HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Omg.  My favorite day of the year, and I had to go to traffic court.  Ugh!!!  At least it was quick and relatively painless (other than taking a chunk of change outta my bank account).  Ahh well.  This year was no different than other years - we have had a grand total of 0 trick-or-treaters.  It's such a bummer!  I didn't get all dressed up this time because I feel like it's a bit of a waste of time.  Luckily, we did have our annual costume party a few weeks ago!  The hubs and I went as Harry and Hermione (he had the Potter jersey and I had the naturally huge hair).  It's not as elaborate as our Doctor Who costume from last year, but I'm still pleased.

We chose to do the 4th book/movie since the hubby's hair is so long.  So he's holding our version of the TriWizard Cup.

Oh, and I had time to carve a pumpkin, too!  This is my attempt at a free-hand TARDIS.  Yes.  I'm a dork, and I love it.

Here are a few of my Halloween manis that I haven't had a chance to show you guys yet!

Here are Elevation Sarychev and Nyamuragira.  Look at that succulent jelly!!!  I am normally not an orange fan, but this orange is one I could wear all the time.  It actually looked really good with my pale skin.  Nya is grey with gold, silver, and iridescent shimmer, black hexes, and purple flakies.  So pretty!  Oh, sorry about the super dry skin.  It looks so bad!  I didn't want to douse my cuticles in oil, though, because I was about to add my stamps.

You can't see flakies in my swatch pictures, so I caught some in the bottle shot.

I topped them off with stamps from my new Bundle Monster plates using Konad Special White and Black, China Glaze Passion, and Revlon Metallic.  I'm not really sure what the plate numbers are off the top of my head, but I can get them for you guys if you want them.

Next up is Dollish Polish Zombie Flesh.  It's a fetid green polish with gold shimmer and gold, green, and black glitters.  It applied so so well and built up nicely.  This is four coats.

Last up is what I have on right now!  China Glaze Grape Crush undies with Dollish Polish Deadly Nightshade and What's This? What's This? as an accent.  Grape Crush is a deep purple that leans more red than blue with holographic dust.  It's not a scattered holo, it's more like stars piercing the night sky.  Sadly, it's discontinued, so I had to snag my bottle at a salon nearby.  To avoid bubbling, I used two coats of What's This so that I could build it up a little more.  All of the glitters came out pretty well.  You can see my review of What's This here.  Nightshade is a pretty purple based polish with purple, fuchsia, and blue/teal glitters.  I plan to do a full review of it and the remaining Dollish This is Halloween Collection polishes that I haven't reviewed yet.  You can see the glitter top coats from the collection here.

Remember, Halloween isn't over on the blog yet, so stay tuned for a few more Halloween themed polishes!  As you can tell from my last swatch shot, my nails are shorter.  I took my SOGs off for a week or so, and my middle and pointer fingers decided they didn't want to stay long anymore.  My heart hurt when I filed them down.  I finally got them to a decent length and two broke.  Needless to say, I have on SOGs again now, which is why it looks so thick above.  Also, ignore the wonky pointer finger.  It's a super terrible patch job since I couldn't cut it down to the tear, which was waaaaaaaaaay deep and would probably bleed.

You can purchase Elevation here and Dollish at her store, Llarowe, and Overall Beauty.

What did you wear for your Halloween mani?  Did you wear a costume?

Frankendrip

Happy Halloween folks!

Remember my bleeding gradient tutorial? It's the perfect technique for some awesome Halloween colors.

The colors I used here were Neon Yellow (Savina), Pucci-licious (Color Club), and Black Onyx (OPI).

Reminds me of Frankenstein's monster's head.

Have a spoooooky night!

NOTD x 3: Going out with a bang!

Hello!!

Yes, you read that title right. There will be three manicures in today's post for you. The reason is this. Both of my Halloween challenges end today, and Wednesday is the Llama Nails alphabet challenge day, and this week just happens to be 'H'--I'm pretty sure there is a law that states I MUST do a Halloween manicure for the alphabet challenge if the letter that falls on actual Halloween day is 'H'. And I don't wanna go to jail before Christmas, too much stuff to do. So yep...that makes three manis scheduled for the same day.

First up: To end my CNT Halloween challenge, the last prompt is to recreate someone else's mani from previous prompts that you liked. One of my favorite manicures of the whole challenge was this one. I'm not really great with free-hand art, as you may have noticed, but I really wanted to try to make a version of it. Here's how it came out:

I don't remember planting zombie hands in that part of the garden...

That one on the middle finger is a zombie skeleton. Not at all a zombie hand that looks like a skeleton. Nope, not at all.

