piCture pOlish blog fest 2013! the year of the blogger!

Hello everyone and Happy Blogfest! That's right - I am once again participating in piCture pOlish's annual Blog Fest celebration. 

This year's theme is the Year of the Blogger. "This year it’s all about you and celebrating what you do!"

And what's even more interesting is this year, we all have to create a wonderful nail art manicure using three shades sent to us by the very generous girls ar piCture pOlish. There is going to be an overwhelming amount of amazing manis today guys! 

Being that I am in Newfoundland, North America's most easterly point, my post will be one of the first from this continent! Woo! (Everyone is posting at 7pm local time.)

I'm sure you all have seen the fantastic blogger collaboration polishes that PP has been releasing... And the three winners this year will get to create their own shades!
The voting will happen on the special Blog Fest Pinterest board here.

Without further ado... Here's my manicure. 

The colors chosen for me were Marine, Mad Magenta, and Citrus. I was so happy to get three great creme shades!

piCture pOlish - Marine

This is a beautiful teal creme polish with a great formula. 2 coats, no issues. And no staining! I've worn this like three times since receiving it a few weeks ago... Haha!

piCture pOlish - Mad Magenta 

This is a shade I always wanted from PP so I was so happy to find it in my package! Again, two easy coats. This has been on my toes ever since the day I got it! Great toe color.

piCture pOlish - Citrus

This is my least favorite of the three, just because it is orange. Not an orange fan. But it works for me in nail art with other colors! Just as with the other two, two coats, no issues. 

So... What kind of art did I do? I'll give you one guess...

Leopard print!!!

I struggled for a long time with whether or not I wanted to do leopard print. I've done it a lot and I know a lot of people would be going all-out with intense, new designs. But in the end I decided hey, it is so me, I should just go for it! 

Another part of this year's Blog Fest is that we also have to do tutorials! So here's how I created this manicure.

First of all, you're gonna need a small dotting tool, your clean-up brush (and polish remover) and a makeup sponge. (Don't forget that you can use the same sponge over and over by cutting off the used parts! The one I've used here looks like it has helped me in many manis! Haha!)

The first thing you need to do is the gradient. I like to use two techniques together to create the most flawless gradient. 

First, apply your base color (Citrus) and allow it to dry almost completely.

Next, blob some Mad Magenta onto your work surface (scrap paper, wax paper, stamping plate, whatever). Using a small edge of the sponge, begin to build the color onto the tip and fading down into the nail. For a more detailed tutorial of this technique, check out this post I did ages and ages ago when I was still a newbie! (Even though the pictures aren't up to my current standard, the post still has lots of great tips.)

To blend the gradient even more and perfect the fade, I use the second gradient technique. There is a great tutorial for this by The Nailasaurus. 

Basically, you paint lines of the two colors on your work surface, swirl it a little in the middle, and then dip the sponge in/around it to pick up the two colors and the blended part in the middle.

You sponge this onto your entire nail all at once, dabbing several times to continue to blend the colors. 

You'll need to do this a couple times to get enough polish in the sponge to be able to do all your nails.

The reason I like to do both techniques at once is because I find the first technique doesn't create the smoothest gradient, and the second one on its own requires too many coats to build the second color if you don't already have some on the nail. So do both. Got it?

Get yo' clean up on, girrrrrrl. The sponging techniques can leave a big mess. Use your clean up brush (and optionally some Q-tips first) to get all the polish off of your skin.

Once you're all clean, add the first step of your leopard print with Marine. I just do those blobs irregularly with the brush from the polish itself. It does not need to be perfect or neat at all! All leopards are different, right?

Then you have to add the black detail with a black polish and your small dotting tool. Again, don't stress about being neat and perfect. Just make random shapes like C shapes and O shapes and dots and lines and whatever you think looks right. 

You can do it big, small, on your full nail, just in some areas - however you feel! 

You add topcoat and tada! You're done! Aren't they pretty?
I'm happy I decided to go with the leopard print because I just love the way it looks. I think I'll wear this manicure for a week at least. 

Thank you so much to the girls at piCture pOlish for letting me participate in this great tradition once again! And happy Blog Fest to all!

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