Inktober 2023 - Day 31: "Fire"

Inktober is officially over! 31 days of nail art, all done in gel, all hand painted by me! 

To round it all off, here's "fire" for our last day.

Which day was your favorite?

Inktober 2023 - Day 30: "Rush"

Gone Greek for today's prompt, "rush". 

Mix and match the letters as you wish!

Inktober 2023 - Day 29: "Massive"

If you live anywhere near the woods in Colorado (and many other states for that matter), you know that there are moose...and you DO NOT mess with a moose! Not only are they fiercely protective, but they are MASSIVE!

Perfect animal to honor for day 29 of Inktober!

 

Inktober 2023 - Day 28: "Sparkle"

Listen...it's been 28 days. So when given the prompt "sparkle", I knew I could phone it in a bit and give myself a design break! So here's a sparkly polish with some sparkle nail art!

 

Inktober 2023 - Day 27: "Beast"

Sorry for the late post...there was a beast scratching up my nails all day! 

Luckily I was able to gather photographic evidence to put it to rest.

Inktober 2023 - Day 26: "Remove"

Know any teachers? I've got the perfect set for them to wear for their next school year! 

Tiny pencils with even tinier erasers! And school-appropriate amounts of primary colored glitter. Perfect.

Inktober 2023 - Day 25: "Dangerous"

I wish "dangerous" had been earlier in the month, because I had big plans that, unfortunately, I had to curb due to sheer lack of time. Maybe I'll still put together the little plan I had one day. 

But for now, here's a warning for dangerous things!

Inktober 2023 - Day 24: "Shallow"

I've seen this trend swirling around social media, and I'm thrilled that it actually works easily and beautifully!

These little beach nails are perfect for "shallow". I even made little tiny sea stars and sea shells that washed up at high tide and got stuck there during low tide. Don't worry, Mr. Sea Star will be fine for a little while out of water.

Inktober 2023 - Day 23: "Celestial"

You've been in that gem and mineral store and come across the tapestry that's got THIS EXACT theme, including the dark blue and gold. If you haven't...you must! 

As a youngin'...this was an indication that you were cool. At least in 4th grade.

It's celestial, and also just a tad tacky.

Inktober 2023 - Day 22: "Scratchy"

They fight! And bite!

They fight and bite and fight!

Fight, fight, fight!

Bite, bite, bite!

The Itchy and Scratchy Show! 

If you're unfamiliar, "Scratchy" is a character on The Simpsons, and is essentially their version of Coyote from Looney Tunes. He always tries to get his nemesis, Itchy (who is a mouse), but his plans are always foiled. So to honor the poor guy, I did his little portrait for today's Inktober prompt. 

Inktober 2023 - Day 21: "Chains"

A LONG time ago now, I did a tutorial to create chain nail art, which you can revisit here.

I've definitely honed my skills since then, and so for today's "chains" prompt, I did tinier chains using an excellent chrome silver gel polish.

Inktober 2023 - Day 20: "Frost"

This is giving chestnuts on an open fire vibes, no? 

I'm so glad this came out the way it looked in my head. If I did this as a Christmas set I'd probably add some snowflakes falling too.

Inktober 2023 - Day 19: "Plump"

I've heard of vampire facials really giving your skin that glow that many of us seek out, but did you know that vampires also have the plumpest lips due to all the blood they drink too? Here's a look at the results a vampire lip plumping session can get you too!

Disclaimer: There has never been confirmation that vampire lip injections are real. 

I got these cute lips from this digital asset on Etsy by user ulookingforhere.

Inktober 2023 - Day 18: "Saddle"

Yippee ki yay! A little bandana and saddle action for day 18. 

I made a reel showing how the teeny tiny bandana process went too, so make sure to swing by my Instagram to see it. 

Inktober 2023 - Day 17: "Demon"

I think one of the scariest thoughts is sleep paralysis. The thought of having no control to wake up from an actual nightmare sends shivers through my whole body. I imagine horrible visions...something like this demon I found on Creative Market here.

