Read Or Die

Over the years, I've come to realize, I'm a lot less "ride or die" and a lot more "read or die". I just really like books.

On my left hand pinkie and right hand ring finger, I painted the word "no" using a black and white striper. Next, on my left ring finger and right middle finger, I started with a base of French Quarter For Your Thoughts from OPI, then painted Blue Away from Sally Hansen, Baker Street from Nails Inc., Blazed from Wet 'N' Wild, Lightening from Sally Hansen, Surfing Paradise from Island Girl Hawaii, Khaki from Joe, and Suzi Loves Cowboys from OPI. Then I added on some black and white using stripers, and painted on "ride or die" using a black striper. Finally, I painted "read" using a white striper. My left middle finger and right pointer finger were a base of Sure Thing from Revlon, followed by 3 layers of hairspray water marbling using Black Leather from China Glaze, Finally, my left pointer finger and right pinkie were Baker Street.

Do you guys like to read too? What's your favourite book?

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!

Hakuna Matata

I've got a quick Lion King manicure to show you guys.

Simba has a base colour of Mellow Yellow from Sally Hansen, and the details are acrylic. The Hakuna Matata writing is in white acrylic. To get the effect on the other nails, I first started with a base of Mellow Yellow. I then layered on (one at a time) Watermelon from Essie, Papaya from JOE, Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen, Lime Up! from Essence and Blue-Away from Sally Hansen. After each colour, I would used the saran wrap technique to remove some colour. I think I might do a tutorial on this, since I did it quite differently than most of the saran wrap tutorials I've seen. Anyways, hope you guys like it! :)

I'm Saved by the Bell

Hey guys! Here's another random 3 nail manicure, since I've been to lazy to fix my ever breaking pointer finger nail. :p Anyways, for those of you who love the show Saved by the Bell, these nails are for you!

My pinkie is painted with Dreamer from Revlon and Blue-Away from Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. The spots, colour blocks and swirl are acrylic. My ring finger; the Saved by the Bell logo, has a base coat of Bizarre Blurple from the China Glaze Wicked collection, with Fig from JOE sponged on top. Once again the detail is acrylic. Finally, my middle finger has a base of Via Airmail from the Essence Ready for Boarding collection, and detail in acrylic. 

All the designs are from the opening theme of Saved by the Bell. I've been super happy lately, since Saved by the Bell is back on TV on Much Music. :)

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!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 22, Song[s]

My day 22 manicure is one I love. Not only was it inspired by my favourite band, it also happened to be my birthday (yesterday). But enough of that. Let's get to the pictures, and the polish.

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Although the challenge was inspired by a song, I chose to use several songs. All of which are by the Beatles. 

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On my pointer finger, I painted a strawberry. This nail is inspired by Strawberry Field's Forever. And for any of you who know the movie Across the Universe, the strawberry is inspired by Jude's artwork. The base is White On from Sally Hansen and the strawberry is acrylic. My middle finger is inspired by Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite. It's a poster advertising the Pablo Fanque's Circus (mentioned in the song) with the circus tent curtain over top. The base is White On, that was sponged with brown acrylic. The writing and curtain are acrylic. My ring finger is inspired by Across the Universe. The Beatles was written on a galaxy... in the universe. :p The base is Black Satin from Rimmel, followed my sponging of White On, Grey-t To Be Here from Essence, and Midnight Plum from Avon. The stars and The Beatles are acrylic. Finally, my pinkie is inspired by Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's one of the Beatle's outfits from the album cover. The base is Papaya from JOE and the details are acrylic. 

Here's the random bonus design I painted on my thumb. Not really sure what it is.... I guess it can demonstrate the whimsical aspect of a lot of Beatles's songs. It could also be my Happy Birthday nail! :p The base is White On and the details are acrylic.

And this is my favourite nail. I love how well the strawberry turned out.  If you guys would like a tutorial of the strawberry, let me know! Below is a photo of what it was inspired by.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 19, Galaxies

Day 19 of the challenge is galaxy nails. I've never tried galaxy nails before, so I was excited to try, and I'm super happy with my results. So happy, in fact, that I made a tutorial to go with them.

1. Start with a black base. I used Black Satin from Rimmel.

2. Using white (I used White On from Sally Hansen), lightly sponge on a thick line. This should not be perfectly straight and should be quite light. Focus more white on the center of the galaxy. 

3/4. Next, using a makeup sponge, slightly mix a darker and lighter blue (or a lighter and darker shade of your chosen colour) together and sponge around the outer edges of the white. I used Ogre-the-Top Blue and Yoga-Ta Get This Blue from OPI.

5. Repeat step 3/4., this time with purple (or your second chosen colour). However, sponge slightly onto the white this time. I used Midnight Plum from Avon and Fig from JOE Fresh. 

6. Lightly sponge glitter over the whole nail. I used Grey to Be Here from Essence. Then, focusing on the center of the galaxy, lightly sponge a coarser glitter over the white. I used a glitter striper from It's So Easy Stripe Rite. 

7. Finally, (this is what really makes the galaxy look) add some little dots for stars. You can also paint some twinkling stars on. Top coat. 

Tips:

i) Rip the makeup sponge; don't cut it, for a more natural, organic and realistic look when sponging. 

ii) Reference photos of galaxies to produce a more realistic design.

iii) Don't be perfect. Galaxies are irregular in shape since they naturally occur. 

iv) Each nail doesn't need to be the same, since once again, galaxies are natural and don't all look the same.

v) Make the center of the galaxy a slightly brighter white to look more realistic. 

vi) Make stars tiny to be more realistic. 

I hope any of you who haven't tried galaxy nails will give them a try! Now, one question. What do you guys think? Are my nails "Outta this World"?

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 12, Stripes

Okay, so I sort of lied about the semi-boring manicures. My day 12 one is kind of boring. Oh well. :)

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I started with a base of Fig from JOE Fresh, then made the pin striping using tape with Stormy from Revlon Top Speed. I top coated it then added Essie's Matte About You.