I was so happy with how this came out, I almost couldn't bring myself to take it off. It's not perfect, and I'm sure there are many others out there that are better. but I managed to do it, make it recognizeable, and even used gray polish to shade the black polish. It just goes to show that it's always worth giving something a try, even if you aren't sure you can do it. :)

To make it, I started with a base of China Glaze Elephant Walk, my go-to grey. I free-handed a moon with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, and then free-handed the zombie hands with Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris. Then I tried to highlight/shade appropriately with Silver Mercedes and Elephant Walk. I used The Nail Junkie Black Cat to make the ground at the bottom of the nail.

The last prompt in my 'This Is Halloween' challenge was also to recreate someone else's mani from the earlier prompts. I chose this one from Lissa's Polish Addiction, because it was sleek but spooky. Yes, it's another free-hand manicure--let it never be said that I'm not willing to push myself, lol! Sadly, my results were not quite as good this time:

In my mind I decided that it would be cool to have a spooky night sky instead of her beautiful purple, and a blood-red house because...honestly, I don't know what the heck I was thinking, I really don't. I mean, it's not *horrible*, but it's not good. Nope...not good. The only good thing about this mani is that you'll never have to see it again. I tried to rescue it by turning it into an Amityville Horror manicure, and it did work better for that. But it still wasn't my favorite.

And last but not least...My Llama Nails 'H' is for Halloween manicure. This is the actual manicure I'm wearing for Halloween. I've done so much nail art with these challenges that I wanted to just chill out and layer some pretty polishes in Halloween colors. Here is what I ended up with:

Yes, I know crackle is not in fashion at the moment. Don't care. I love it, especially for Halloween, and I think it goes beautifully with shard glitter (also not a favorite of most polish fanatics...fine, more for me!!). To make this, I started with a base of China Glaze Code Orange, a beautiful pumpkin orange that manages to be just the right amount of bright. Over it I put Sally Hansen Vintage Violet crackle, and over that, I put a coat of Sation's Ego-Friendly, a very pretty polish that has small green hex glitter, lime green shards, black shards, and white pearlesent shards in a clear base. Not to harp on it, but I really do love how well the shard glitter and the crackle go together. And this combination of colors is fun, but not crazy bright.

Phew! That's a lot of manicures for one post! But it just seemed silly to do a separate post for each manicure. So, this way, I hope there is something here for everyone, to end the month with a big Halloween bang. :)

And don't worry, I've learned my lesson--only one Christmas/Holiday challenge for me come December. Well, probably. I mean, most likely. Okay, we'll see. :P

Thanks for looking! Please take a look at (1) the other CNT challenge manis, (2) the other 'This Is Halloween' manis and (3) the other Llama Nails 'H' manis, all linked below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Black and White TV

Have you ever watched The Twilight Zone? You have to have seen or heard of it, and if you have, you probably immediately went to black and white. Those classic mystery shows were inspiration for this far-fetched Halloween theme tonight. Though it's certainly not your typical Halloween design, it still applies.

The ombre effect was continued onto each nail, pulling out the base color from each block of three on each nail. The colors used, from darkest to lightest, are Strumming my Nails (Sation), Carey (Zoya), Movie Star (Essence) and Black Onyx (OPI).

I'd also like to take a moment to thank everyone who supported me in the Tadashi Shoji nail art contest. Unfortunately, I wasn't the winner, but the talented Sarah at Chalkboard Nails did win, and I must say I'm thrilled it was hers that won. Her freehand skills were fantastic, and the colors were a unique choice compared to all the other entries. I can't wait to see what the clutch looks like! Congratulations Sarah!

It's Almost Halloween!!!

HOOOOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!  I love Halloween more than I can truly express.  Unfortunately, the past few weeks have been very busy with work.  At my old job, I was able to wear pretty much anything on my nails.  Now, however, I have to be very conservative as I try to schmooze clients and networking contacts.  I have only had time to truly wear three of my Halloween polishes so far, so my plan is to just extend Halloween a little bit.  As of right now, I don't have any professional meetings the rest of this week after I go to court in the morning.  I'm really excited that I will finally get to test drive some of these gorgeous Halloween polishes I've been hording, lol!

Today, I'm going to show you China Glaze LOL, Crows Toes Cheshire, and Sonoma Nail Art Halloween in the Vines.

China Glaze LOL is from the OMG collection that was released in 2009.  Sadly, it has been discontinued.  It's a gorgeous purple linear holographic polish that was a bit of a pain in the butt to apply.  Some holographic polishes dry so quickly that they drag and clump while you're painting, and LOL was no exception.  You have to make sure your base coat is completely dry or you'll definitely get clumping.  The key is to work quickly.  I didn't get any shots of LOL by itself, which is a shame because it is seriously the most gorgeous polish from the OMG collection that I've worn so far.

