My favorite Halloween Polishes, part 2

...You ready for part 2? (if you missed part one, you can find it here. )

Last time I showed you some basic building blocks, plus a couple that were a little extra-special. I'm going to continue on with the extra-specials--and by coincidence, all of today's offerings are indies, too. :)

Let's have at it!!

Best all-in-one Halloween polish: No Worries Polish Truffula Tree

No Worries Polish Truffula Tree, artificial light

If you want a fun, special Halloween manicure that will catch they eye, but don't have time for nail art and the like, this polish is for you. Beautiful formula, and very festive. Your one-stop Halloween polish experience. :)

Most versatile Halloween accent polish: The Nail Junkie Tiger

The Nail Junkie Tiger

I realized as I was putting this together that I don't have a full swatch of this polish, because I tend to use it as an accent rather than a full mani. So I'm showing you a Halloween mani I did with it instead of a swatch. This is a great polish to use as an accent nail, a background glitter to stamp over, a stand-out skittle nail. The basic orange-and-black color scheme make it perfect for almost any sort of theme--spiders, witches, pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns, haunted houses, bats. Yes yes yes, I realize it has bar glitter. I love bar glitter myself, but even if you don't love it for daily wear, I think it still has a place in theme manicures. :)


Darkest, most goth-type Halloween polish: A Study In Polish Consulting Criminal

A Stud In Polish Consulting Criminal, direct sunlight

Perfect for deadly vampires, serious sorcerers and goth fairies, this red, white and silver in black jelly polish will take care of all of your dark, shadow-filled Halloween-style desires.


Polish that looks most like body part and blood splatter: 6 Harts Ninja Bat

6 Harts Ninja Bat, over medium gray franken, indirect sunlight

Let's say you're stuck in a horror movie, and some serial killer is coming after you, trying to kill you. Let's further say that you pull out a grenade, and blow him to bits. Let's still further say you take a look over at the wall that his body splattered all over. That's what this polish reminds me of, when I'm in a Halloween state of mind.

On that note: Spaghetti and meatballs, anyone?

Most night-sky and alien-esque Halloween polish: Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me.

Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me!, no undies, direct sunlight

Looking for a night sky polish that comes with its own moons? Want something that captures a whimsical, alien-creature type of look? Going to the party as Dr. Who, and want to take the galaxy with you? Want nails that the sauciest of sorceresses would wear, polish that will make your nails look like they can cast spells all on their own? This is the polish for you. You could get a slightly more subtle look than the one I put together here by putting undies under it and using one coat. But who wants subtle for Halloween??? :)


Most self-explanatory: Pretty & Polished Blood Clot

Pretty & Polished Blood Clot, no undies, two coats, artificial light

Yeah, it's probably pretty obvious why this one made the list--this is so creepily, horrendously like a microscope view of blood cells clotting up, it makes the Halloween freak inside me dance with joy. This is also one of those frustrating polishes to photograph--it looks so much better (and creepier!) in person. I believe this was also released for a while under the name 'Bloody Mary'; whichever way you find it, your evil nurse/doctor/serial killer costume would not be complete without some of this dripped, er, painted onto your nails.


Most non-horrific Halloween polish: SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance

SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance, 2 coats, indirect sunlight

 

The only thing horrific here is my swatching ability--these were taken a year ago, I apparently didn't realize the bottle was in focus rather than the nails, and they make me shudder! But they still get the basic idea across, including the duochrome aspect of the polish, and the glitters. This is a wonderful polish for princesses, faeries, elves of various sorts, and other sweet, ethereal costumes. It's also just a fun, quick Halloween polish that will help you capture the general spirit of the holiday in one bottle.


And to end, an absolutely quintessential Halloween polish: Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash

Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash over Zoya Keiko, artificial light

I have undies here, but you can build this polish up on its own to get more glitter and nearly the exact same base color (as you can see in the bottle). This is another polish that I love for capturing the spirit of the holiday just as it is, with no nail art and no costume to pair with it. It's full of energy and fun, just the way Halloween should be.

