Monday, September 26, 2011

31 Day Challenge, Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

I was sort of in a polish funk last night and wasn't happy with any of the things I was coming up with for today's theme. I started with a sponged green look with a pattern on top that I hoped would come out looking quilted. It instead turned out look like jade with a weird grid on top of it. Then I did an orange and pink tape mani that I hated. Then as a last attempt I tried doing some dotting in a pattern on top of a Zoya matte. I was thrilled to see it turn out successfully and I love the look that I got.


For this look I used Zoya Dovima as the base. It is a charcoal grey matte and it applies very nicely. I read on All Lacquered Up that you should not use a base coat with a matte polish, so I skipped it this time.

Then I alternated dots in China Glaze Sky High Top, OPI Do You Lilac It?, and China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint. I used the small end of a dotting tool to accomplish this.

I was very nervous about letting this dry because I wasn't using a quick dry topcoat on top (it would ruin the matte effect, obviously). But I just went to bed and tried to fall asleep with my hands flat and it turned out just fine!


I like this look because it feels very modern with the two polish finishes and yet very retro with the dots and the dot colors I chose. I was glad that I kept trying until I ended up with a mani that I absolutely *loved* instead of just settling for one that I was okay with.

For fun, here's the "jade grid" mani that I mentioned in my opening paragraph. It looked cool but I didn't think it applied to "inspired by a pattern" well enough. :]


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11 comments

  1. OMG I love your dots! They're so happy and neat, the colors are really awesome together <3 I love your entire blog btw hehe ^^

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  2. You are always amazing in your art! I love the dots!!

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  3. Wow, that polka dot manicure is stunning! The matte effect is gorgeous and your colour combination is spot on :-)

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  4. This just convinced me to go find some matte polish! So rad.

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  5. Those are both amazing. I love the matte on the first!

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  6. I love the dots and how you used the different colors together. Really great!

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  7. how can i do this??? :)) i love it

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  8. she changed her mind. lol http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2009/06/zoya-matte-velvet-5-day-wear-test.html#.T8zOf9VrNTU

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