Nail-aween Challenge 10: Halloween Nails

Howdy, everyone!  I'm a day late on this post.  Time got away from me over the last couple of days.  However, I do promise that this mani was finished and worn before the end of Oct. 31, 2012. Therefore, it still counts for the Nail-aween Challenge!  The final challenge was to do any Halloween inspired manicure of your choice.  Here's what I came up with:

I started with a gradient using Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in Sunny Side Up and Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Purple Pulse.  When I got my Halloween Julep box this month, they sent me some free Halloween-themed nail decals from Alex Cole.  This manicure seemed like a good time to try them out.  So all the black silhouettes you see here are decals.  I liked them, they were easy to use.  However, a lot of the black ink seemed to rub off as I was working with them and they didn't actually stick to the nail by themselves.  I'd recommend placing them onto an almost dry coat of polish or base coat so that the tackiness of the polish gives them something to stick to.  On my thumbnail, I added some bat-shaped glitter from a Halloween-themed glitter kit I found at Michael's.  I finished this manicure off with a coat of Flashy by Finger Paints, a holographic top coat.

This was a fun manicure, but I'm a little disappointed with how it turned out.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

The Nail-aween Challenge was so much fun to participate in and I loved seeing what everyone else came up with.  I'm hoping to find a holiday themed challenge to participate in during December, although where I think I'll find the time, I'm not sure.  Please stop by the other challenge participants' sites to see how they completed their Challenges.  You can find them here:

datyorkLOVES

Erica's Nails and More

DreamyMM Nails & Make Up

 Tes Did It Nails
Sassy Paints
Nicole gets Nailed
glitznglammer
Finger Food
Wicked Tips
Fancy Schmancy Nails
Delight In Nails
Polish Groupie
My Nail Journey
Get Polished Up!
Just A Girl and Her Polish
Spellbound Nails
Le nail's corner d'Alex
Hello.Lacquer
 Countess Nails
Color the world with polish
Nail Crime Nail Art
Coat of Mani Colors
Cutie Cuticles (nail art by Laraib)
Wacky Laki
Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge October 1-31st, 2012
GLAMOROUS NAILS
Polish Gone Crazy
tragedystipsandtreats

As always, thanks so much for reading!

Nail-aween Challenge 9: Pumpkin Nails

Howdy, everyone!  Well, we're almost down to it...it's October 29th.  I can't believe how this month has flown!  This is the second to last Nail-aween challenge and it's pumpkin nails!  I've seen quite a few really great pumpkin manicures the last couple of days.  I decided to just run with a simple design on these.  Whaddya think?

I started with 2 coats of Nicole by O.P.I. in My Lifesaver, a beautiful sky blue creme.  I used Julep's Parker as a base color for the pumpkins and then topped it with KleanColor's Chunky Holo in Poppy for a bit of depth.  Essie's Mojito Madness and Wet 'n' Wild's FastDry Sagreena the Teenage Witch make up the stems and leaves.  I used striper polishes in white and black for the details.  

All in all, I thought this turned out ok.  Is it my favorite Halloween manicure?  No.  Was it fun to try something different?  Definitely.

One more look at these guys:
 

And you only have a few more days to check out the other participants' work in this challenge.  Here's the list again, please visit them and show 'em some love!

datyorkLOVES

Erica's Nails and More

DreamyMM Nails & Make Up

 Tes Did It Nails
Sassy Paints
Nicole gets Nailed
glitznglammer
Finger Food
Wicked Tips
Fancy Schmancy Nails
Delight In Nails
Polish Groupie
My Nail Journey
Get Polished Up!
Just A Girl and Her Polish
Spellbound Nails
Le nail's corner d'Alex
Hello.Lacquer
 Countess Nails
Color the world with polish
Nail Crime Nail Art
Coat of Mani Colors
Cutie Cuticles (nail art by Laraib)
Wacky Laki
Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge October 1-31st, 2012
GLAMOROUS NAILS
Polish Gone Crazy
tragedystipsandtreats

 

Thanks so much for reading!

Nail-aween Challenge 8: Witch Nails

Howdy, everyone!  I know it's late, but I really wanted to get this post up before I turn in.  I've got a really cute manicure and it just couldn't wait til daylight!  The next Nail-aween Challenge is Witch Nails.  I dug around online and found a couple of fun ideas that I wanted to re-create.  You can find one of the originals here and the other link just takes me to a tumblr page.  If you know who's photo that is, let me know so I can give credit for the lovely artwork!  Here's my take:

I decided to go with a bright green background, but I didn't want it to be a flat color so I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Limestone topped off with 2 coats of Electric Slide by Nina Ultra Pro.  Limestone is a citrus-y green creme and Electric Slide has holographic and gold glitter suspended in a neon green base.  I used black acrylic paint to create the witch profile on my thumb and the boots on my middle and ring fingers.  The stripes on my other nails were done with a black striping polish.  I finished off the look with boot button details in Orly's Luxe.  

