Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Nail-Aween Halloween Inspired

Happy Halloween everyone. It was a really busy day, but I managed to get my Halloween inspired mani done for the last day of the Nail-Aween Challenge. My Halloween inspiration is trick or treating. I bet you can guess why. :)

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Halloween Spellbound Nail-Aween Trick or Treat sprinkles candy orange black L.A. Colors Wilton

This is my first blog worthy picture taken with my newly constructed light-box  The setup isn't perfect yet but this picture has given me hope that I'll perfect it soon. I'm incredibly happy that I managed to get, if not perfection, something of this quality after full dark. As for the mani, I used a coat of L.A. Colors black and topped it with two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. On the second coat I dipped each nail (done one at a time) into Wilton Halloween Sprinkles. A candy/sprinkles mani has always been something I wanted to try, so why not now?

After such a hectic month packed full of nail art, I'm going to take a short break ... give my nails a bit of a break and enjoy my upcoming birthday. I'll be back next week with some awesome posts! You won't believe some of the things I bought over the past month. :)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Nail-Aween Witches & Pumpkins

Today's post is being turned into a double post. While we are not in the direct path of Hurricane Sandy, we are feeling the effects. We've had rain, snow, and power outages just to name a few. We've spent all night and most of today with no power and no heat. I am beyond thankful that the power is back up and the house is finally getting warm again. All the other people and families experiencing Sandy are in my thoughts. Take care!!


nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound Nail-Aween Challenge witch wicked East West The Wizard of Oz stripes black white green pointed hat poppies flowers Sally Hansen Wet n Wild L.A. Colors

I was so excited to see witch inspired nail art in the Nail-Aween Challenge. What better inspiration for witch than The Wizard of Oz?? It's one of my all time favorite movies. With this in mind, I created black and white stripes for the socks worn by the Wicked Witch of the East, shown under Dorthy's house. I did an accent nail using Sally Hansen's Green with Envy to match the Wicked Witch of the West's green skin and added a pointed black hat. I decided to add some red poppies to the striped nails to complete the mani and tie it all into The Wizard of Oz.


nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound Nail-Aween Challenge pumpkins orange green leaves Sally Hansen L.A. Colors

For the pumpkin nail art, I thought briefly of doing Jack-O'-Lantern nails but finally decided against that. Jack-O'-Lanterns seemed overdone, and you know how I love thinking differently! I decided to do actual pumpkins. I used Sally Hansen Sun Kissed as the orange base. The shading was done by mixing black and white with Sun Kissed to create the dark and light colors. Green with Envy was used the same way for the leaves. I took this picture slightly from the side in an attempt to trick the eye into seeing width and roundness.


Also, if my Halloween nail art just isn't enough for you, check out this nail art video from Swagbucks to learn how to create some really awesome skeleton nails for Halloween!!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

The Webs We Weave

Hello girlies!! First off, I just want to say thank you guys so much for sticking with me. I don't say it enough but I love all your follows, your views, your comments, and your shares. You keep me going, keep me coming back with better and better nail art. So, thank you; you guys are great!!!

Spider nail art was the challenge for today in the Nail-Aween Challenge. I'm really excited to share these nails with you. I tried something new, and I really like how it turned out.

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound thread black white spider web spiderweb Halloween Nail-Aween Challenge

When I read the challenge for today all I could think of was spiderwebs on my nails with a spider crawling over my hand. I wanted nothing more than to find someone local who owned a tarantula and wouldn't mind me getting some pictures. Sadly, no one I know owns one anymore and I didn't think the local pet shop would be too happy if I wanted to hold their spiders for pictures with no intention of buying. I finally settled on this big guy. He was made with a suction cup on his belly so he could hang in the window but I found a new use for him.

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound thread black white spider web spiderweb Halloween Nail-Aween Challenge

These spiderwebs look even better in person. I used two coats of L.A. Colors black and used white sewing thread to create the webs. It was a little more time consuming than simply drawing them on but not only did I actually enjoy creating these webs I really love how 3D using thread makes them.