Sleep well!

Inktober 2023 - Day 16: "Angel"

When I thought of "angels" for day 16, I thought of Christmas, and then I immediately thought of cookies!

So here's some iced Christmas cookies for today's set. 

I think the added shadows make these pop and look extra yummy!

Inktober 2023 - Day 15: "Dagger"

One time, a client had the idea for us to do one of those cute vintage tattoo designs on her nails. We picked the little sparrow, and it came out horribly. I was so upset at myself to be honest.

So seeing that "dagger" was a prompt for this year's Inktober, I wanted to try the same style again. 

I'd say it was much more successful!

I used this design pack from Creative Market user Andres M Rodriguez.

Inktober 2023 - Day 14: "Castle"

Did you know there's a move in chess called "castling"? Me either! 

It helped me pick my topic for day 14's prompt though, which was "castle".

Let me tell you...those freehand checkerboards were NOT easy. Inktober is definitely challenging me! 

Inktober 2023 - Day 13: "Rise"

It's Friday the 13th! So you KNOW I had to do a creepy look for today's prompt, which is "rise". 

A bit stumped, I just literally typed "rise" into Google Images, and after a little scrolling, came across this creepy cover for an "Evil Dead Rise" soundtrack, and knew it would be perfect for today!

Ready?

I LOVE the creepy eyeball SO SO much. I didn't even want to do the other nails because this needed to stand out on its own. 

Maybe my favorite so far...I dunno!

Inktober 2023 - Day 12: "Spicy"

I've been getting some really lovely compliments on this year's looks so far! It's been fun to share the designs in person at Nailed by Katy P. I think people are really blown away when they see how little these designs actually are. 

And here's another little pattern set, because you know I love a pattern! This was inspired by this pepper pattern on Creative Market from the user bolotoff.

Now technically, the prompt was "spicey", and maybe Jake (the creator of Inktober) is a non-American, so that's how he spells it where he's from, but it just looked so weird to my eyes, so I changed it to spicy. Sorry Jake.

Inktober 2023 - Day 11: "Wander"

Here's the sort of "forest bathing" beauty that I came up with for day 11 of Inktober..."wander". 

It was a challenge to get a good gradient with gel, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out...and glad I practiced it more.

 

But can I tell you...

I came VERY close to making a set dedicated to a new creature I just learned about, called the "wandering meatloaf". It's a little mollusk that looks like a hunk of meatloaf, just scootin' along the rocks in the tidal zones. 

Image Source

I mean...they're not wrong. He does look a little meatloaf-y. In the throws of winter when I'm cold but too cheap to turn on the heat, I too resemble a wandering meatloaf as I drag my blanket robes from room to room.

But a pretty sunset set probably looks better on camera. 

Inktober 2023 - Day 10: "Fortune"

I love a good pattern! One of my favorite ways to get ideas for sets is to go to Creative Market and just type stuff in and see what creators have made. I typed "fortune" into their search, and eventually came across this pattern from Good Studio.

Here's that pattern, interpreted on teeny tiny nails! Can I just say how hard it is to paint hands? 

Inktober 2023 - Day 9: "Bounce"

Ready for some slightly inappropriate spooky boobs? I got this idea from an Instagram ad I was served up from an underwear company called Shinesty Threads. 

Side note: I giggled like a 10 year old the whole time I painted these.

Inktober 2023 - Day 8: "Toad"

So when I saw that "toad" was the prompt for Day 8, I was going to do toad skin textured nails. But then I thought about all those folks out there with trypophobia. You know...that fear of tightly packed holes? 

I didn't want to trigger anyone. 

But this may also trigger people if they played Mario Kart and would get absolutely creamed by Toad in the last race. So sorry to those people. 

Here's little Toad with an ode to Rainbow Road. *chefs kiss*

Inktober 2023 - Day 7: "Drip"

Let's get back to some creepy stuff for day 7 of Inktober. How could I not with a prompt like "drip"?

