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Thursday 31 October 2013

It's Halloween!

One of my favourite times of the year is today! I love the spookiness of this holiday. It's a great excuse to watch horror movies (which frankly I watch all year anyway!) and we just watched The Conjuring the other night. It is by far the creepiest movie I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend it but only if you like the genre.

For today's nail art I asked my mom what her favourite horror movie is and she immediately said Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". She saw it when she was five or six and it scared the pants off of her.


Let me explain what I did on each nail. I started with a base of Barielle U Concrete Me, a light grey, on each finger except my ring which is Essie Cashmere Bathrobe. The pinkie is a whole load of birds done with a black nail pen. The ring is a birdcage with two love birds done with nail pens.


The middle was supposed to be a whole load of birds in the background with the title of the movie written over top but you can't really see the birds because the writing turned out so big. This was also done with nail pens. The index is a single drop of blood done with a nail pen.


The thumb was done with a mixture of nail pens and the highlighted bit of the crow is Sally Hansen Gunmetal.

I think most of the nails are self explanatory but I will explain the index and ring fingers. The single drop of blood is supposed to emulate the first strike from the birds. A seagull swoops down and nicks the main actress on the head and she has just a small amount of blood run down her forehead. In a lot of ways I think that's far creepier than having a blood bath.


The lovebirds may seem a strange choice but I think it's the most chilling part of the movie. All of these birds are attacking people and yet the main characters make the decision to keep these two love birds at the end of the movie. Say what?!? I think those wily love birds would find a way to break out of the cage and eat everyone!


It's a good movie if you like the classics. Alfred Hitchcock certainly had a way with horror!

And so ends the Halloween nail art. I will definitely miss it but it gives me something to look forward to for next year. I'll have a bunch of different styles over the next month and then when December hits (or possibly a bit before) bring on the Christmas nail art!!

Happy painting friends!

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Lavender Rosettes

Today is my 5th anniversary with my beloved husband! I'm taking a break from Halloween nail art to give you something pretty.


I saw a pattern very similar to this on The Nailasaurus, one of the blogs I follow. She had stamped it on and I thought I would be fairly easy to duplicate freehand.



I love how these turned out! They are so delicate and beautiful. The glitter accent finger is perfectly complementary.


I'm going to attempt to go out for dinner with the hubby. Should be interesting; all dressed up with crutches and a knee brace! Wish me luck :)

Happy painting friends!

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Betcha Could "Spot" This Leopard!

I've been rocking out a lot of Halloween nail art of late and I'm going to take a break for a couple of days. I promise I will post something super cool on Halloween but I want to post some lighter and brighter styles until then.

So here's the first one:


I'm more than a little in love with this design! I started with a base of Barry M Green Berry which is such a bright happy colour. It comes across a little more blue in the pics than I'd like but I haven't quite figured out colour adjusting on the camera yet.


I then used Color Club Bright Night and dabbed on the blue splotches of the spots. I accented them using a silver nail pen.



I accented two of my nails with some bright blue studs I got off eBay and topped it all off with a Color Club top coat.

It's so pretty! I like the more subtle pattern paired with really bright shades.


Happy painting friends!

Monday 28 October 2013

My Mummy Takes Care of Me

I've been admiring some mummy nail art on the interwebs lately and thought I would try some of my own. I wanted to switch up the traditional white bandages and do something with a little more "age" to it.


I started with a base of Joe Fresh Lime Juice and when that dried I painted on the bandages using a beige colour from LA Colors Color Craze (no name attached).



I then added on the eyes using a medium dotting tool and Orly Moonlit Madness and then added on all the rest of the details (outlined bandages, pupils for eyes, age on the bandages, etc.) using nail art pens.



I like these a lot! They are a great idea for Halloween and there are lots of cool ideas around.

Happy painting friends!

Sunday 27 October 2013

Pumpkin Fest

My dad and I are going to be carving pumpkins today so I thought it would be rather appropriate to do some nail art involving them.


I must apologize for the lighting for today's (and the rest of the week's) photos. I'm in a different place right now and have yet to figure out the lighting.


I started with a base of Salon Perfect Kiwi Kiss and then painted on the main pumpkin bodies using Kleancolor Metallic Orange.





I then added on the stem and vine details using my nail art pens.

Very festive for this time of year! I love the colours.

Happy painting friends!

Saturday 26 October 2013

The Phoenix Will Rise

Sometimes I do a design that I am so utterly proud of I never want to take it off. This design lasted two full days on my nails which is virtually unheard of for me!!

It's also extra special because I did the design for my cousin who has been having a really hard year. He came for a visit and it was so good to see him and give him a hug. I asked him to pick out some colours for me to use and he headed straight for the oranges and reds. He picked out Rimmel Golden Hour (sparkly orange), L'Oreal Boozy Brunch (an orange creme) and Polish 01 (no brand was attached, it was a gift so not sure where it came from but it's a red).