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound thread black white spider web spiderweb Halloween Nail-Aween Challenge

Here is a closer look at the thread. Honestly, they aren't the best to look at in macro. A camera catches things your eyes glance right over. I did not actually cut the thread first. I found it easier to control where the thread lay when it was still attached to the spool. I simply ran the tip of the thread through some clear polish and lay it where I wanted. I used my dotting tool and more clear polish to move it into position and attach it to my nail. I cut the end from the spool before I attached the last section. Each line was done separately. As I was doing this, I thought it was oddly like laying tape for a sunbeam mani.

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound thread black white spider web spiderweb Halloween Nail-Aween Challenge

I tried putting a top coat on my pinkie but it caused some slight bleeding into the white thread and also caused a lot of bubbling so I decided not to use top coat on the other nails. After that it was a simple matter of arranging the spider over my nails and snapping some pictures.

What do you think of my thread webs? Will you be trying them before Halloween?

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

G is for ...

The ABC Challenge is up to G today. There were a ton of things I could have done for G, but I decided to go with something morbid and great for Halloween. So, G is for ... Gravestones.

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound ABC Challenge G Gravestone gravestones headstones grave skull RIP moss rock tombstone tombstones headstone morbid grey New York Colors NYC Sidewalkers flocking powder green grass Halloween

The grey of New York Colors Sidewalkers made for a great base color. Then I darkened it with some black and lightened it with some white to create the speckled look. I purposely left off any top coat in an attempt to keep the very rough, textured look of old gravestones. I added a skull to my ring finger and a sharp lettered RIP to my middle finger. The last step was to use some of my just purchased Recollections Lime flocking powder to create a scummy moss growing on the 'gravestones'.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Nail-Aween Frankenstein

I can't believe we are on Day 6 of the Nail-Aween Challenge already. With only 10 'days' in this challenge this means we are also coming closer and closer to the end. I plan to finish this challenge on Halloween.


nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound Nail-Aween Halloween Challenge Frankenstein Bride of hair black white green stitched stitching stitch Sinful Colors Sally Hansen L.A. Colors

Today's challenge was Frankenstein nails. I decided to do the basic green, stitched Frankenstein nail and added a Bride of Frankenstein accent nail. These are very simple but simple can be good too, and I think these turned out pretty great.

I'm going to be so sad when this challenge is over. I've really come to like them and would love to be part of another. They do have to be flexible enough that I don't have to post daily though. If anyone knows of any upcoming challenges that will let me work on a flexible schedule let me know please.

Also, check out the other wonderful artists doing this challenge with me. They have come up with some really great nails!!


(List includes blogs and FB pages)

Monday, October 22, 2012

Arcadia's Witch's Brew

I wasn't sure what I was going to post today right up until I actually started typing. It's the reason for the late post. I haven't had much luck with my nails this weekend and even less luck in taking pictures. I finally picked up the supplies this weekend to make my light box, but what I haven't managed to find yet is the perfect setup for said light box or the correct setting on my camera. A lot of my pictures turn blurry and the others my camera does some automatic adjustment and turns the picture orange.

However, I do have one picture. It's not one I was planning on posting to the blog but it's all I have that isn't for the ABC Challenge or the Nail-Aween Challenge. So, here goes ...

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound Arcadia YouTube Halloween Witch Witch's Brew potion eye eyes eyeball glitter shimmer China Glaze Sally Hansen bloodshot

I knew the moment Arcadia posted the tutorial, Witch's Brew, to her YouTube channel that I had to do these nails. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it — this design was totally meant to be on my nails! I was in a hurry so I left off the spiders. In place of the polishes shown in the video, I used Sally Hansen's Green With Envy and Wet n Wild's Party of Five Glitters. I did use China Glaze's Jungle Queen as my base. I love how Arcadia decided on this color because it is so different from the usual black base most use in Halloween nail art. Jungle Queen also adds a lovely shimmer that looks wonderful and unexpected in the sun. I had a woman stop me and positively gush over these nails so I tip my virtual hat to Arcadia and send all that gushing her way — along with my own gushing!

