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!