Walking Into Spiderwebs

Aaaaand here are my annual spiderweb nails.

The base was Liquid Leather, which I then painted spiderwebs on using a white striper.

More spiderweb nails will definitely make an appearance this October.

Bye for now!

Braaaaaaains!

Ah Halloween, my favourite of the holidays. During September and October last year, I changed up my usual almond/stiletto shaped nails for some coffin shaped nails. I figured it was especially appropriate for Halloween time. 

Of course, in the true spirit of Halloween, and creepiness, I had to do some more zombie nails. And for photo purposes, I added some Third Degree silicone, fake bruising, and fake blood to my face and hands. 

Many polishes were used for this look, and they included:

Sheer Nude from Orly, French Quarter For Your Thoughts from OPI, Suzi Loves Cowboys from OPI, Revlon Red from Revlon, and Liquid Leather from China Glaze. If you want to see the tutorial on these babies, check out my post from two Halloweens ago here.

Strangely enough, I don't like horror movies, but I really, really love Halloween. Dressing up for Halloween is my favourite, especially when I get to incorporate some creepy, gory element. 

Last year I was zombie Rosie The Riveter, and I'm already working on an idea for this year. Do you guys like Halloween? Any thoughts for costumes this year? Yes, I know it's only July, but the Halloween spirit is with me all year long!

Happy not Halloween! :p See you guys tomorrow!

I See You Shiver With Antici... Pation

This year marks the 40th anniversary of what I think I have to say is my favourite ever Halloween movie. It's weird, wacky, a little bit creepy, and a lot funny. That movie, ladies and gentlemen (if the title didn't tip any of you off), is The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I started off with a base of Black Taxi from Nails Inc. for all of my nails. Then, I used black, red and white acrylic to create the mouth on my ring finger and red acrylic to write Rocky Horror on my pointer finger.

I don't have much to say about this manicure, mainly because I need to go watch Rocky Horror now. :p

Hope you guys enjoy!

Frida

Today's Halloween themed nail design is inspired by the artwork of Kat Tatz. I stumbled across the gem that inspired this while scrolling through The Daily Nail's instagram. As someone who is a huge fan of sugar skulls, and art, it was awesome to see someone combine Frida Kahlo's famous self-portraits with intricate sugar skull makeup. I just had to replicate this on my nails.

I started with a base of French Quarter for Your Thoughts from OPI, then lightly dry brushed some white acrylic over my nail. The rest of the design was completely done in acrylic craft paint. I have no idea how many hours I spent on this, but it was worth it. I love how this turned out and how it gives a subtle Halloween vibe.

What do you guys think? Anything you want to see before Halloween??

Hope you guys enjoy!

*You can also see these nails on my instagram, as well as The Daily Nail's.

A Handful of Halloween

I didn't really know what to call today's manicure. It's kind of a mix of everything Halloween-y, yet hipster-ish as well. Here it is.

My pinkie and ring finger are a base of Revlon Red from Revlon. Then I used a bobby pin and black acrylic paint to make the drips. My ring finger is a base of Black Taxi from Nails Inc. Then I added the ribs using white acrylic. My middle finger is also a base of Black Taxi, with a half moon of Sure Thing from Revlon and the details for the eye in black and red acrylic. Finally, my thumb is a base of Black Taxi, with white acrylic to make the skeleton hand.

Hope you guys enjoy!

My current Halloween manicure was inspired by those blood suckers who sometimes sparkle: Vampires. So here you go, a quick vampire manicure.

The base colour is Winning Streak from Revlon. Then, on my ring finger I painted the vampire fangs and blood drips using white and red acrylic. It was a really quick and simple manicure, but it's pretty cute.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Rotting Away

I know. That's a morbid title, but hey, tis the season... The season for creepy, morbid and sometimes gross stuff. By that I mean, it's Halloween time!!

Anyways, some of you may remember my zombie nails from a couple years ago. As much as it was kind of disturbing to have that design on my nails, it was really fun to wear. And seeing as zombies seem to be here to stay for a while, I give you Zombie Nails, Version 2.0.

1. Paint your nails a flesh tone. When I say flesh tone, I mean use a colour that is very similar to your skin colour. For me, this was Sheer Nude from Orly. Also, using the same flesh colour, paint a couple layers of it on a plastic baggy to create your own nail stickers. Do this about an 1-2 hours before the rest of the manicure.

