LDTTWC: Day 3- I Remember When

 Today's manicure I have been anticipating since before the challenge even started! The idea for the day is, "I Remember When,": design a manicure based on a historical event- well-known or personal. I'm pretty sure this one would fall under the VERY well-known category. :) So in case you couldn't tell, I chose the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Unfortunately, I was too young to witness it, but I've definitely heard about! And space stuff has always thrilled me.

Here is a "nail by nail blow" of this mani. :)

• First Finger: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Most people have heard these famous words, so in honor of Neil Armstrong (who very coincidentally just passed away a week ago), I painted a small step and a giant leap.
• Middle Finger: We have the Apollo rocket sailing through space surrounded by the stars; how exciting!
• Ring Finger: On this finger, I painted the number eleven to look like the moon too.
• Pinky Finger: And since all of the Apollo 11 astronauts were earthlings, I had to paint the Blue Marble somewhere! :) I even tried to make it look a little bit like North America as well as Central America. LOL :)

 And on this finger, I painted a half moon proudly displaying the American flag. I think I will call this design, "The Nail Armstrong" in honor of the first man on the moon.

 Now, I'm left-handed, so it is often VERY challenging to paint with my right hand. I knew to do this manicure while painting with my non-dominant hand would be a disaster so I tried out a galaxy nail design with stars on these nails.

I think the design is awesome, but it was so simple to do with a cosmetic sponge! I then added stars and streaks with a dotter and fine tip brush.

If you would like to try this design out yourself, here's a link to the tutorial that I used from, The Daily Nail: http://www.thedailynailblog.com/2012/08/galaxy-nails-nail-art-tutorial.html

Well this mani sure used a TON of polishes, so here they are:

• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out (black)
• Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening (yellow)
• Sinful Colors Nail Art in Sour Apple (green) and Hey Dear! (blue for flag and earth)
• NYC Long Wearing in Times Square in Tangerine Creme (orange)
• Wet n Wild Fast Dry in Teal or No Teal (blue for galaxy nails)
• Wet n Wild in French White Creme (white)
• Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Metallica (gray/silver)
• L'Oreal Creme in Infrared (red)

I hope you like this, "out of this world," manicure! And be sure to check out all of the other great designs!
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Labor Day Water Marble

 Have you ever wanted to know how to create an awesome water marble mani? Well, with this tutorial, now you can! The colors I chose are patriotic for Labor Day. :) I started with a white base on all of my nails; this step is optional, however it helps your water marble design to really pop.

 Before you start the technique, you need to tape up your fingers. Wrap one piece of tape around your finger at the base of your nail. Then use another piece to wrap around the sides and tip of your finger. Do this for one whole hand. Warning: don't tape too tightly (like I did :); it really hurts.

 Now you need a bowl/cup filled with room temperature water. Take one of your polishes and add a drop of it to the water just like the photo above.

 Switch colors, and keep adding drops of polish; each drop should land within the previous drop. You will notice that the paint spreads out. (See the above photo.)

 Once the polish drops stop spreading out, you know it's time to stop. Take a toothpick and start swirling it like I did above in the picture. I recommend dragging your toothpick from the edge to the center; however, don't start at the VERY edge, begin a couple drops in. The first drops harden first, and therefore aren't good for swirling.

 As soon as you have a design in the water that you like, get ready to dunk. Dip 1-2 fingers in, so that your nail will horizontally touch the water. Dunk the nail(s) all of the way down, and leave them in the water. Take a toothpick or Q-tip and swirl that around the top of the water to pick up the excess paint. Then you can remove your fingers. Let them dry for a minute or two before taking off the tape. Repeat these steps for the rest of your fingers and apply top coat. You may also have to do a little cleanup on your fingers if some of the paint got on them.

And you're now finished!

Colors Used: Revlon Love That Red, Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Blue, Wet n Wild French White Creme

Have a happy Labor Day everyone!
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