit
and Primark Polish in Marshmallow. Once my base colour was dry I used a dotting tool & Marshmallow to create the dots, and a nail art brush & the China Glaze polishes to create the chevron design on my ring finger. I finished the design with a matte top coat.

Prompt 2: Mandala

I fell down a bit with this mani. I didn't think I had a plate with a traditional mandala style design on it, so I went with a Native American style instead using the Born Pretty BP-L048 plate. 

Initially I wanted to do a pink and white gradient but for some reason I just couldn't get it to a point I was happy with it. So instead I used China Glaze Bodysuit Yourself as a base and stamped the mandala design on with white stamping polish. Just ignore the middle finger!

Prompt 3: Unseasonal

This was by far my most favourite mani to do! I took major inspiration from this tutorial by Simply Nailogical. I decided to use summer colours as, at the time, it was the opposite of UK weather.

I started with a white base and then used China Glaze Werk It Honey, Pilates Please, and Athlete Chic on a sponge to create a gradient (yellow at the cuticle, orange at the free egde). Using striping tape I created the starbursty lines, with the central point at the base of my nail. I followed up with the second gradient over the top, but just reversed the direction (i.e. yellow is now on the free edge and orange is at the cuticle). I removed the striping tape whilst the polish was still wet (IMPORTANT!), then placed black rhinestones on the centre of the 'spokes'. I finished up with generous amounts of quick dry top coat to ensure the gem did not budge.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I have explained that too well, but check out Simply Nailogical's tutorial (because, unlike mine, her's is videoed). Also, she is the queen of reciprocal gradients (and holo), so...

Prompt 4: Geometric

To create this mani I used the Born Pretty BP-L048 plate to create my own nail decals. To do this I just painted 3 patches of base coat onto a sandwich bag (because I am fancy af) and then stamped the design over top.

Once dry I painted the design using Barry M's Molten Metal polishes in Blue Glacier, Bronze Bae and Pink Ice. I just alternated the colours between each decal so they weren't all the same. 

I painted all my nails white and then stuck the decals onto my thumb, middle and ring fingers (clearly I struggle with my middle finger!). I them sponged on a gradient using the same polishes on my index and pinky. I finished with a quick dry top coat and voila!

Prompt 5: Illusion

Okay, so you can't really tell from the photo but there is a reciprocal gradient under the stamped design! Unfortunately this also translated to real life, so I won't go in to the gradient as you can't see it! I did use China Glaze Activewear Don't Care, Glamletics & At You Athleisure to create it though.

The stamping image is from the Born Pretty BP-L050 plate. When I realised the reciprocal gradient was so much of an illusion that you basically couldn't see it this plate saved my butt!

Prompt 6: Flowers

This is my absolute favourite mani I created in this challenge, so much so that I wore it for a week! I find it odd that this is my favourite as I really don't like the colour yellow much, but recently I have found myself coming round to it.

The design is totally copied from a dress I own. I started with a base of China Glaze Werk It Honey, then added a quick dry top coat. Once dry I painted on the little flowers using acrylic paint and a tiny-ish brush. I then topped it with another layer of quick dry top coat, then finished it off with a matte top coat.

Prompt 7: Kaleidoscope 

To create this mani I used the Born Pretty BP-L049 plate to create my own nail decals using the same method I described for the Geometric prompt, except this time I made 5 instead of 3.

I don't remember exactly the polishes I used to colour these in, but I do remember that they were all China Glaze and Primark polishes. I made the mistake of leaving the decals too long before sticking them to my nails so they got quite stiff and hard to work with. If you have flatter nails that probably won't be a problem but my nails are curved for days, so I did struggle (you can see this a bit on, once again, the middle finger). As a result this mani was on my nails for a grand total of ONE DAY. 

Prompt 8: Gothic

As I said when I posted this mani to Instagram, I couldn't bring myself to have vampy nails after the UK got its 4 days of summer. Instead, I took inspiration from the pastel goth style.

To create this mani I started with a white base, then dropped dots of China Glaze Barre Hopping, At Your Athleisure and Low Maintenance. Using a stamper I dabbed the polish across my nail, smooshing it into a random pattern. I topped this with a quick dry top coat, and then painted on some gothic symbols I found on Google using black acrylic paint. I added another layer of quick dry top coat, then finished up with a matte top coat.

Prompt 9: Henna

The final design! I kept this one simple, using Barry M's Vintage Violet as the base colour followed by a quick dry top coat. I then used white acrylic to paint the henna designs. I ended up not putting any top coat over the paint for the photo as I needed to take it off for another mani (I am not one for planning), but I would have probably just used a glossy top coat rather than adding a matte one too.

Aaaand that is it! If you made it this far thank you.

I have also just realised that all these mani's are cruelty free! 

I will be doing the challenge again throughout May; if you wish to follow along be sure to follow me on Instagram.

Love to you all,