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. :)

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. :)

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!!

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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'.

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.

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!!

datyorkLOVES

Erica's Nails and More

DreamyMM Nails & Make Up

Tes Did It Nails

Sassy Paints

Nicole gets Nailed

Wicked Tips

Fancy Schmancy Nails

Delight In Nails

Polish Groupie

My Nail Journey

Get Polished Up!

Just A Girl and Her Polish

Le nail's corner d'Alex

Hello.Lacquer

Color the world with polish

Cutie Cuticles (nail art by Laraib)

Wacky Laki

Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge October 1-31st, 2012

GLAMOROUS NAILS

Over The Topcoat

Polish Gone Crazy

tragedystipsandtreats

Susy In Color

Countess Nails

(List includes blogs and FB pages)

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 ...

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.

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.

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.