I hit some of my highest notes early on in the 31-day challenge. I wanted to try mixing some techniques, and nothing creates a more striking effect than a simple bold lined pattern.

Day 6: Violet

The base for this design was a “smoosh” of four nail polishes, made by dabbing blobs of polish onto the nail and then “smooshing” then together with a sandwich bag. Classy folks would probably use a nail stamper for this. In my quest to improve my freehand skills, I’ve forsworn stamping, and had to improvise with my supplies.

Part of the challenge of looks like this is to apply the right amount of pressure with the brush to make the strokes look easy. I also didn’t want them uniform. As this is a straight-up recreation of a look by Manicurity, I think it turned out pretty well. In the macro, you can see more of the shimmer from Zoya’s Mimi.

Day 7: Black and White

I went a little bolder on the black and white day. The lines were also freehanded with acrylic paint, but this time I wanted a more controlled look. I layered in a few grey shades for a bit of variation.

More of the shimmer of Zoya’s Aspen is apparent in the macro.

In both cases, adding a border around the nail made the designs pop. This was a fun way to work on painting lines – they’re simple in theory, but I think the quality of one’s lines is mark of a practiced artist.