Seriously, if you haven't found her channel on your own ... go! Go now; you won't be disappointed.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Nail-Aween Ghosts

The next in the Nail-Aween Challenge was a choice between ghost or goblin. I chose to do ghost, but I wanted to do something a bit different than simple ghosts on my nails.

nails nailart nail art polish mani manicure Spellbound character Casper Ghosts Stinky Stretch Fatso friendly

With this in mind I did Casper and the Ghostly Trio: Stretch, Fatso and Stinky. What I couldn't manage to get in the picture is the glitter. I used a glow in the dark glitter on the Ghostly Trio, not for the glow, but for the slightly green tinge and the small bits of glitter to give them a ghostly sparkle. I used Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor for Casper.

The other Sinful Colors I used is Snow Me White. I just picked this up in my last shopping trip since my China Glaze White on White has run out. I never seem to be able to get to Sally Beauty to pick up more, so I had to settle. However, settling really isn't a bad thing. I like the texture of China Glaze better but Sinful Colors is a really awesome one coat white. I used two coats just to be extra sure it was perfect since I was just doing lines, but one coat would have worked perfectly. If you are looking for a one coat white, Snow Me White is definitely it.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Halloween Glitter and Glue

Today is supposed to be the next in the Nail-Aween Challenge, I know! But I'm a day behind after being sick this week. I'll be able to catch up this weekend but until then I've swapped today and tomorrow's posts. Tomorrow will definitely be the Nail-Aween nails.


Today's post is another of the unnamed/unbranded polishes in the cute pumpkin bottles. This polish is from the same company who made the awesome pumpkin bottled pink glow-in-the-dark polish I posted to welcome October. After seeing a few of these polishes in action, I think I'm just going to start buying these whenever I see them. They are all so great and cheap too!


Since this is such a glitter-packed polish I decided to try a glue base coat. My polish addicted sister-in-law recommended I check out Pretty Purple Polish's post on glue base coats, and I thought it was an awesome idea. If it could make removing glitter easier I would worship the creator of this idea!! I cleaned out an old polish bottle and filled it with Elmer's glue. If you're going to use an old bottle like I did make sure you clean the bottle thoroughly! I used a lot of nail polish remover and water and more than a few Q-tips before I felt it was clean enough. Wet glue and wet polish are like oil and water! This is one thick coat of glue on my nails with my usual base coat under the glue.


The glue will dry clear and matte on your nails. This is a great picture showing how the glue dries. I'd recommend a second coat of glue, as this will make removing the glitter much easier.


I used three coats of the pumpkin polish. It's black base is packed full of large and small orange hex glitters that look amazing in the sun. They actually look great anywhere but they really grab attention in the sun. This is such a perfect polish for Halloween!


Then came the moment of truth — the removal. Would the glue base coat work for me like it worked for others? Yes, it really did work!! Since I didn't have an orange stick and I didn't want to risk damaging my nails, I soaked my fingers under some hot water to loosen the glue before I began peeling. As you can see, I started at one corner of my nail near the cuticle. It felt really weird to peel my nail polish off, not painful but there was definitely some pulling that could be felt. Some of the polish came off in chunks, I'm guessing where I didn't use enough glue, but most came off in one big, nail shaped piece. I worried that there might be some damage to my nails after all the horror stories of what can happen if you pick at your nail polish, but there was no damage to be seen after clean-up.

Don't be worried about peeling happening while showering, doing dishes, or washing your hands either. Even after soaking my nails, I still had to work to get the polish to peel.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

F is for ...

