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Hello everyone!  Emily, Jolène, Shelly and Nory here…the Digit-al Dozen newbies.  Today’s post is all about our experiences joining the Digit-al Dozen, preparing for our first challenge week, and how we feel about Skittles week!  We are all so excited to be a part of the Digit-al Dozen and hope you enjoyed our manicures from this week! =)




Shelly from Sassy Shelly:



Being a DD newb is just plain awesome! I've followed these ladies through every challenge over the past year. All the while admiring their work and secretly wishing I could be a part of something so cool. When I saw that they were wrapping up the first year of challenges I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask if I could join them. I was already friends and in other groups with a few of the girls and was ecstatic when they said they had discussed it and would allow me to join in the fun! 
 I had a little over a month to prep for this first Skittle challenge so I actually had every mani done before the deadline- that's huge for me since I'm constantly running late. LOL. And I knew I would really have to "bring it" to keep up with the level of sheer talent that goes along with the Digit-al Dozen. Hopefully everyone feels my work is up to par- I'm pretty pleased with it. 
 My favorite skittle is definitely my Day 3 mani, the vintage roses. I have tried to create roses once before- they turned out ok, but nowhere near this good. I love the color combo and I am pretty much in awe at how well some of these photos turned out! I only wish I had written down what settings I had my camera on! *facepalm*
 I just feel so happy and lucky to be here! I'm really looking forward to the future, getting to know everyone better and to turning out some great manis in the coming months. :)  




Jolène from Follow Gashin
I will always remember when I was asked to join The Digit-al Dozen. Missy (Gnarly Gnails) sent me an email with about a thousand exclamation marks in the subject title, so I knew something big was afoot. And I may have squealed, and then told every single person I met that day. I'd long admired the ladies of the Dozen and the nail art they came up with, so I was super excited to know they wanted me among their ranks! To prepare for this week, I began by being concerned that I was doomed, because Shelly (Sassy Shelly) pretty well started on her manis a month in advance (shaking fist at Shelly). I decided that my line to cross would be finishing all five manis before the official Digit-al Dozen Week began, which I managed to do. May have squeaked under the wire a bit, but got it done. ;) I'm really looking forward to many more months of adventures with the group, because we've got some awesome stuff in the pipeline, just you wait and see!!




Nory from Fierce Makeup and Nails:
When Debbie invited me to join The Digit-al Dozen, I was beyond excited. I was so flattered to have been considered to join this wonder and talented group of fantastic nail artists. As soon as I got the hang of things and how the schedule and events work, I was so ready to get started.
Preparing for my first challenge for The Digit-al Dozen was bit nerve racking. I had seen so much talent in all of the previous posts that I knew I had to step up my game and come up with some fun nail art. I had a blast with my first theme, Skittles are always so fun and anything goes. My favorite mani from the Skittles week is my Halloween themed one. I chose 4 characters and had fun with them: a Mummy, Frankenstein, a Jack O' Lantern and a Ghost. I can't wait for all the future challenges and am so excited to challenge myself and come up with some cool stuff. 



Emily from The Lacquerologist
I am so thrilled to be a part of the Digit-al Dozen; I’m not sure it’s really sunk in yet!  I am in other groups online with some of the DD girls, so I’ve always followed along with the challenge weeks, and of course, I’ve been super impressed with the creativity and innovation I saw coming out of the themed challenges.  When Debbie contacted me about potentially joining the group, I was speechless, and within a few hours of “meeting” all of the ladies (online of course!) I knew I had found a happy new nail polish home for myself!

When I was contacted about the Digit-al Dozen, I was in the middle of the 31 Day Challenge, so I was up to my ears in nail art, but I had to start thinking about Skittles…and it was scary!  I do accent nails in my manicures, but it’s rare that I do a full skittle manicure where all five nails are different, so as I set out to complete my five manicures for Skittles week, I had to adjust my normal manicure style.  I think in the first two manicures of the week, you can tell that I was struggling to come up with a cohesive manicure that had five different nails, but once I started doing manicures that were more my own style and adapted them to fit the theme, things started to come together!  On top of the theme, I was nervous to produce manicures that were up to par with the rest of the Digit-al Dozen!  These girls are talented!

Now that the week has passed and I have a challenge under my belt, I am looking forward to participating in future Digit-al Dozen challenges!  Every month I will get to have a challenging experience that will push me as an artist, nail tech, and blogger, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.  My favorite manicure from this week would have to be my Sugar Skull Skittles (they were all different color schemes, so it counts!).  I also enjoyed my fall leaves manicure, and the sparkly Zoya Dream skittle!  I hope I can come up with manicures at that level in the upcoming Challenges!



One more thing before we sign off: thank you to the Digit-al Dozen for inviting us to join you guys on this crazy, inspirational, acetone-fueled journey.  We couldn't be more thrilled for this chapter of our blogging lives! <3