2012 Summertime Challenge! Week 3: Inspired by a bathing suit

Hello! It's Friday, which means it's the start of week 3 of my 2012 Summertime Challenge! This week's theme is 'inspired by a bathing suit.' I ran into a snag with this week's challenge. I couldn't find any of my bathing suits, which means they are probably in storage somewhere. So I improvised! Tara and I went to Target and took a couple of photos of some cute bathing suits. Fair warning, this post is picture heavy.

So like I said, Tara and I went to Target and after we looked around for a bit we found a cute top and a cute bottom. However, they do not match each other but I liked them both so much that I had to do a design for each.

Make sure to keep reading to see what the suits looked like and how I achieved each look.

First up, the top. It's a simple white stripped bikini top with a cute star over the left side.

It turns out none of my purple polishes where close to the purple on the bikini top. However, I just LOVE how this design came out. I was very skeptical at first but wow. I think it came out great. Also- I didn't realize the star on the suit was black! Oops!

 I used a stamp for the inner star shape and the rest was all done with a fine nail art brush. Considering that my hands can get pretty shaking, I thought my lines came out pretty clean.

What I used:

• Base color: OPI Alpine Snow
• Black stripes: Konad Black stamping polish
• Purple stripes: Ulta Plum Perfect
• Stamp: BM05
• Fine tipped nail art brush

Here's a look at the nifty bottoms, a cool brush stroke looking pattern.

I have mixed feelings about this design. I love how the thumb and index finger came out but the rest just look sloppy to me. That's what I get for watching Entourage while painting my nails! 

To achieve this look, I used a fan brush. I dipped the tip on the fan brush into each blue (one color at a time) and applied to the nail. It didn't work like I imagined but I still think the technique looks cool. The thumb closely illustrates the look I was going for. 

What I used:

• Base color: OPI Alpine Snow
• Dark Blue: NYC 115A Skin Tight Denim
• Lighter Blue: Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!
• Fan brush

Overall I think week 3 was a success! This challenge has been so much fun! I can't wait for next week!

Here's a look at next week's challenge theme:

Week 4: Sea, Sand and Surf--- Pick 1,2 or a combo of as many of the listed categories as you would like and create a manicure that will make you wish you were at the beach! 

I look forward to sharing more challenges with all my lovely readers!

Until next time,
Erin