I started by painting the red on as a base and then sponged on the oranges. I wanted to get a little lighter at the base so I decided to add a bit of Rimmel Sunny Days. It really looked like flames and so I painted on a phoenix using a black nail pen.


I really wanted the phoenix to look like a tattoo as my cousin likes his ink and has had some really cool work done.


I think the phoenix is so appropriate here as he has been through a lot but I know that he will find the clarity he is looking for and rise again. Maybe a bit cheesy but I don't care!



As I say, I'm just so proud of this. It turned out exactly as I hoped it would and I hope my cousin loves it as much as I do.

I was sad to take this off.

Happy painting friends!

Friday 25 October 2013

Why Can't You Do Something Cool Like That?

I was showing my brother some of my nail art and he was impressed by some of the designs. I then asked him to decide on a new Halloween design for me so he started looking on Google images and came across some skeleton nail art that stretched over multiple nails. His exact words were the title of this post. Made me laugh!

So this is for my brother:


I started with a base coat of Essence Color and Go Chic Reloaded and then added in the skull and bone details using white and black nail pens.


I love the base coat and think it's a great colour for fall.




If I were to do this design again, I think I would change the fingers with the smaller skulls on them.  They aren't done as well as I would like them to be. I'd like to see them a bit cleaner but overall I think this is a fun Halloween mani.

Happy painting friends!

Thursday 24 October 2013

Leather Polka Dots

When my friend Kaycie came for a visit she brought me a gift of nail polish! My favourite kind of gift. It's a type of nail polish I hadn't tried before, a leather effect. Super cool, right?!? It's by Nails Inc. and they have a pink, blue, grey and black. Kaycie got me the black and I thought it would great paired with a glossy black. I applied a base coat of Sally Hansen Black Out and then dotted on the leather effect nail polish using one of my dotting tools.


It's a very subtle look but it's pretty classy!


I couldn't stop touching it. The leather effect nail polish didn't feel like leather; it's rougher and kind of pebbly.




This is a pretty simple design but |I really liked it. Definitely something I will wear in the future.

Happy painting friends!

Wednesday 23 October 2013

They're Coming To Get You Barbara!

Who loves the Walking Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead or any other great Zombie show? Then this nail art will be for you! I wanted to do a zombie themed design for Halloween and I decided to pair it with a graveyard. I love all things zombie so I really enjoyed doing these nails.


I used a base of Color Club Bright Night and then painted on the graveyard, moon and zombie using acrylics.


 I wish I could have gotten a better pic of the zombie but the light kept getting in the way, lol. I maybe should have put a matte top coat to dull down the shine and make the zombie pop a bit more.



 What do you think? Does it say undead to you?

Bonus points for anyone who can tell me where the title of this post comes from.

Happy painting friends!




Tuesday 22 October 2013

Sometimes I Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me

Oh Halloween, how I love you! There are just so many possibilities with nail art and cool scary images. I got my dotting tools in the mail and I really wanted to try them out.


I was thinking about what I could do that was round and I decided on eyeballs. How creepy are these?! I've always had a thing about eyes, in that I don't like them!


This is my favourite pose for Halloween nail art. The claw!


For this look I started with a base coat of Sally Hansen Black Out and then dotted on the eyeballs using my large dotting tool and Sally Hansen White Out. I then added in the colour details using my nail art pens.


I like these a lot. Creepy!

Happy painting friends!

Monday 21 October 2013

Autumn Flowers

My mom always goes a little crazy with decorating anytime there is a seasonal change and of course has put up decorations around her house in beautiful fall colours. She has these gorgeous orange and red flowers beside the tv and I've been looking at them for the past couple weeks thinking they would make good nail art.


I started with a base coat of Revlon Foxy  which is an absolutely fantabulous chocolate cream colour. I am so enamoured with this shade! I then painted on the flowers and leaves with acrylic paints.



Then I topped everything off with a coat of Color Club top coat and busted out the camera.


I don't know that I quite caught the depth of colour of the original flowers but I think this is a pretty design. Definitely fall appropriate!

Happy painting friends!

Sunday 20 October 2013

There Will Be Blood

What's Halloween without a bit of blood? I wanted to do some blood drips on my nails which is a fairly popular style this time of year but I wanted to do a bit of a different base.


The background is a mixture of different polishes. I started with a base of NYC Brownstone and then I sponged on Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Antique Bronze, Color Show Polka Dots Dotty and Kleancolor Golden Nightmare.


I then added in the blood drops using a red nail pen.



I think this is a spooky design in all the best ways possible but I don't know if I would wear it to anywhere but a Halloween party!

Hope you enjoyed!

Happy painting friends :)