I chose Crows Toes Cheshire for four fingers on this hand and an accent on my righty.  Then, I decided to toss Sonoma Nail Art Halloween in the Vines as an accent on lefty and on four fingers on righty.  They worked really well together.  Like all Crows Toes, Cheshire was quite thick.  I definitely needed to add thinner to this guy!  It's best applied with the dab method.  Halloween in the Vines was a bit runny.  You can't really use the dab method or else it will pool at your cuticles and leave bubbles when it dries.  This is 3 coats over LOL before I was able to get the coverage I wanted.

Cheshire is made up of a clear base with fuchsia, gold, and purple glitters.  Look at that massive fuchsia hex!!  They were very easy to get out of the bottle, but I stored it upside down for a few minutes before applying.

Halloween in the Vines is a clear based polish with purple, fuchsia, and gunmetal hexes.  It takes quite a lot to get fuller coverage, which is why I chose to use three coats instead of attempting to dab.

As you can tell in this intentionally blurry shot, Halloween in the Vines is not as bright and in your face as Cheshire.  I think the gold in Cheshire adds that extra umph that is lacking in Halloween in the Vines.  Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween in the Vines!  It's just more subdued than Cheshire.

I really like the way this manicure turned out.  Although, I don't usually associate Halloween with purple, but it's still really pretty.  Sadly, LOL has been discontinued.  I found my bottle in a local nail salon.  You can purchase Crows Toes at Llarowe and Overall Beauty.  You can purchase Sonoma Nail Art at her Etsy store.  Sonoma's restocks are infrequent, and she usually only stocks a few bottles at a time.  If you want Sonoma polishes, you'll have to work fast when she restocks.  Although, right now there are a few polishes left from her restock earlier today, including Halloween in the Vines!  Act quickly if you want one of these!!  Check her Facebook page for news on restocks.

Do you have any of the OMG polishes?

China Glaze Holiday Joy Collection Gift Sets

Interested in the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection?

Polish Galore details the colors and names here. After seeing her post this morning, I ran over to my trusted China Glaze supplier, Head2ToeBeauty.com, and saw that not only do they have the colors, they also have the gift sets!  They've got some cute holiday fingerless gloves, scented candles, ornaments, shot glasses, and all sorts of other goodies. Here's a peak at what gift sets are being offered:

To get yours for an awesome price, check it out here.

NOTD: Oh noes! Zombie Candy Corms!

Hello!!

I've just received word of a horrendous zombie virus that is attacking...our candy!

It spreads quickly, but once the candy is infected, it takes a while for them to be converted into zombie-candies...I have a first picture of some of these sad, unfortunate candies, hot off the press!

They are young, they've just been turned! They are confused, they don't know what to do! We can stop the spread of the zombie virus if we act quickly! Under no circumstances should you eat any infected candy corn!!!

So frightened! So confused!

We must fight back against the spread of infected zombie candy!

Okay, it's silly but I love it! :)

Here's how I made it. I started with a base of Misa Fountain of Youth, and then did a gradient over it with China Glaze Westside Warrior and Barielle Positive Zen-ergy. I used a dotting tool to create the eyes with Sally Hansen Lightning, and Pure Ice Siren. I finished up with Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris for the mouths.

I hope it made you smile! Thanks for looking, and please check out the other 'Trick Or Treat' manis below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Great link: Nail art types/definitions

Hello everyone!

I found a post on www.jamegackie.com that does a really nice job of showing what different nail art terms mean, like what an 'ombre' manicure is, what a 'ruffian' is, etc. I thought I'd pass it on because I remember a time not too long ago when I didn't know what half these things meant, and spend a fair amount of time trying to find them out! You can check it out by clicking here.

Thanks for reading. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Runway Stamp

After I stamped these nails, I realized how well the pattern would have gone with the Tadashi Shoji nail art competition. I'm still really glad I did my design freehand though, but this would have been a fantastic stamp alternative.

You can still vote for my entry here! I'd love your support!

With the winter weather whipping the windows and calling all chills, my nails have been both dry, brittle, and uninspired. Luckily I recently received my plates from Cheeky. If you've been thinking of getting some plates, get these! You can get three jumbo plates, including plate C, which I used in this design, for $19.99 here. Apparently there's also a steal of a deal on a 6-jumbo-plate set for $39.99. Uh...what?! That's unheard of! And these plates honestly rock. The designs are HUGE, and the only thing you'll be complaining about is the fact that your stamper is probably too small for them. Seriously...dang.