I had a few ideas on what to do for F in the ABC Challenge but the one that really stood out and begged to be done was frog. Not just any frog though, I wanted to do Blue Poison-Dart Frog nails. I actually want to do a collection of poison-dart frog nails.

nails nailart nail art nailpolish polish mani manicure Spellbound ABC Challenge f is for frog Poison Dart dots spots blue China Glaze First Mate Secret Peri-Wink-Le sponge sponged sponging gradient speckled speckles speckle

I started with a three coat base color of China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le and used my trusty eyeshadow applicator to lightly sponge on China Glaze First Mate. I mixed Secret Peri-Wink-Le with a small bit of L.A. Colors white to create the lighter speckles. The black dots were created with my largest and my smallest dotting tools and done with L.A. Colors Black. I'm sure even those who don't know anything about frogs know that frogs have this slick, wet or slimy look about them so I used two coats of top coat to give these nails an extra froggy shine.

nails nailart nail art nailpolish polish mani manicure Spellbound ABC Challenge f is for frog Poison Dart dots spots blue China Glaze First Mate Secret Peri-Wink-Le sponge sponged sponging gradient speckled speckles speckle

I used this stock photo as my inspiration. As animals go, I'm pretty neutral about frogs. I don't have a fear nor would I scream if I saw a frog but I wouldn't want to run up and try to pet them like I would a dog. However, I do find some breeds, the poison-darts especially, of frogs stunningly beautiful. The poison-dart frogs all have such bright, bold, and beautiful colors and markings. I find them oddly like butterflies in this way, using their colors and markings to warn off predators.

I'm A Guest Blogger

I was so excited and honored when the ever amazing beauty blogger, Ashley Elizabeth, asked me to be a guest blogger. After accepting came the question, what was I going to do?? I thought long and hard before I decided the one thing I really wanted to do was attempt to tie our blogs together. Since she is a beauty blogger and I'm a nail blogger I decided on an eyeshadow to nail polish tutorial. Learn how to Reincarnate Old Eyeshadow in my guest post featured on her blog.

nails nailart nail art polish nailpolish mani manicure Spellbound Ashley Elizabeth guest post blogger eyeshadow create reincarnate old

Seriously, check out this tutorial because the nail polish you can create from today's eyeshadows are so much more awesome than those I could create when I was a teenager!! You're going to want to see the finished product on my nails, and then you're going to want to try it for yourself. ♥

Also, be sure to take a browse through her blog because the things this woman can do with hair and makeup, and the products she blogs about, are amazing!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Are You My Mummy? Nail-Aween

Today's post is Day 4, Mummy Nails, of the Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound mummy Doctor Who quote Halloween Nail-Aween Challenge googly eyes stripes string spun sugar

The white stripes were done with a technique I found through Manicurator's blog where she did the most awesome rainbow stripe nails. The technique, sometimes called string nail art or spun sugar nail art, is simple. Put a few drops of polish onto a piece of paper and stir it until it gets goopy and strings start to form. I used a sewing needed to stir and blew across the polish as I was stirring. Lift your tool straight up out of the polish occasionally to see if you're getting strings. Once strings start to form simply put your nail close to the polish and pull the strings across your nail. This technique is messy; it will definitely need some cleanup. However, the finished look is definitely worth it. I actually wore these nails shopping without the eyes and got many a second look.

As for the eyes, I was very disappointed to realize, as I was doing this mani, that the smallest googly eyes I bought were still slightly too big for this mani. I was hoping for just the perfect size so the eyes would look like they were looking out of my nails like a mummy through bandages. I think these nails can go into the 'good idea, bad follow through' folder. Maybe I'll get a chance to try them again next year. :)

Monday, October 15, 2012

Elegant Border Nails

Hello everyone. I'm in the midst of a cold and debated even doing a post today, but thanks to some help from the lovely women on my Facebook Page I was able to beat the sore throat and tone down the other symptoms of my cold. You can totally thank them for this post!

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound border borders roses stamping black white L.A. Colors tutorial elegant stamp stamped stamper

I've been waiting to post these nails for a while but there were always other posts that needed posted first. Well, I'm making today the right day. Lustrous Lacquer wanted to see border nails and this is what I came up with.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound border borders roses stamping black white L.A. Colors tutorial elegant stamp stamped stamper

