Snowflakes

I am starting a new nail art challenge today with a few of my polish buddies. Feel free to join us if you would like! The thought of creating 24 different xmas manis on top of everything else I am trying to get done this holiday season was a bit too daunting, so we are doing the 12 Days of Christmas Manis! And I may not do them in order or even get them done in 12 days, but that is totally allowed with this challenge. :-)

I do not use stamps a lot, because I really enjoy doing freehand art. But this is on my right hand (meaning I did it with my non-dominant left hand) so I thought it might be prettier to use stamps. 

This is a combination of two different in expensive polishes, and it kind of reminds me of OPI's Swimsuit... Nailed It! This combo has large and small blue glitter, which is really fun. :)

I started by stamping with a light blue polish. This is a snowflake image from the Bundle Monster BM14 plate. I tried to place it in different spots on each nail. 

Next I used a silver polish with the same stamp. Finally I topped it with white snowflakes. I went through a LOT of Q-Tips with this mani, LOL. 

Here are the two polishes I used for the base color: Love and Beauty Blue Glitter and Sinful Colors Ciao Bella. I really like the combination of these two polishes!

I topped the blue glittery base with snowflakes stamped using OPI No Room For The Blues, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri White Out, and a tiny silver polish from Bon Bons. 

Here are the different themes we will be trying during the 12 Days of Christmas Manis! Check out the other awesome nail bloggers who are joining in the fun:

Amber - http://amberdunson.blogspot.com/

Chilli - http://polishandpoise.blogspot.com/

Jamie - http://www.nailsadored.com

Jen - http://sweettipsnails.blogspot.com/

If you want to join in this challenge, please link your manicure in the comments and I will add your blog to the list of participating bloggers! Merry Christmas!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Inspired by the Supernatural

I absolutely LOVE how this challenge turned out. I chose ghosts as my subject for the Supernatural. And who is the awesomest ghost evar?? SLIMER, of course! Slimer is the gross-out ghost from Ghostbusters who slimes Bill Murray in a great scene in the hotel. So funny!

I was sad to take this one off. Man, it turned out good, if I do say so myself! :)

I started with black nails (yes, I pretty much recycled my Skull and Crossbones manicure!) then added bright yellow and green neon polishes to put a glowy aura around where I wanted to place Slimer.

Here's his basic outline in light green acrylic paint. I could have started him in white and then topped with green for a brighter ghost, but I think this turned out just fine. Besides, he is not super glowy, more see-through actually. 

I added darker shading with a dark green acrylic paint. (I mix my colors for each manicure, I don't have a bunch of green acrylic paints, just one shade.)

Then I started adding highlights and accenting low light areas. I also added his gaping mouth. 

Next it was his eye balls, nostrils, gums, and finger nails. I painted a ghost on MY nails, and then painted HIS nails on MY nails. My head hurts. 

Finally I added his tongue and his teeth. I also tried adding a bit of China Glaze Ghoulish Glow glow in the dark polish in his aura, but it did not do much. I could kind of see it in the dark, but I didn't layer it on thick enough. 

Here he is all topcoated. Oh Slimer, you are so cute!

Both hands together. I added some slime on my other hand on the middle and ring fingers. I like how the look together. This was a SUPER fun manicure. 

Polishes used in this manicure: Sinful Colors Neon Melon, Love and Beauty Scented Polish in Lime, China Glaze Ghoulish Glow, and Wet 'n Wild Fast Dry Ebony Hates Chris. I also used Cult Nails Get It On basecoat and Seche Vite topcoat. 

Next up: Nails inspired by a tutorial. You can probably guess which nail artist I will choose. :-)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Glitter Nails

This was my husband's idea for glitter nails a la Halloween motif. I love it so much! Great idea, honey! I guess you could call this a continuation of the "Tinkerbell on a Murder Spree" nails from a few days ago... She left her victim in the alleyway surrounded by pixie dust!

It's a chalk outline (a glitter chalk outline) of a dead body next to a pool of (glittery) blood. Wow, my hubs is crazy brilliant. 

I started this mani with a base polish of this grey shade from Sally Hansen. I did not do clean up yet, because I was adding layers and doing a lot of other messy things to the mani before I was finished, so why waste time with lots of clean up after each stage. OH! And this is ONE coat. I love it!

Next step was sponged on black polish. I wanted this to look like concrete, or a dirty alleyway. It kind of works.

I brushed on a matte topcoat to help with the concrete idea, then taped up my middle and ring fingers to get ready for some blood splatters. 

I followed a method I saw Jen of The PolishAholic do on her site. I used a small drinking straw and dipped it in polish, then blew a short blast of air through the straw to get the splatter effect. See Jen's site for more information on this technique. 

I cleaned up the nails (and sadly messed up one of the splatters in the process, note to self: don't tape nails quite as closely next time) then added the "chalk" outline in white acrylic paint. 

I added a bit of red glitter polish to the blood splatter to make it a bit more blingy, and then started adding a holographic glitter polish over the chalk outline. My husband will attest to the fact that I was giggling like crazy while I did this. So funny!

Here is an outside picture of the nails so you can see how holographic and sparkly these nails really were. I love it!