This is one of my favorite manicures so far from this challenge.  The color combo is fun and striking and the artwork turned out so well!

...more after the jump...

Nail-aween Challenge 7: Spider Nails + Tutorial

Howdy everyone!  Goodness this month is flying by, isn't it?  It'll be Halloween in less than a week!  I'm going to show you my Nail-aween Challenge manicure and then I'm going to give you a tutorial on one of the techniques I used to get the look.  The 7th Challenge is Spider Nails and here's what I came up with:

These didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped and I'm particularly unhappy with the orange spiders.  But my blog is as much about my successes as my failures, so I'm putting it up here.  I used Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine in French White Creme and Black Creme and then Julep's Parker for the spiders.  Parker is a great orange creme for Halloween.  Stay tuned after the jump for the tutorial on the background faux water marbling.

Nail-aween Challenge 6: Frankenstein Nails

Howdy, everyone!  Trying to get back into the groove of posting more regularly again, since I've been such a slacker lately lol  Halloween is fast approaching so I've got to get these challenge posts done!  Today's manicure is an answer to challenge 6 of the Nail-aween Challenge; Frankenstein nails.  I wanted to do something different than just green nails and black stitches, but, honestly, there's not a lot of new and different ways to do Frankenstein's monster.  He's so iconic that I just decided to showcase him.  Here's what I came up with:

I started with 2 coats of Julep's Alma-Trina Turk which is one of the polishes I received in my Trick or Treat box from them.  ATT is a very odd sort of color (perfect for Halloween) somewhere between mustard yellow and pistachio green creme.  Application was great, it was almost opaque in one coat.  I used O.P.I.'s Black Shatter on the rest of my nails.  The Monster's portrait was done in black acrylic paint.  I'm pretty happy with this although I wish I could have come up with something a bit more interesting for my other nails.  But, honestly, I was just kinda tired lol

Here's a close up of Frankenstein's Monster:

I'm hoping to get Challenge 7 done tomorrow, complete with a tutorial, if I have time and can figure it all out the way I want it.  So please check back in to see all of that!  Also, check out these other nail artists who are participating in the Nail-aween Challenge.  They are all awesome and deserve some love!

datyorkLOVES

Erica's Nails and More

DreamyMM Nails & Make Up

 Tes Did It Nails
Sassy Paints
Nicole gets Nailed
glitznglammer
Finger Food
Wicked Tips
Fancy Schmancy Nails
Delight In Nails
Polish Groupie
My Nail Journey
Get Polished Up!
Just A Girl and Her Polish
Spellbound Nails
Le nail's corner d'Alex
Hello.Lacquer
 Countess Nails
Color the world with polish
Nail Crime Nail Art
Coat of Mani Colors
Cutie Cuticles (nail art by Laraib)
Wacky Laki
Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge October 1-31st, 2012
GLAMOROUS NAILS
Polish Gone Crazy
tragedystipsandtreats

 

 

Thanks so much for reading!

Nail-aween Challenge 5: Ghosts & Goblins

Howdy, everyone!  I know it's been a few days since I posted but I've had a bit going on.  Nothing I want to share just yet, but who knows what the future will bring? :)  Anyway, I'd been wearing my Game Day Manicure from Saturday until today which was just no good!  I had to change it up so it was on to the next Nail-aween Challenge, Ghosts & Goblins.  I racked my brain to come up with something fun and different for this one.  I knew I didn't want "bed sheet" ghosts, not that there's anything wrong with them but I wanted something spookier.  I also wanted to incorporate a bit of the goblin aspect, too.  Here's what I came up with:

 

...more after the jump...

Nail-aween Challenge 4: Mummy Nails

Howdy, everyone!  Sorry for my absence but I've been sick.  I managed to catch the cold that's been going around, but I'm on the mend (I hope!).  You know I had to be sick because I'd been wearing the same manicure for 3 days!  Bleh!  I need change!  Enter the Nail-aween Challenge #4; mummy nails!  I decided to go the traditional route with the mummies, partly because I've never done them before and partly because I'm not back to 100% yet and I'm still pretty tired.  Anyway, here's my take:

I started with 2 coats of Essie's Yogaga (which will look familiar from  my "bloody nails" post) and then drew in some "bandages" with Sinful Colors Bad Chick, a white striper polish.  I used a dotting tool and January by Julep for the red eyes, and a black striper polish for the pupils.  I think they turned out pretty cute!  Here are a couple other views:

Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with posts now that I'm feeling better so be sure to check back.  Saturday is game day so you know what that means...K-State nails!  And, if you're not into that (because I'm aware that most of you don't share my Purple Pride), I'll be continuing on with the Nail-aween Challenge, including an upcoming tutorial, all the way til the 31st!

Thanks so much for reading!