Start out with a base color. This will be the color of your borders. I used two coats of L.A. Colors Black. The next step is to paint your nails again, but leave a border around the edges. I found it easier to simply use the nail polish brush and be a little more careful around the edges, but you could use a nail art brush or a dotting tool to lay down an outline first if you don't feel comfortable jumping right in. You'll go back later and create a tip so don't worry if the tips look messy or the black shows on the edges. This picture shows one coat of L.A. Colors White. I used three coats to completely cover the black.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound border borders roses stamping black white L.A. Colors tutorial elegant stamp stamped stamper

Here's where you complete the border by repainting the tips with your border color. Remember to round the edges of this tip to give a nice oval shape to the borders. I let this part of the mani dry completely and then put on a layer of top coat to give myself a nice stamping surface.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound border borders roses stamping black white L.A. Colors tutorial elegant stamp stamped stamper

I used the rose image on m65 of my Born Pretty stamping plates. This is the one and only time I got such perfect images on all my nails. I'm sure it has something to do with the L.A. Colors polish I used. It's a very slow to dry polish, and I worked extra fast. Be sure to let your nails dry completely before stamping and be sure it's completely dry before using any top coat. With the black and white even the smallest amount of smudging or running will be immediately visible!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Blog Pink

sweetjellybean.com

I don't know if you know this but October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I think this is something we should all recognize. Breast Cancer Awareness isn't just for survivors or the family of those diagnosed. It's not even just for all women everywhere. While breast cancer among men is rare, it does happen!

In 2012, it is estimated that among U.S. women there will be 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer (including new cases of primary breast cancer among survivors). An estimated 2,190 new cases of breast cancer will occur in men. It is also estimated that 39,510 women and 410 men will die of breast cancer this year alone in the United States. In 2010, it was estimated that 1.6 million new cases of breast cancer occurred in women worldwide. This is very real and very life threatening, and it's something that should be important to all of us.


nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound breast cancer awareness Susan G Komen for the cure support pink ribbon french tips glitter campaign October

In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month I wanted to do a very simple nail art. I wanted this nail art to be something anyone, of any skill level, could do to show their support. I used a very thin coat of Wet n Wild Sugar Coat as my base. Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl was used on the tips of all but my ring finger and topped with a coat of Wet n Wild Sparkled. My ring finger became a standard french tip with the help of LA Colors white and I used Beautiful Girl to create a pink ribbon. This is a very simple design that you won't need any special tools for. If you don't feel comfortable creating your own french tips there are specially created guides (found in the polish/nail tools section of most stores) you can buy or you can use binder re-inforcers (usually found in office supplies). The pink ribbon can be done with a nail art brush, a dotting tool, or even a toothpick.

Go to sweetjellybean.com and pick up your own sidebar badge and post banner so you can blog pink too!

Breast cancer facts from Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Nail-Aween Bloody Nails

I've done a lot of bloody nails in my time as a nail artist. Splatters and drips and everything in between. I dislike redoing one of my nail art ideas unless I know I can make it better or unless I have a slightly different take on it. So when I saw that the next challenge in the Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge was bloody nails I was a bit stumped ... until I came up with this.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound Nail-Aween Halloween Challenge bloody blood drips shimmer glitter Orly vampire bite bites Just Bitten fangs

I call these Just Bitten. I used a three coat base color of Revlon's Bare Bones. I wanted a paler 'skin tone' like my nails had been drained of blood and were left slightly ashen. As for the rest, I followed the Kayla Shevonne Vampire Bites Tutorial again. I added some blood dripping vampire fangs to her original idea though. I think these are some of the best blood drips I've done yet since I tried to keep these drips very thin and realistic.

Out of the Halloween nails I've done so far, this is definitely my favorite. I didn't want to take these nails off!! What do you guys think?

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

E is for ...

I had so many ideas on what to do for E in the ABC Challenge. I may still attempt some of them after Halloween. But, in the end E is for ... Eeyore!!

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound ABC Challenge E Eeyore Born Pretty Store metal studs clouds Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl freehand tail blue China Glaze First Mate Revlon Bare Bones bow hot black Winnie the Pooh

There's really not much to say about this mani. I'm pretty disappointed in my freehand Eeyore. It's not up to my usual standards. He started out so well too, and I have no idea where he went wrong. Still, I love Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl, and I love the cloud pattern on this pink! That and Eeyore's tail really saved this mani, in my opinion.

