Monthly Manicure Challenge 2024

[JoSometimes]

Welcome to the Monthly Manicure Challenge! There’s a lot of great manicure ideas and inspiration here on BIC. I find challenges are a great way to channel that inspiration, push me out of my comfort zone, and try new styles or colours I wouldn’t normally go for. It’s a great way to grow in skill and artistry. I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

All are welcome, whether you’re a pro or a novice like me, or if you have a favourite manicurist that is the only one you trust with your hands. You’re welcome to post as often or as little as you like, post late, or skip challenges completely. And feel free to post them on Show Me Your Nails 2.0 too!

April 2024 - April Showers

I’m sure we all know how the idiom goes: “April showers bring May flowers.” So let’s see your water themed manicures this month!

And it doesn’t have to be typical blues for water either. Feel free to try techniques that involve water in some way! Hydrodipping, water marbling, droplet effects, etc… Feel free to try any of these and show us the results!

See My Original Post That Started This Challenge Here

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I’ve been a part of BIC for a while now. I’ve seen makeup, skincare, and photography challenges, which have been great for giving me inspiration, but nothing for mani’s. I love Makeup Challenge of the Week 2021/2022/2023 because it’s given me lots of inspiration, pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow in my skills and artistry. I’d probably be stuck doing the same looks if it weren’t for that. I know we have Show Me Your Nails 2.0 which has been a great source of inspiration. I don’t want to take away from it but rather give myself and others a way to narrow down all the great ideas from it and get outside of my comfort zone (which has been bright colours and sparkly toppers lately)

Would there be any interest in starting a challenge for mani’s? We could have a different theme every month or even twice a month so that people can wear their mani’s out without worrying about missing one. People could always revisit themes if they miss them but still want to participate. I’m happy to organize it and if people have ideas for themes, I’m happy to work them in. What do you all think? Let me know if we should go one or twice a month and any themes you might want to see. 

Tagging some people but feel free to tag others who I missed or who you think might be interested.

@RGbrown @Titian06 @itsfi @CynthieLu @ather @jaaayp @Saradestin @Mellmars1185 @WinglessOne @Samtian 

Previous Challenges

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May 2023 - May Flowers
June 2023 - Child At Heart
July 2023 - Fireworks/Canada Day/Fourth of July
August 2023 - A Day At The Beach
September 2023 - We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program: TV/Movie Inspired Manicures
October 2023 - Trick or Treat! Halloween-Inspired Mani’s
November 2023 - Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice
December 2024 - Happy Holidays: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, New Years!
January 2024 - New Year Newness
February 2024 - Love and Fortune
March 2024 - Spring Cleaning

Upcoming Challenegs (*Spoiler Alert!* ⚠️ Click at your own risk!)

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May 2024 - May Flowers

In Case You’re Interested In Other Challenges

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Makeup Challenge of the Week 2021/2022/2023 
100 Days of Lipstick Challenge 
100 Shades of Eyeshadow Challenge 
A Year of Beauty- Photography Challenge- Year 2 
💕😌 2023 Mask of the Week Challenge 😌💖 
Please let me know if I missed any!

[jaaayp]

Reimbursed via red envelope....? 😂 @JoSometimes 

[JoSometimes]

@jaaayp Maybe… 🤔 😂

[jaaayp]

Lemme pack my bags and my cats @JoSometimes 👌👏

[Cissy63]

So I have had these Water Decal for Nails from What’s Up Beauty for months. They just intimidated me.  

So I made up my mind that this challenge was a good time to give it a go

Seems you can cut out one to fit your whole nail.  Or you can cut out parts of it.  I chose the easiest way.  Cut out one whole decal. Then I cut away at the lower edge to fit it to my thumbnail. 

I put a polish under it in case I screwed up 😅

Anyway the directions were decently simple and it worked 🥳. The polish under is Clionadh Cosmetics Jerome Grand Hotel from PPU 09/23

And for you @JoSometimes  I took a pic of the largest decal with a tape measure added. I know you mention your large nail size and having difficulty finding some product that covers them.  
And I have added a pic of the Olive & June press- ons and their size.  

 

 

 

 

[ather]

@Cissy63  These are great! 😊 

[JoSometimes]

Ohhh my gosh! Thank you @Cissy63 ! I’m gonna study these carefully and see if they’re wide enough. Those decals look like fun!

[Cissy63]

@JoSometimes  Oh thank you and you’re more than welcome 🤗.  I hope 🤞 the next decals work out just as well 

[JoSometimes]

@Cissy63 On closer inspection, it looks like the Olive & June set is too small still. Oh welll… 😩 (Thanks for using the mm side of the ruler! 😁)

The decals look like they have plenty of excess to cover my thumb though. How’s the application? Do they just stick on and you remove the excess or is it more involved than that?

[Cissy63]

@JoSometimes  They went on easily.  I cut out the one that fit my fingernail the best. I also pre cut some of the excess off  I soaked it in a little water, just enough to cover it.  Not long, about 30 seconds. The backing came off easily.  I had applied polish to my thumb just like the other nails as I knew some of the design was open so my nail color would show through.  After applying the decal on my nail, I made sure the sides were well placed using a wooden cuticle stick.  The excess around the edges cleaned up with nail polish remover using a detail brush.  Then the top of the decal that overlaps the nail top came off with a little filing.  
Hope this helped 😀

[Titian06]

Very pretty, @Cissy63 ! 💜💜💜  How exciting that you tried these! 🙂

[Cissy63]

@Titian06  Thank you 😊. I am glad I finally got brave enough to give it a go !

[jaaayp]

SHAME ON MEEEE!! Idk if I mentioned this before, but the sephora app community page is really terrible and always only shows me limited threads (the same threads really) so I've been missing out on this threeeead 😭

Anyway, I'm trying something "new" this month as part of this challenge! This cateye/velvet/magnetic polish is literally the only technique I can't seem to master. I am making it a goal this year to get it right. 

Please excuse my continuous failures as I share them in the next few upcoming manis 😂

 

[ather]

@jaaayp  These are perfect! I see no problem with them!!! 

[jaaayp]

Aw, thank you @ather 🥰

[Cissy63]

@jaaayp  Oh is a gorgeous polish even if the magnetic effect is giving you trouble.  I really like this color 💚💙. 

[jaaayp]

Thank you @Cissy63 🥰❤️ practice makes perfect! I'll try harder next time 😂

[makeitup305]

@jaaayp even if it's not perfect, it looks STUNNING! 10/10 would buy it based on this picture alone.

[jaaayp]

AW thank you @makeitup305 I feel like although it's pretty but it doesn't show/look like any of the inspo pics?! Idk at this point, I feel like I need to just watch some tutorials... 🫠

[makeitup305]

@jaaayp I think the magnetic effect can be harder to get right if you're not using gel. Depending on the polish (in my limited experience) you need a solid minute per finger to get the magnetic particles to line up and then dry up in that position without migrating too much. 

[jaaayp]

I'm using gel @makeitup305 😭 and it's still a struggle. I do agree though, it's not an instant magnetic effect, I have to go pretty slow on each side and I do see them migrating back to normal glitter if I don't cure them right away 🫠🫠🫠🫠

[Cissy63]

I tried Cadillacquer magnetic polish called Kiss Me