2. Once the polish on the plastic bag has dried for an hour or a bit more, start tearing off or cutting pieces and placing them onto your nails. Wrinkle, fold, and tear the peeled off polish to make it look like rotting flesh... just like a zombie. Kinda gross, but it makes a cool (and creepy) effect.

3. To make the skin look like it's rotting, you want to give it a grey tone, like there isn't blood getting to the surface. To achieve this look, I sponged on French Quarter for Your Thoughts from OPI. Then, I added a khaki green, Khaki from Joe, to give a sort of mossy, moldy look. If you'd like, you can also add a bit off a purple polish for bruising. Make sure if you use purple, you use a purple with a blue undertone (more indigo coloured), since this will look more like real bruising. I used Fig from Joe. Finally, sponge on (very lightly) some black polish, focusing on folds and the edges of tears. I used Black Taxi from Nails Inc. *At this point, you can sponge or dab on some clear matte polish as well to create more of a dead skin look. I used Sally Hansen's Big Matte Top Coat.

4. Now add blood. I used a mix of Revlon Red from Revlon and Black Taxi, and globbed this onto parts of the nail where I had created tears. Then, using either your finger or a sponge, dab, sponge and smudge more red polish onto the nails to look like smeared blood.

A few tips:

1. Use cream or matte polishes for this look. Metallic or glitter polishes will take away from the "real" look of this.

2. Use cool colours. Any colour with a warm look (pink, magenta, lime green) will make it look like healthy skin, instead of zombie skin.

3. Make sure you either use a dark red for the blood or mix it with black. This will give a more realistic look.

4. Don't make this look perfect. You're trying to make gross zombie nails. They should look some what messy. The "torn skin" should look torn. The "blood" should be smeared or splattered. They should look like they're dirty, just like rotting zombies.

And there you have it. Some gory zombie nails. If you plan on being a zombie for Halloween, this can take your look to the next level.

I hope you guys enjoy this slightly disgusting and disturbing Halloween look!

Let's Do The Time Warp...

I was looking through all my nail art photos, and I found a manicure from Halloween that I never posted. And I can't figure out why I never posted it either...

Anyways, the nail art.

It's the lips from Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I have to say is one of the weirdest movies ever, but I still love it. The base for all the nails was Reveal Everything Red by ASP. Then I painted the black acrylic around where I wanted the lips to be, and added white acrylic highlights and teeth. 

Well, that's all for this post. I think I need to go watch Rocky Horror now. And do the Time Warp. 

Mini Manicures: Halloween

With Halloween just a few days away, here are a couple of mini manis for you guys to check out! The first of course, is my spiderweb nails. This is the third year of done them, and you can see them here from last year.

It's the exact same tutorial as last year. 

1. Start with your base polish. I used Reveal Everything Red from ASP, which is a gel polish (more on that soon!).

2. Using a white polish or striper, draw your web shape and fill it in.

3. Use a black striper to draw in the web.

4. Finish drawing in the web, top coat and you're done!

I love this manicure because it's pretty simple, and most people can do it. Plus, people tend to be amazed by the spiderwebs, so get ready for lots of compliments! 

This second mini manicure is a vampire mouth, but you can change it to be any monster mouth.

1. Start with a base coat of red or pink for the lips. Once again, this is Reveal Everything Red.

2. Using black (I used acrylic paint), paint the inside of the mouth.

3. Add in the teeth in white. The teeth can be for whatever monster you'd like. I went for the pointy canines and made it a vampire, but try all sharp teeth for a werewolf, or all flat teeth for a Frankenstein look. Top coat and you're done!

Hope you guys enjoy! Stay tuned for more Halloween manicures!

Halloween Tutorials --- Friday the 13th

Channel your inner Jason Voorhees with these Friday the 13th inspired nails.

1. Start with a white base. I used White On from Sally Hansen.

2. Sponge on some brown polish to age Jason's mask. I used Bare Necessity from Avon.

3. Paint on the eye openings of the mask in black. Add the red, triangular designs onto the mask.

4. Add four black dots above the triangle over the eye opening, and one dot over the last dot on either side on top of the triangle. Ad three dots on the "cheeks".

