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!

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!

Cold Body, Warm Heart: Warm Bodies

Yesterday, I went to see the new movie, Warm Bodies. I first heard about the movie a few months ago when Michelle Phan did a makeup tutorial on it. It's about a zombie named R falling in love with a girl named Julie, and it has romance, thrills, and a ton of comedy. I'm not really into the whole zombie movement, nor was I into the vampire movement, but this movie was AMAZING! You just wanted to keep watching. And, I'm not kidding when I say I would pay to see this movie again. But, let's get to the fun part; the nail art!

The base colour is two coats of The Spy Who Loved Me and one coat of You Only Live Twice. Both are from the OPI James Bond Collection. The details are all done with white acrylic. For the letters, I first wrote the words in white, then sponged over with some of You Only Live Twice. To get the affect of the heart and all the other nails, I watered down the acrylic, and dragged it out to get the dripping effect. Originally, I was going to paint R's face on my ring finger, but then I realized I didn't have near enough time to before I needed to leave for the movie. Anyways, like I said, amazing movie and I recommend it for sure! Have any of you seen it? Did you like it? Do you want to see it?

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!