Check in tomorrow for my favorite Nail-Aween mani yet. I don't think anything else I come up with for this Halloween inspired challenge could beat it.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Nail-Aween Matte Dotticure

Sorry this is a bit late. It was supposed to be up Friday. There were two manicures in the Nail-Aween Challenge that I was least looking forward to and they were the water marble and the matte dotticure. Personally, I'm just not fond of matte dotticures. I love bright colors and flashy nail art. I managed to get a bright color but it's certainly not flashy nail art.


nails nail art nailart manicure mani Spellbound Nail-Aween Halloween Matte Dots Dotticure New York Color NYC red orange Challenge

This is New York Color's Spring Street and it's one of those really hard colors to photograph, but I think I managed somewhat well. Spring Street is an orange-red that leans orange in person but instantly turns red on camera. Between the bottle and the color on my nails you should have some idea of what this color looks like.


nails nail art nailart manicure mani Spellbound Nail-Aween Halloween Matte Dots Dotticure New York Color NYC red orange Challenge

No matter how much or how little I like this color it is something truly amazing when turned matte. I did three layers of Spring Street. Two would have worked but I wanted a perfectly smooth surface. As anyone who has used matte before can tell you it chips easily and quickly so I always do a coat of my usual top coat before using my matte top coat. I've never had any problems so far so it must work pretty well. Once the matte top coat was completely dry I was stunned by how rubber my nails looked. This picture does them no justice!


nails nail art nailart manicure mani Spellbound Nail-Aween Halloween Matte Dots Dotticure New York Color NYC red orange Challenge

After the matte top coat dried all that was needed was some dots. Really, what can you do with a matte dotticure? There are only so many combination of dots you can do without it looking crowded. I went with a row of medium sized dot right up the middle.

Honestly, I'm happy to be through with this manicure. But I'll let you in on a secret ... the next one in the Nail-Aween Challenge is going to be awesome!!!

I forgot to add this in my last post. Here's a list of the other artists taking part in this challenge. Go check them out, give them some love. 



Monday, October 8, 2012

No Hard Feelings

Today's featured polish is from a recent haul. There was a sale, and I couldn't resist!


nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound No Hard Feelings Sally Hansen Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl pink purple V Vee tape taped taping

This is Sally Hansen's No Hard Feelings and there are certainly no hard feelings about this polish!! I am in absolute love.


nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound No Hard Feelings Sally Hansen Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl pink purple V Vee tape taped taping

The color looks more true in this picture. It's definitely more of a floral lavender or a wisteria maybe.

To create this look I used tape to create a V on either side of each nail and filled it in with Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl. In my opinion, these colors look so amazing together!

What do you think?

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Best Kind of Potatoes

Last Saturday my mom, my niece and I went to a local festival called PotatoFest. It's one of my favorite fall festivals, second only to the Fall Foliage Festival happening this weekend. The city that holds the festival is the second largest supplier of potatoes in the state so it's kind of a big deal. PotatoFest is, naturally, all about potatoes and the people who grow them. The festival has food, crafts, and live bands that take up a few blocks of the city for just one day every year. My mom goes for the crafts but I go for the potatoes! Sweet potato fries to be specific. Also love the potato candy and the maple syrup booth with some of the most amazing lollipops in existence—maple lollipops!!

I couldn't let this day pass without some equally amazing nail art.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound festival Mr Potato Head sweet potato fries food character China Glaze Desert Sun PotatoFest Mrs polish

What else could I possibly do for PotatoFest besides Mr. Potato Head nails? I used China Glaze Desert Sun as my base color. I wanted to give these nails more of a sweet potato coloring than the more brown color of regular potatoes. I added hearts to show my utter love of potatoes, especially sweet potatoes and sweet potato fries.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound festival Mr Potato Head sweet potato fries food character China Glaze Desert Sun PotatoFest Mrs polish

This is my rarely seen right hand with Mrs. Potato Head and more hearts. I'm sorry for the poor lighting and the awkward angle of this picture. I was racing against the setting sun and my camera just wasn't made to be used by a left hand.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

D is for ...

