31 Day Challenge: Day 1 - Red Nails starring The Young and the Restless

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Happy September, everyone! If you've been a part of the nail community for very long you know that with September comes the 31 Day Challenge. (If you don't know what it is, you can visit Chalkboard Nails for more info!) I honestly wasn't planning on participating this year, I have so much going on right now. But, I got out my nail art brushes and acrylic paint for the first time last night in months and I enjoyed it so much! It made me realize just how much I have missed it. When life gets busy we always put off the things we enjoy simply because we don't have time. The nail art I did last night just happened to coincide with day one (that was completely unplanned), so I decided I would try to join in! I may end up with a "modified" version, but better than nothing!

I am a HUGE, lifelong fan of The Young and the Restless. I grew up watching it with my mom and it's always been a part of my life. The characters become a part of your world (just like with any favorite TV show, book or movie) and a part of your heart. And since the creation of social media, you also get  a glimpse of the actors' real lives and it is awesome! I've even had a few short conversations with a few of them and "likes" on social media and I get so giddy every time! Today The Young and the Restless is celebrating their 11,000th episode (wowsers!), and I just had to do some nail art to celebrate!

Sunlight

I decided to try to recreate The Young and the Restless' signature logo. I have not done freehand nail art since April or May, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull this off. It seemed rather difficult and daunting, but it wasn't as hard as I expected! I am pretty proud of how it turned out! 

In the collage above, their current "look" is on the left.  You can see it has sort of an airy or glowy quality. To try to give this feel to my mani I used the dry brush technique with my base. I used the Colors by Llarowe Chasing a Unicorn duo, but instead of applying like normal, once the Color Correcting Base was dry I dry brushed the holographic Chasing a Unicorn on top. I like that it adds some texture and depth without taking away from the logo accent nail! (I will have proper swatches of this duo for you soon!)

Artificial lighting

The logo was done with acrylic paint. The hardest part was making it look like it was drybrushed like in the original logo. Of course I see little things I wish I would have done differently, but overall I absolutely love it! 

Artificial lighting

Congratulations to The Young and the Restless on 11,000 episodes, here's to many more!

I am so excited to get back to creating nail art! If you would like to join in the 31 Day Challenge you can check out the prompts below! Just make sure to hashtag #31DC2016 on social media! 

Thanks for reading and happy polishing!

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