And so, my favorites are at an end...but I'm sure this is only the beginning of the possibilities. So I leave you with this very important question: what amazing Halloween polishes am I missing from this list? What are your favorites? Point me to them!!! :)

Hugs and Halloween thrills,
M.

NOTD: U is for Under The Sea

Hello!

I'm slowly catching up with everything--never again will I do a 31 Day every-day-continuous challenge, lol!!! (she says and probably joins one next month.)

Last week's theme in my Llama Nails alphabet challenge was "U"...and I chose to do 'Under The Sea" for my U. :)

I started with a base of The Nail Junkie's Fish (Indie Alert!), a pretty blue shimmer with a variety of blue glitters. Then I stamped over the base with Konad plate m27 and Drikk plate C (which I will be reviewing sometime soon, hopefully!!), in Konad White. Finally, I put on some purple bubbles with Revlon Decadent, to give some color contrast and visual interest:

Under da sea, Under da sea!

Darling it's better, down where it's wetter! (wait...what?)

What do you think? I think it's fun and happy. And I love love love the glitter polish, the sparkly glitters are just sparkly enough to catch your eye here and there.

Thanks for taking a look! :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Pumpkin Patch

Hello!!

Fall is really only just starting to kick in here in my part of California; we're having a very late, long warm season this year...Which means that I really am only now starting to feel the chill in the air, the falling leaves, and the pumpkin patches.

I did a similar manicure a while back, but I wanted to perfect it and when I got The Nail Junkie's Pumpkin (Indie Alert!!) a while back, I knew I had to try a new version with it. It a beautiful shade of pumpkin orange with green glitters that look like bits of stems and leaves in the polish. So, I started with that as my base:

The Nail Junkie Pumpkin in the shade

The Nail Junkie Pumpkin in direct light

Then I stamped on it using Red Angel plate RA-115, and Sally Hansen Jumpin' Jade polish to create a viney pumpkin patch look:

I can feel the crunch of the leaves beneath my feet...

...And now I want pumpkin pie. 

I'm not sure this is quite how I want it--I'm thinking maybe a brown polish for the leaves and vines might be better? Well, I can always try it again next year.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. :)

Xoxox,
M.

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.

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.

NOTD: Bloody Gore!

Hello!!

Today's Halloween challenge theme is Blood/Gore/Splatter...so I kinda did all three. :) I loved my zombie gradient from the other day, and couldn't resist turning this into a bloody mess for this prompt......So I pulled out some red polish and made some awesome blood spatter tracks on them:

BlooD! goRe! sPLatteR!!

Mmm...look at that yummy blood sparkling in the sunshine...

I started with a base of The Nail Junkie Frankenstein, and created a gradient with The Nail Junkie Black Cat. Then, I used Pure Ice Siren to make the awesome blood trails...:)

Thanks for looking! Please check out the other gory, splattery, bloody manicures linked below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Pumpkins

Hello!!

Today's prompt in my CNT Halloween challenge is 'pumpkins'. I did the manicure for this one ages ago, because I love pumpkins, and couldn't wait! I actually did it before I knew officially when I'd be posting it, because I knew one of my challenges would have a pumpkin prompt in it. :)

I started off with a base of Revlon Orbit; this is a polish I got on one of the dual-ended polishes, with a flakie on the other end. It's a deep purple that goes almost to black. On the accent nail  put two coats of The Nail Junkie's Tiger. I wanted to spice up the purple a bit--it's sort of flat on its own--so I put a coat of CND Amethyst Sparkle over it:

Revlon Orbit + CND Amethyst Sparkle + The Nail Junkie Tiger

To make the pumpkin look, I stamped using Sally Hansen Orange impulse, and the pumpkin image from Bundle Monster plate BM222:

Pumpkins, indirect light

Pumpkins, direct light

Pumpkins, shade

I love this shade of purple with this shade of orange, and I was so excited that the stamping polish was so close to the color of Tiger when put over that orange! Something about this combination just makes me happy. I hope you enjoy it, too. :)

Thanks for looking, and please take a look at the other pumpkin manicures linked below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Halloween Gradient

Hello!!