D is for dragon fruit, also known as pitaya or pitahaya! What I find really awesome is that dragon fruit isn't really a fruit but a species of cactus. I guess it's not so hard to believe when you look at it's outer shell. [Wikipedia]

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound ABC Challenge D Dragon Fruit cactus cacti border pink white black spotted speckled dots dotted

This isn't really what I had in mind for D. I wanted this to have glitter or sequins or something really eye-catching since it's such an odd thing to put on my nails. However, I couldn't find black glitter, either loose or as a polish, anywhere!! While sequins and black studs were just too large. I had to settle for using grey and black polish and my smallest dotting tool to create the dragon fruit's flesh. The speckles look really big this close but are actually really, really tiny and much more reminiscent of a halved dragon fruit.

Have any of you actually tried dragon fruit? I would love to try it but have no idea where to find it in my area. :(

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Nail-Aween Water Marble

Hello everyone!! Since Halloween is my favorite holiday I decided to make October the best month yet. Or at least, I hope you guys will like my posts. What do you have to look forward to?

My usual Wednesday posts have been taken over by the ABC Challenge nail art so you should be seeing some pretty creative designs coming from that. I try to think outside the box with every letter.

I've also decided to take part in the Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge. There are some really great designs, some I haven't tried before, that are part of this challenge. It's going to be awesome!

nails nailart nail art Spellbound mani manicure Halloween water marble October Nail-Aween Challenge black white LA Colors

What does all this mean for you? More posts!!! What does this mean for me? A really busy month. :)

The first design asked for in the Nail-Aween Challenge is water marble. I really dislike water marble. Don't get me wrong. The look of a finished water marble is really pretty (if you don't look too closely) but the time it takes is really not worth it, in my opinion. With this in mind, I debated doing a pin drag mani instead and calling it a 'without water-water marble', but I just couldn't do it. It would have felt like cheating.

nails nailart nail art Spellbound mani manicure Halloween water marble October Nail-Aween Challenge black white LA Colors

Water Marble is actually pretty simple, but it is also very time consuming. You start out by painting your nails with a base color. I used white. Next, you need a bowl of water. This water has to be filtered or bottled and it must be room temperature. I filled an old butter dish with bottled water and left it sit out overnight. By the time I was ready to start, it was the perfect temperature. What wasn't perfect was thinking I could use a butter dish. The inside was too glossy and the polish wouldn't attach to the sides. You think this would be a good thing but you need to stabilize the outer edge of your polish rings before you can start swirling designs. I finally managed to rig up this. I lined the butter dish with saran wrap and poured the water back in. The saran wrap held the polish perfectly and I had no problems creating swirls.

nails nailart nail art Spellbound mani manicure Halloween water marble October Nail-Aween Challenge black white LA Colors

After you set up your water, make sure you have all your supplies on hand. You want to be able to move from one step to the next without having to leave your work space. Work one finger at a time. Tape around your nail but don't get too close. Taping too close to the nail may stop the polish in the water from settling correctly. It's easier to clean up than to start all over. Once your nail is taped, start dropping your polish into your dish one drop at a time. Be careful not to overload the brush with polish. You only need one drop and an overload brush may drop two or three before you can control it. Keep dropping polish into the water until you get a tight bulls-eye pattern. If your polish isn't spreading you can give the dish a few quick taps against the side. Don't do this too harshly or you'll make a mess by splashing water and polish or create bubbles in your bulls-eye. How do I know? I did both.

