31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 2: Orange Nails

There is a bit of a rainbow effect in this challenge for the first few days.  After red comes orange.  I have 40 different shades of orange in my current stash and was stoked to create nail art with this color.  I knew immediately what I wanted to accomplish with the design.  Initially I wanted to do 5 little cat faces on my nails using the Bundle Monster stamp M91 but it was just too tiny.  The background was too dark and it didn't show up.  Thankfully I have a very honest boyfriend who gives me legitimate and critical feedback and I was able to change things up.  I am thrilled with how it turned out.  It was even better than I imagined it.

This ended up being so appropriate as well because I had just bought tickets to a speaking engagement with Jackson Galaxy the cat behaviorist.  I am a huge fan and actually applied to be on his show "My Cat From Hell" but I never heard back.  My nail art is a tribute to a very special cat named Link.  He's one of the reason's I wanted Jackson to come here.  Link belonged to a friend of mine named Kurt.  He was rescued by Kurt at a flea market in 2008 and is a little on the strange side.  In 2010 Kurt was diagnosed with Leukemia and was told he could no longer keep his cats due to health reasons and was forced to give up Link.  At the time I had already just taken on a new kitten that showed up and had enough cats but knew Link would never make it in a shelter due to his issues. 

Kurt passed away in February of 2011 and now Link is all I have left of him.  It means the world to me to have saved this little guy and every time I look at him I think of my best friend.

So without further ado, here is my Link inspired nail art.

For this I used some older polishes including the base which was Cover Girl Peaches & Cream from the mid 90's.  It was part of a parfait collection.  I then used the saran wrap technique to add Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Man-go Team!.  I hand painted the rest of the designs.  The black is my trusty Sinful Colors in Black on Black and the white is also from Sinful Colors in Snow Me White.  I sponged on the chin with a makeup sponge.  For the eyes I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Chartreuse Chase and the nose is China Glaze textured polish in Itty, Bitty & Gritty.  I smudged a bit when I used Seche Vite which isn't supposed to happen but it was perfect because his nose felt like a kitty nose.  Seriously too cute for words!!!

I think it captured his sad face perfectly.

I loved this design.  I can't wait to do it again.