I used quite a few polishes for this mani, and only one acrylic paint (usually the opposite for my manis). Polishes used in this manicure: Essie All In One basecoat, Revlon Top Speed in Hazy, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme (sponged on), Warpaint Beauty Matte topcoat (from Hot Topic), Revlon Raven Red for the blood splatters, Fright Night Claw Polish Voodoo for the red glitter on the blood, and Love & Beauty Silver holo glitter polish for the chalk outline. No topcoat (besides the matte topcoat). I really like this matte topcoat. 

Tomorrow's nails: Half Moons! What a perfect challenge for Halloween nails. See you tomorrow!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Striped Nails

Again during this challenge, I was a big stumped as to what to do for a particular style. Stripes could be the stripes on a witches stockings, totally fun. But I wanted to do something I hadn't seen before. I remembered that one member of the Addams Family always wore stripes, so that is my manicure today: Pugsley Addams!

I based my Pugsley on a drawing made by Charles "Chas" Addams, the cartoonist who originated the character in New Yorker cartoons in the 1930s. Originally, Pugsley did not have a name, he was just a member of this odd family that Addams came up with. The family was a satire of the American Ideal Family, and they loved the macabre and bizarre, and didn't understand why other people would think they were weird.  Pugsley only got a name when a television studio bought the rights to the characters and named them The Addams Family. 

Here is a drawing and description of Pugsley created by Chas Addams in 1963 for the creators of the television series. This is what Addams says about Pugsley: 

The Boy - Pugsley

"An energetic monster of a boy about nine years old - blondish red hair, popped blue eyes and a dedicated troublemaker - in other words, the kid next door. Genius in his own way, he makes toy guillotines, full-size racks, threatens to poison his sister, can turn himself into a Mr. Hyde with an ordinary chemical set. He is, nevertheless, easily controlled by Morticia, though Lurch and Gomez keep their backs to the wall at all times when he's around. His voice is hoarse." Charles Addams, 1963

I started with a brown manicure (which my annoying hubby insists are "poop" nails) and added an off white french tip to all of the nails except the ring fingers. 

I started Pugsley with a black background, since he is depicted as a cartoon, and it is easier to start with black and paint up, than to try to painstakingly outline in black afterwards. 

I mixed off white colors in acrylic paint for the flesh and shading of Pugsley. I am very happy with how the colors and feeling really matched Addams' drawing. 

Here's the scamper before I topped him with top coat. Oh! And I can't believe I haven't mentioned my stubby nails! I had two nails break when I was getting my Halloween decorations out of storage. Boo! So I cut all of my nails down and now I just have to wait for them to grow back out. 

On my right hand, I copied Chas Addams' signature. It didn't quite fit on my stubby nail, but it is really close. 

Polishes I used in this manicure: Love & Beauty in Cocoa, Essie Body Language, Cult Nails Get It On basecoat, and Cult Nails Wicked Fast topcoat. (I actually wore this manicure for two and a half days because I loved it so much! And I noticed no chips, just slight wear on my nail tips. Yay for Cult Nails base and top coats!)

I realized that I did not have a lot of stripes in this "Stripe" manicure, so on the second day I wore this manicure, I added a darker brown stripe (Revlon Chocolate Truffle) with a striper brush along the edge of the french manicure. I really like how it looks!

Tomorrow is Animal Print! I can't wait!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Black and White Nails

These nails are inspired by Robin Moses. She did a video tutorial of this design a few weeks ago and I fell totally in love with it. I am a big fan of Japanese culture (check out my bento lunch blog sometime!) and this appealed to me right away for its impact and simplicity. Plus it is freakin' creepy! ZOMBIES a la manga artist Junji Ito. Check it out:

Right?! Amazing, huh??! The zombies turned out great, but part of the manicure that I did not expect to like so much are the other nails that I painted halfway with a really cool Forever 21 polish. We'll get to that in a second...

I started with a coat of LA Colors white polish. My Sally Hansen Insta-Dri white was all goopy, that's why I didn't use Whirlwind White. 

Isn't this the coolest glitter? Click on the picture to get a close look. I picked this up at Forever 21, not really understanding how awesome it was. I actually thought it had a black polish base with some sort of flakies in it, or confetti, not sure. Then when I used it in this manicure, I saw how cool it was. Tiny black glitter and larger round glitter suspended in a clear base. It is so awesome! Of course, it was a b*tch to remove, but that is the price we pay for glitter manis. 

Watching Robin's video, and using a few images I printed of Junji Ito's work on the internet, here are my versions of the zombies. I love this smiling girl. She's a freak!

My right hand turned out great too! (Sorry about the round shape of my thumbnail. I broke it doing housework before my mom and dad showed up for a visit. I will get it grown back out soon.) (Wow, what a boring explanation for a broken nail. I should have said that the zombies ate it! LOL)

Here they are together! I just love this manicure, and if I wasn't doing the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, I would so wear this for a few days. But I can always redo it. It is totally appropriate for the holiday season. Black Friday Zombies, anyone?? 

Polishes used in this manicure: LA Colors 561 White, Love and Beauty Black polish (I HATE how Forever 21 polishes are named. Wow, it's an amazing multi-size black glitter, and the best name they can come up with is "Black"??), Essie All In One Basecoat, and Seche Vite topcoat. 

Tomorrow is metallic nails! They should be fun. And I am trying to pick up a few bottles of Cult Nails Unicorn Puke right now (yes, I am up at 3am to do this) so WISH ME LUCK!