5. Paint a black dot for the hole for the nose. Paint 4 dots in an arc below the "nose". And two dots beneath both of the center dots out of the four.

6. Finally, shade around the nose in brown to make it look three dimensional. Add silver dots beneath the red triangles on each side as screws for the mask.

For the other nails, thin some red nail polish with nail polish thinner. Place drops at the tips of white nails. The blow at the red, so that it goes towards your cuticle. There you go. Some "blood" covered nails.

Halloween Tutorials --- Monster Mash, Part 2

Here's part 2 of the Monster Mash tutorials.

1. Start with an orange base. I used Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen.

2. Paint a green leaf for the Jack-O-Lantern's "hair".

3. Add some black eyes.

4. Paint on the nose.

5. Finally, give your Jack-O-Lantern a toothy grin!

1. Start with a white base. I used White On from Sally Hansen. *Optional: Add a glow in the dark polish over the white. I used U Glow Girl from Sally Girl.

2. Paint on the black eyes for the skeleton.

3. Add the nose by making to thin lines.

4. Shade in some cheekbones with grey.

5. Finally, paint on teeth with black.

1. Paint your nails with a colour which matches your skin tone. I used Sheer Nude from Orly.

2. Take a make up sponge and sponge on some green, black and brown. I used Khaki from JOE, Black Satin from Rimmel and Bare Necessity from Avon.

3. Use black to give the zombie some hair.

4. Using a dotter, make two black eyes. Add a red pupil.

5. Finally, give your zombie a black nose and smile.

1. Start with a white base. I used White On followed with U Glow Girl.

2. Add two long, black eyes.

3. Add white to the eyes.

4. Finally, give the ghost a shocked looking mouth. 

And here are some glow in the dark shots. 

The ghost.

The skeleton.

I've got one more Halloween tutorial coming to you guys tomorrow. Let's just say this one will be creepier than the Monster Mash nails. 

Halloween Tutorials --- Spiderwebs

This is one of my favourite nail designs. I painted it last year for Halloween too, so I was excited to paint it again. It's much less creepy than the zombie nails and it has a sort of pop art feel.

Alright, here's the step-by-step tutorial.

1. Paint your nail with an orange nail polish. I used Papaya from JOE.

2. Using a white striper, outline the background for the spider web. Fill this in with white polish. I used White On from Sally Hansen.

3. Use a black striper to make the lines on the web. Top coat.

And that's it! You're done! Simple, right? Enjoy!

Halloween Tutorials --- Zombies

So, seeing as Halloween is coming up, I have decided to put my 31 Day Nail Art Challenge on hold for some Halloween tutorials. Yes, I am aware that I am already onto month three of my challenge, but I'm back a school now, and since it's senior year, things are hectic. Anyways, let's get to the tutorial!

Today's tutorial was inspired by the un-dead, as in zombies. I'm not a fan of the whole "zombie movement", but it's near Halloween and zombies and Halloween go hand in hand.

I came up with this design when I was searching the internet for Halloween nail inspirations. I kept coming across zombie nail, but they were basically all on fake nails where people cut them up. This got me thinking, "hey, aren't there some people who want to dress up as zombies without tearing their nails to bits?" :p Anyways, here's the [gross] tutorial.

1. Prep the nail and apply a polish onto your nail which matches your skin tone. At this same time, apply the same colour onto a plastic baggy. Use two coats on the bag. I used Sheer Nude from Orly.

2. Once the polish on the baggy is dry enough, peel some off. Using a exacto knife or scissors, tear a jagged hole in the DIY nail sticker. 

3. Apply the sticker to your nail. *You don't have to be perfect in the application. You want the "skin" to be lifting and puckered. 

4. Take a makeup sponge and sponge on some brown and an olive/camo green. I used Bare Necessity from Avon and Khaki from JOE.

5. Next, where the "skin" is lifting, gently sponge on some black (I used Black Satin from Rimmel). You can also sponge some black onto the rest of the nail, focusing on parts which are lifting or puckered. 

6. Fill in any gaps where the skin is lifting with red to symbolize blood. I used a mix of Wocka Wocka from OPI and Gypsy Queen from Misa.

7. Finally, splatter on some more red to look like blood. 

Remember, these don't need to be perfect! They just need to look...dirty. 

Enjoy!