Today is another Halloween challenge manicure from the 'This Is Halloween' challenge...the theme today is to do a Halloween gradient. I chose to do a simple one, that I think is pretty creepy...muah hah hah haaaah haaaaaah...

I started with a base of The Nail Junkie's Frankenstein, a green-based polish with a mustard shimmer and black hex and bar glitters:

The Nail Junkie's Frankenstein

To create the gradient, I combined this with The Nail Junkie's Black Cat (I'm holding the bottle for it in the first picture), a black jelly with silvery-black glitter:

Frankenstein + Black Cat

Creepy monster gradient

Together they make creepy monster nails, the kind you see on that nasty swamp monster coming up out of the sewers to eat you during the night! What's that sound I hear coming from the drain in the bathroom? Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

If you haven't checked out The Nail Junkie's polishes, I highly recommend that you do. A few days after I did this manicure, I saw on her blog that she did the same gradient! Great minds think alike--I swear I didn't steal the idea! :)

Happy Halloween everyone! It's getting close! And please check out the other gradients done by the very talented bloggers participating with me in the challenge, linked below. :)

M.

NOTD: If I were a zombie...If I were a zombie girl!

Hello!!

When you're in two Halloween challenges, it's unavoidable that certain topics will appear twice. Today is the first instance of this for me--this is my second 'zombie' prompt. For my first prompt, I did little hungry zombies trying to nom some brainz. In this prompt, for my 'This Is Halloween' challenge, I wanted to do something a bit different.

I thought to myself...what if a polish lover, with pretty glitter polishes, was turned into a zombie? What would those nails look like? Would the glitter turn? What kind of gunk would mess it all up? Here is my take on it:

I'm a zombie girl...

In a zombie world...

It's brain-tastic!

Mmm...look at all that awesome gore!

For once the 'claw' pose is appropriate...hee hee hee!

Run!! It's zombie-glitter-nails girl! She will claw out your brains for awesome polishez!!!

Okay, enough weirdness. Here's how I did it. First I applied one coat of Whimsical Ideas by Pam Wicked (Indie alert!). Then I applied one coat of China Glaze Zombie Zest to zombie it up a bit. Then I used a second coat of Wicket, to get that layered glitter look (sort of a reverse glitter sammich?). Then I used The Nail Junkie Black Cat ('Nother Indie Alert!) and sponged it on the tips and up the cuticles, to make it look like I'd been digging in the dirt. Finally, I used Pure Ice Siren to put blood on the nails, using a fan brush to sweep it across. I didn't clean up the cuticles/fingers cause I wanted it to look gory...but as I look at it, it just looks sloppy. I need more gore! :P

Thanks for stopping by! Please check out the other zombie manicures by my fellow zombie-ites. :)

XoXoX,
M.

Indie-licious: New collection by The Nail Junkie!

Hello! The maker of my most favoritest indie glitter of all time, The Nail Junkie, is releasing a Halloween collection this Sunday.  You can check it out by clicking here. To help you decide if you want to go check it out, here are a couple of teaser photos from her post:

Black Cat over black, grey, and white undies

Pumpkin

Candy Corn

Frankenstein

I have a feeling you'll be seeing some of these polishes featured on my blog soon...I love the Black Cat for a layering polish, and Candy Corn is just sweet (pun intended). My favorite, without a doubt, is Pumpkin--I love the green and orange together, and the colors she chose are beautiful together, muted and subtle. And Frankenstein makes me want to do da Monster Mash! Grrrr!

The polishes launch on Sunday evening, although I'm not sure what time. She has free shipping on all domestic (USA) orders, and $5 flat rate internationally, and gives 10% of her proceeds to charity. She also has an international giveaway for the entire set! Run, don't walk, to get in on that! :)

Thanks for reading!

M.