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!

[JoSometimes]

@Mellmars1185 Definitely reminds me of fireworks! The combo of navy and colourful toppers is really reminiscent of a dark sky and a celebration going off in the background. Amazing!

[Mellmars1185]

@JoSometimes Thank you very much! I had a lot of fun doing it and I got to use a lot of neat polishes for the first time. I am looking forward to seeing everyones manis and the upcoming challenges!

[itsfi]

July 2023 - Fireworks! I love how fireworks light up the night sky and wanted to try to capture that sparkle with ella + mila Party in a Bottle, a clear base filled with a ton of colorful glitter. I used it on its own over a bare nail, as well as a topper over three different grey / grey-ish base colors, and a color-correcting base coat.

Base colors by themselves 

With ella + mila Party in a Bottle

Base colors (from thumb to pinky):

• Deborah Lippmann All About That Base (on all nails except for pinky)
• Deborah Lippmann Dirty Little Secret is a sheer greige with holo shimmer, 2 coats. This may be a new favorite neutral. I've had this bottle for years and am just now coming to realize what a beauty it is. Sigh. 
• Veque Marina is a light grey creme, 2 coats.
• Veque Telegraph Hill, cool, dark grey creme, 2 coats.
• No base coat on pinky fingernail. 

 

The topper seemed to apply much easier, with the glitter distributing itself more evenly, when applied over a base coat or base color, than when applied to the bare nail. The glitter in the topper skipped about when applied to the pinky fingernail, which did not have a base coat or color applied to it before the topper. 

I also tried my hand at a fireworks mani for the Fourth of July a couple of weeks ago and posted that look to the 

Show Me Your Nails 2.0 thread. 💅

[CynthieLu]

I love what you did with this theme @itsfi it's a total party 🥳  aptly named I think. 😉

[itsfi]

Thank you @CynthieLu. This is one of the best glitter bomb nail polishes that I've come across. 😍

[jaaayp]

@itsfi I love this glitter!! It's so fun! Again, I am SO jealous gel glitters don't look this good 🥲😫

[itsfi]

Glitter just adds a fun pop to a mani @jaaayp! What’s this you say?! Glitter looks better with regular vs gel polishes? Interesting. 🤔 I see a lot of gel mani’s online and the nail art is phenomenal; then I try with non-gel polish or without curing and it never comes out as nice as the way it looks with a gel. 

[jaaayp]

@itsfi investigation time! 🔎 I haven't found variation of glitters. It's always the same glitter in different colors. Regular polishes seem to have more options of glitters and even colors!!

[itsfi]

@jaaayp, “investigation time” love that. Happy sleuthing! 🔍 You’ll have to report back on your findings. 

[Samtian]

@itsfi Those are really pretty!

[itsfi]

Thank you @Samtian! I was surprised how well the glitters showed up. I haven’t had the best of luck with the solid color polishes from the brand so I was really amazed by this glittery polish! 😍

[Titian06]

Love how colorful this topper is, @itsfi !  Perfect for fireworks or to brighten one's day. 🙂

[itsfi]

Agree @Titian06, I was surprised by how festive and colorful the polish is - lots of brightness and sparkle!

[JoSometimes]

@itsfi What a fun topper! It really changes when you lay it over a dark base. 

[itsfi]

@JoSometimes, the colors in this glitter topper are great and seem like they would work well over a lot of different base colors.

[Mellmars1185]

@itsfi Pretty fireworks mani! The topper is really colorful and fun 🎆

[itsfi]

@Mellmars1185, thank you! It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Sometimes it takes a handful of tries to pack on the glitter, but the brush picked up a lot of the glitter particles and distributed them nicely along the nail. 

[Mellmars1185]

July - Fireworks 🎆

This shade shall not be named hehe (it is too funny). Anyhow this sparkly topper reminds me of a whole bunch of fireworks going off at once. I was debating on using a navy blue or black for the base shade. Maybe next time...

 

[jaaayp]

LOVE THE SPARKLES @Mellmars1185 !!! I'm so jealous gel nail polishes are so limited sometimes. Also, I feel like you have a lot of polishes with names that shall not be mentioned 🤣🤣🤣

[Mellmars1185]

@jaaayp Thank you. So far this is the only brand where I am afraid to mention the name 😅. When i open my packages my this brand, I always share them with my family and we ger a good laugh! 

[Titian06]

Great topper, @Mellmars1185 ! ✨