Nail Art: Halloween Monster Nails

Happy Halloween Readers!! I never was a huge fan of Halloween ever since my mom made me dress up as a fat clown to keep me warm (practical mothers...gotta love them). I of course loved the candy as a kid, but nowadays I really like just relaxing with my husband and picking out scary movies to watch. Maybe watching a scary movie isn't actually relaxing, but it is entertaining! We've been watching American Horror Story on Netflix, which actually seems Halloween themed and scary anyway. I like scary movies, but I don't think I like scary nails.

Today, I have some monster cartoon nails to share with you. Before I saw this next design, I said I was never a fan of characters or cartoon type designs on nails. I am now proven wrong! I saw this Halloween nail tutorial originally on Ipsy, but linked to YouTube. The tutorial is done by I Have A Cupcake and I think it is adorable! I really don't like the look of zombie or bloody nails, but I think this is a cute way to celebrate Halloween without getting too literal on your nails. I just followed the tutorial with some adjustments based on what colors I had in my collection, but I think it turned out pretty similar.

 

So there is a mummy with blood red crazy eyes, a witch, Dracula, Frankenstein and a ghost. What do you think? Scary? No? Didn't think so, but I like the simplicity of the design and the cute factor of the cartoons. I used mostly regular nail polish, but my black nail striper came in handy here. This is a really fun intro to character nail art. If you check out the video be sure to check out I Have A Cupcake's other designs, she has similar little characters for different occasions. Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Nail Art: Matte Charcoal Design

Let me just start with: this idea looked much better in my head. I had a great idea of creating a half moon mani and adding some designs in the half moon area. I did that, but my designs lack prescision and detail. I wanted to share it with you anyway to show you that many times I hit some bumps on the road o better nail art. You cannot get better if you don't try! I was excited to try this design and it didn't seem to quite go the way I had planned, but it still looks interesting. I used Sinful Colors Secret Admirer as the overlay color (charcoal with glitter), I used Color Club On the Rocks (Silver) as the base color and NYC Matte Me Crazy for the top coat. Take a look:

I was going for a Greek inspired look, but this ended up a little sloppy and random. I think my brush was a bit too big, but lesson learned. What do you think about this? I really love the Sinful Colors Secret Admirer, I can't believe it took me so long to use it! I had it sitting in my stash unused for at least a few months. It went on smooth and buttery, a little thick, but similar to most other Sinful Colors I have used. I also really like the matte effect with this design. Hopefully next time I can actually pull off all the detail I hoped to achieve. Until next time, take care!

Nail Art: Blue Vines

I've come to realize in the past few months that the best nail art is done with acrylic paint, rather than nail polish. Acrylic paint is a lot easier to work with and you can thin it down to make it even easier. Today, I was inspired by Kimiko7878 on Instagram who has tons of beautiful nail art designs made with acrylic paint over regular nail polish. I first saw her design here, then promptly decided I needed to try it. Spoiler alert: hers is way better! I wasn't really original here, but perhaps being a little unoriginal for a few days will liven my creativity!

The background color is OPI I have a Herring Problem. This is one of my first really artsy designs with acrylic paint and I actually really enjoyed it. I feel kind of silly using acrylic paint on my nails when I have so much polish, but to make the designs really detailed, acrylic is the way to go! I'm looking forward to trying some more detailed work in the future. Thanks for reading!

Nail Art: Dotticure with Color Club Kaleidoscope Collection

Today I have something that isn't particularly fall themed, but I had the urge to try it out. This design is something I saw on Pinterest, the link doesn't go directly to the design, but you can see it on my board here. I just really liked the simplicity of it. I used different colors but the same idea. I used the Color Club Kaleidoscope collection for this design. I have the set and I used all except the shimmery top coat called Pearlspective.I did use a dotting tool for this, but if you don't have one, you can easily improvise.

I used the darker blue as the center color for each section and alternated colors from there. I used two coats of the base color. I really like this one! I got so excited to do it, I forgot to apply my base coat!  I think this is really more of a spring or summer look, but who cares? I love it, and I hope you do too!

Swatch and Review of OPI: A Woman's Prague-ative

I have a swatch and review to share with you along with a little nail art at the end, just in time for Halloween! This is actually a swatch and review of a polish I have worn before, I added it to my toes for summer and now it is on my nails for fall! This is OPI A Woman's Prague-ative from the Euro Centrale Collection from Spring 2013. I love the whole collection, I may have most of it now. This one somehow was really special to me because I lived in Prague for a time. This color doesn't remind me of the city at all, but it is gorgeous nonetheless. Check it out:

It reminds me of a somewhat burnt orange, but still looks bright. It is shimmery and it applies pretty well. I have three coats here and I probably could have done a fourth. I would say that this is the biggest drawback to this polish. I really feel like if you need four coats to cover well, you may as well get a different polish. I think this color is really unique though. One color reminds me of this, and that is butter LONDON's Sunbaker, but that is much more rusty. I decided to make it a little more seasonal:

I hate spiders, I don't know why I did this, but I kind of love it for Halloween. I saw a similar design on Facebook somewhere, so I thought I would recreate it. It isn't super spooky but that's how I like it! Hope you enjoy it!