 Super effective and super easy to create! I used nail inks to get this look, but if you wanted to DIY this for yourself for Halloween, you could just use a dark red sharpie. Just draw a messy line at the free edge of your nail, then with a little rubbing alcohol on a brush, let the color "drip" and "bleed" over a white nail. 

Inktober 2023 - Day 6: "Golden"

"Golden" was something I wanted to try on my own nails, because I wanted to give chrome powder another try. I tried it years ago, but it wore on the tips of my nails so badly that I almost wrote it off completely. But with the resurgence of it as "glazed" became a trend, I wanted to try it as a decoration on the nail more than as an all-over look. So I sort of encapsulated it on the middle of the nail...and I love it!

Look at how sparkly it is in the sun! 

This look is on my natural nails with builder gel on top (which I'm practicing as a potential service offering in the future). 

Inktober 2023 - Day 5: "Map"

Day 5! We're 1/6 of the way there! Right? Does that math, math?

I love this one. The sort of distressed look was done with inks again, and then I did it in matte. The skull even has cracks in it and shading to pop a little bit from the background. 

Do you like this little treasure map as much as me?

 

Inktober 2023 - Day 4: "Dodge"

I was a little stuck on this prompt...dodge. What the heck could I do? Ultimately, I got stuck with the car brand, Dodge, so here's some racing stripes you might see on a Charger. 

What would you have done for this?

Inktober 2023 - Day 3: "Path"

EDIT: Forgot to hit publish yesterday! Sorry about that!

Today's prompt is "path" for Inktober. This was a fun exploration of different nail art techniques and products I have been gathering.

The background is done using inks that you blend out with alcohol to give a marble effect. Then I painted a path in dark grey, cured it, then added a blooming gel top coat and spotted on light grey cobblestones that bleed out in the blooming gel. Pretty effective to give a stone look eh? 

I topped the path with a matte top coat, and the marble "floor" with a shiny coat, although it's hard to see the distinction here. 

Inktober 2023 - Day 2: "Spiders"

The prompt for Inktober Day 2 is "spiders" and I literally had nightmares about spiders crawling on my face in bed after I created this set. Just something about the shiny body and extra pointy legs sent my sleeping subconscious into terror mode. 

 The tattered web I really like too. I got some great chrome gel to create extra shiny silver details with and it's perfect here over the matte top coat on the base colors. 

Sleep well! >:)

Inktober 2023 - Day 1: "Dream"...and big news!

I promise I haven't completely neglected the blog version of my work, but I certainly haven't been great at posting to it...for good reason!

Since my last posting here, so much has happened, but the most exciting piece has been OPENING MY OWN STUDIO! 

Located in Boulder in the Indie Salon studio suites, Nailed by Katy P is officially up and running as of this July. It's been so incredible to start this dream I've been dreaming since I began nail school. Here's a little glimpse of what the space looks like right now.

You can check out more about the studio at my website, Nailed by Katy P.

Now for today's true purpose for a post...Inktober is back baby!

Inktober, if you don't remember, is a challenge created by pen and ink artist, Jake Parker. There's no official prizes (although he seems to do some giveaways associated with artists' creations from time to time) - it's just a way to flex your creative muscles by creating art based on a new prompt provided every day in October. Here's a look at this year's prompts:

I loved the idea of being challenged to create something new every day, so in 2019, I picked up my nail brush and followed along! After taking 2021 and 2022 off, I'm back at it, and this year's first prompt is "Dream". 

So here's my little counting sheep for "dream"!

Since I'll be doing most of the this month's prompts using gel instead of regular lacquer, many of them will be on press-ons like this. It just makes it much more likely that I'll be able to keep up with every day's looks. 

If you're still here reading, thank you for your subscription! While I definitely share the most on my Instagram page, @blognailedit, it means a lot that you're still here! 

Until tomorrow!