Nail-aween Challenge 3: Bloody Nails

Hello again!  I know this is 2 posts in less than 24 hours, but I couldn't help myself.  I got done with the 3rd Nail-aween challenge and it turned out so fantastically that I had to share right away!  The challenge is "Bloody Nails".  I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to do a drippy red french manicure or really grungy zombie nails.  I decided instead to try a new technique. Without further ado:

I splattered 'em!  I've seen this technique around in the blogosphere and decided to give it a shot.  I started with 2 coats of Essie in Yogaga, a greyish beige creme.  When that was dry, I cut a straw into 3ish inch pieces and dipped one end into Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Chocolate Kiss.  CK is a perfect deep red with brown undertones for blood.  Turned out quite convincing, I thought!  I made sure the dipped end was totally covered with polish and then I blew a sharp breath into the non-polished end of the straw.  As you blow, the polish sprays out and splatters randomly all over your nail.  It took a few puffs to get the right pressure going, but it was easy after that.  Messy, but easy :)  A word to the wise, do tape off your nails.  Otherwise, clean up will take forever.  On my left hand, I thought I'd be smart and just slather on cuticle oil as a barrier against the excess polish.  Yeah, that didn't really work.  Tape may take a bit longer to apply, but it's a lot cleaner.

*more after the jump*

Game Day Manicure

Howdy everyone!  Another weekend is drawing to a close.  Because I know you're all terribly interested in my sports teams, my Wildcats pulled off a big win against the KU Jayhawks on Saturday.  It was a tough first half but they pulled away in the second and won 56-16 to become the #5/6 team in the nation!  EMAW!

I wanted to show you guys my game day manicure because I got so many compliments on it.   It was super simple to do and has a great visual impact.  I used 2 colors (K-State's colors are purple and white which if you've read my blog at all you've figured out by now) but this could be done with as many as 4 colors.  Too much more than that and you run the risk of getting a little muddy.  So here's the manicure:

...more after the jump...

Nail-aween Challenge 2: Matte Dotticure

Howdy, everyone!  Can I get a "hooray" for Friday?!  I had the day off today so I took myself down to my favorite brunch spot for some pecan apple pancakes and then to Target for some afternoon shopping.  And now I'm tuned into my favorite Friday night TV show...Ghost Adventures!  I may have mentioned that I love Halloween.  Well, I pretty much love anything spooky or supernatural.  GA is quality entertainment value, imho.  Zak, Nick and Aaron crack me up on a regular basis and I will admit I still can't watch the Bobby Mackey episode all the way through.  I'm so sad that I didn't know they were here in Chicago during the NATO summit.  It would have been worth facing the rioters to meet them in person :)

Ok, ok, on to the nails!  The second challenge for Nail-aween is a matte dotticure (I think it looks better spelled this way than "doticure", but I'm not sure which the correct way is?).   I remembered seeing a manicure awhile ago that used dots to a cute, spooky effect and so I decided to recreate it.  Take a peek:

I'm calling this the "I always feel like somebody's watchin' me" dotticure.  I started with 2 coats of MAC's Black Enough? which has a matte finish.  I used a larger dotting tool and Sinful Colors in Pull Over for the yellow irises then a small dotter and BE again for the pupils.  Aren't they cute??  Here's another look:

Unfortunately, I'll have to change these tonight as tomorrow is a K-State game and I can't jinx them with non-purple nails, but I wish I could wear them at work so I could get some folks' reactions.  I might have to redo this mani at a later date.

I will, of course, be posting the aforementioned K-State nails most likely tomorrow night.  I know I've done a couple of those already, but I love my Wildcats and tomorrow is a big game.  The Sunflower Showdown between K-State and KU is always a big deal.  KU isn't fantastic this year, but knowing the underdogs as we K-State fans do (because we usually are the underdogs), it would be stupid to underestimate them.  In any case, EMAW!

Thanks for reading!

Nail-aween Challenge 1: Water Marble

Howdy!  As promised, I have my first Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge challenge for you today.  Wow, that was a mouthful!  The first challenge is a water marble.  Everyone loves how water marbles look and everyone hates doing them.  The technique is time-consuming, polish-consuming, and sanity-consuming.  So I cheated.  Here's a photo:

*more after the jump*

Glitter Goblin Manicure

Hello, hello!  I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  This is going to be kind of a long post because I have a lot of things to share, including a new manicure.  I made a trip to Ulta over the weekend to take part in their Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale, so I'll be showing you a new China Glaze glitter.  But we'll get to that in a minute.

First of all, I thought I'd want to take a break after doing the 31 Day Nail Challenge, but it turns out I miss the prompts!  Whodathunk?  I'm super excited to announce that I'll be participating in datyorkLOVES Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge during the month of October.  This challenge is a bit different in that it's self-paced, meaning there's no specific date or time for each challenge.  They all have to be completed during October and that's about the only rule.  There are 10 Halloween related challenges.  Halloween is my favorite holiday and I've been so looking forward to this October.  It's been a year since I started getting interested in nail art, so I've had all that time to be thinking up some fun and spooky manis!  Here's a list of the prompts:

...more after the jump...