Once you decide you have enough rings you'll need to attach them to your dish if they aren't already attached. Don't touch the outer ring! This ring will already be dry and touching it can ruin everything! Work from at least two rings in just to be safe. To create your swirls you can use almost anything sharp: a pin, a toothpick, the sharp end of a pencil (just know that the graphite may cause discoloration in the polish). I used an old nail art brush and found this worked even better than my attempts with a pin or a toothpick. You'll need to keep a napkin or paper towel on hand to keep your sharp object clean as you create swirls. Creating the swirls is up to you. Jump right in or spend a few moments trying to plan them out.

nails nailart nail art Spellbound mani manicure Halloween water marble October Nail-Aween Challenge black white LA Colors

Find a swirl you like and carefully sink your finger (nail down) through the polish and into the water. Keep your finger in the water! You need to clean the water of polish first or you'll ruin your design. I used my nail art brush and rolled it through my fingers while I moved it around the water. This rolling motion will gather the polish better than simply swishing it through the water. Rolling will literally roll the polish around the tip of your brush (or pin/toothpick/pencil). This is what you'll need your napkin for. Carefully remove your finger from the water. Don't blow on your nail or flail your hand through the air. Remove the tape around your nail. Carefully! You don't want to bump your nail and you also need to be aware that you'll be flinging water everywhere because there is certainly water caught in and around the tape. After that, pull your brush through the napkin/paper towel and move onto your other nails, repeating the process again and again. :)

nails nailart nail art Spellbound mani manicure Halloween water marble October Nail-Aween Challenge black white LA Colors

You'll come out with something like this and you'll quickly realize a few other reasons I dislike water marbling besides it being time consuming and a waste of polish. The first thing you'll notice are the bubbles you'll surly have. I'm sure more seasoned water marblers have learned tricks on how to prevent this, but I've found nothing I tried so far worked. Some things I tried made it bubble less and other just caused more bubbles. The other big reason? Polish has settled everywhere that wasn't taped. This means there is polish all over my cuticle and worse still, settled around my nail and under it too! No amount of cleaning will fix all of this. Some will be cleaned and the rest will flake off in a day or so, usually with a little help from some tweezers.

nails nailart nail art Spellbound mani manicure Halloween water marble October Nail-Aween Challenge black white LA Colors

You can see here that I cleaned them as best I could. I also added a layer of top coat. This top coat swiped the bubbles right off and left behind blank spots in the black and dents in the white. While I feel really accomplished for doing this for the Nail-Aween Challenge, and I love the swirls on my pinky and my thumb nails I think this is nail art best viewed from further away ... or just not done at all.

What do you think of water marbling? Have you mastered this art? Or, like me, do you find it a waste of time and polish?

Monday, October 1, 2012

Welcome October

It's the first of October and that means Halloween is fast approaching. Halloween is my favorite holiday, always has been, and I am so excited to get October started right with an awesome post.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound neon pink glow in the dark Pumpkin Halloween October color swatch

This polish has no name or even a brand listed. It just says Pumpkin Nail Enamel. However, I searched for the distributor and found this polish is from the Phantom Frights collection. It's an awesome neon pink and it glows in the dark. Yes, it glows in the dark!! I have been eyeing glow in the dark polish for months, and I am beyond happy with this polish. The only con is that it is very sheer. This is four coats and you can still see my nail line.

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound neon pink glow in the dark Pumpkin Halloween October color swatch

It also doesn't glow very brightly with four coats. No where near as brightly as it glows in the bottle. That's okay though because it's not hard to build up. It dries very quickly so I could do a few more coats no problem! I made absolutely sure to keep my coats thin and even to prevent streaking. I've had other glow polishes streak and it carries over into the glow. That was the last thing I wanted!

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound neon pink glow in the dark Pumpkin Halloween October color swatch

This is six coats and my nail line has disappeared. The pink has also gotten brighter which I love!

nails nailart nail art mani manicure Spellbound neon pink glow in the dark Pumpkin Halloween October color swatch

And with six coats the glow is at full strength!! Seriously, I could barely sleep with this polish on my nails! The glow was so bright I had to curl my fingers under my blanket and even then it still glowed through. I was nearly blinded when I had to rub my eye! This polish glows very brightly with very little exposure to light. It also doesn't fade horribly quickly like other glow polishes I could name.

Wanna know something else great about this polish? It only cost me $2.99 where a brand name glow polish would have cost me at least $4.99!

Will you be wearing glow in the dark polish on your nails for October?