Don't you love the blue I used? It's Essie's Aruba Blue. The stamp is Silver Sweep (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri).

Before & After: Graveyard

Hello!!

Today's prompt in my 'This Is Halloween' challenge is 'graveyard'. I've been so excited about this one since I saw it on the list!

I started with a base of A'dor Beauty Supply Starry Night, to look like a dark blue night sky with stars in it:

I have to admit to wearing Starry Night for more than just a day...I really enjoyed it. It's the perfect sort of glitter for me--beautiful base color that holds its own, and glitter that peeks out at you. :) But I finally convinced myself to decorate it for this challenge:

Here's what I did. I free-handed the gravestone using China Glaze Elephant Walk, and then sponged The Nail Junkie Black Cat along the bottom to make the ground. Then I stamped the tree using LeaLaC plate LLB and China Glaze Call Of The Wild; I also used this color to free-hand the letters on the grave. I stamped the bats using Konad black and QA26; I finished up stamping the skull and bones with Sally Hansen White On and Bundle Monster plate BM225.

Thanks for looking, and please check out the other spooky graveyards, linked below! :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Thing!!

Hello!

Today I was playing around a bit with some new colors and plates I got and did a simple little Halloween mani. It all started with a base of Pretty Serious Emma Louise:

Emma Louise indirect light

Emma Louise in the sunlight

Emma Louise is a purple polish with silver glass flecks, with purple and green-teal glitter hexes. This is one of those polishes that doesn't live up to how beautiful it looks in the bottle; on the nail, the glitter doesn't show up often or much, and most of what you get is the glass-flecked finish. This isn't necessarily bad news, however, if you like a more subtle glitter look; now and again some pretty glitter catches the light and gives the polish a bit of extra bling. These pictures actually show more glitter visible than you actually see with the naked eye; this is two coats of the polish. 

After I'd worn this for about a day, a new set of plates arrived in the mail and I had to get a Halloween manicure out of them quickly, since 5 out of 6 of the plates were Halloween plates! I decided to do an accent nail featuring 'Thing', the disembodied hand from The Addams Family.

First I did a gradient to give the nails a more creepy, fun, Halloween-y feel; I started with Cult Nails Hypnotize Me about 1/3 of the way up the nail. Then I put a tiny bit of Pretty Serious VT100 along the very bottom to make it a bit more green. Then I stamped the hand with plate HD04, using Sally Hansen Lickety-Split Lime. I used a dotting tool to accent the fingers and the top of the arm:

This one shows the full 'Thing' design, but the gradient doesn't show as well

This one shows the gradient accurately :) This also shows more how much the glitter is actually visible.

This show the design in direct sunlight

Thing was always my favorite -ahem- thing on the show; I just thought it was soooo cool to have this hand running around taking care of stuff for you, and I'd just watch it, fascinated. Okay, so it wasn't green. But still. :P

Thanks for taking a look! Please check out the other CNT Halloween manicures below. :)

Xoxox,

M.

Dupe Or No Dupe: Quickie post!

Hello everyone!

Recently I got a chance to try out the Sally Hansen Lustres and while I had access to them, I did a quick comparison post between Sally Hansen Lustre Firefly, Sally Hansen Lustre Plume and China Glaze Swanky Silk. I don't actually own the two Sally Hansens, so I had to jump on the opportunity to get them, and so the polish job isn't the most perfect (don't judge the texture of these polishes based on these pictures, only the colors). But it does the job!

In the pictures, I have the colors on in this order:

Index finger: China Glaze Swanky Silk
Middle finger and pinkie: Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Plume
Ring finger: Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Firefly

China Glaze Swanky Silk, Sally Hansen Plume, Sally Hansen Firefly, Sally Hansen Plume

Swanky Silk, Plume, Firefy, Plume

So, dupe or no dupe? No Dupe, but the colors on all of these are very similar, and in my opinion you can get away with owning only one of them if you like. Plume has a green-gold duochrome with a flash that feels a bit reddish-bronze. Swanky Silk and Firefly both have green-gold duochrome with a rose-pink flash; the only difference is in the intensity of the pink. In Swanky Silk the flash is a bit more subtle, while in Firefly it's a bit more intense.

Can you justify owning all three if you want to? Of course, since none of them are exact dupes ::evil grin::. But you can certainly get by with one. My personal recommendation would be China Glaze, because you can get it for half the price. And half the price means twice da polishez!

Thanks for reading. :)

Xoxox,
M.