Happy Halloween!

Although it's late, it's still Halloween! Sadly this is the last Halloween manicure of the year and somehow I avoided pumpkins all month. This one is really simple, but I think it's my favorite. To give it that extra special Halloween kick, I lowered the saturation on everything but my nails giving it that nice bright orange pop.

This was really easy. The base color is Milani Metallic Mango and the tips were sponged with Sinful Colors Black on Black. The image, which has been my favorite all fall, is BM-224 stamped with Wet n Wild Black Creme.

Milani - Metallic Mango

Sinful Colors - Black on Black

Wet n Wild - Black Creme

NYC - Extra Shiny Top Coat

BM - 224

The Fourteenth

Today's challenge is using a plate that ends in the day you were born. I was born November 14th so I used BM-314. Being all caught up in Halloween, I waited until the last minute to do this one. It didn't photograph as pretty as it looked on my nails, but I didn't have much time and the hurricane Sandy dark skies weren't on my side either. Oh well. Live and learn.

Although I like Twilight Rays, The color looks more black than green in pictures and the gold glitter is more intense in the bottle as it clings to the glass. Stamped, the Yellow Metallic turned out more gold than yellow. I still like it, but it isn't blowing me away like I had envisioned.

Maybelline Color Show - Twilight Rays

Kleancolor - Metallic Yellow

NYC - Extra Shiny Top Coat

BM - 314

Spider Skittles

With October winding down, I'm running out of time to fit in more last minute Halloween ideas. I had to do spiders some time so I went with a skittles manicure to incorporate all the images I own.

The base color I used was e.l.f. Metal Madness. It's a dark metallic gray with a subtle holographic glitter. I put too much stuff over the top of it for the glitter to show up on my nails though. The index finger is Silver Sweep sponged on the tip. The ring finger is Fantasy Makers Confetti poured over the top of very wet nail polish and sealed in with a couple of layers of topcoat. I used wax paper underneath so I could put the excess back in the bottle.

e.l.f. - Metal Madness

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Fantasy Makers - Confetti

N.Y.C. - Extra Shiny Top Coat

Shany - SH01, SH09, SH25

Red Halloween

I'm rushing this post to get my Sunday Challenge in before the end of the day. This week was a really simple Halloween free for all. I'm still trying to avoid orange and pumpkins as much as possible so I did red. Why red? Why not?!

All the images used were from Bundle Monster. From one set to the next, their spooky house got spookier and more detailed.

I started out with a gradient of Sinful Colors Hot Hot Heat and Rich in heart. I had to get in the before stamping photo because I thought the 2 metallics looked so pretty together.

Sinful Colors - Hot Hot Heat

SInful Colors - Rich in Heart

Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Orly - Top 2 Bottom

BM - 213

BM - 224

BM - 305

Wicked Inspiration

Going through my Halloween images, I settled on the hat from plate BM-209. Using colors inspired by Wicked, I stamped the hat in black for Elphaba and in white (with a stamper to stamper transfer) on the accent finger for Galinda. 

Anything other than the hats seemed to be too much. So on the other fingers, I used a generic design from Shany SH15. On top of the green, it ended up with a Frankensteinish effect.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lickety-Split Lime

Sinful Colors - Black on Black

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Hard to Get

Wet n Wild - Black Creme
Orly - Top 2 Bottom

BM - 209

Shany - SH15

Sexy Devil

Would it be Halloween without seeing at least one girl wearing the sexy devil costume?! The big chunky glitter is Spoiled Ants in My Pants. It has a sheer gray base so I started with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet. The ring finger is 1 coat of Sinful Colors Black on Black, 3 coats of Sally Hansen Red Carpet, and 3 coats of Sinful Colors All about you. Of course, because I used glitter, I started with a basecoat of Elmer's School Glue!

Thank you, Halloween for giving me the opportunity to use images I wouldn't otherwise use!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Red Carpet

Sinful Colors - Black on Black

Sinful Colors - All About You

Spoiled - Ants in My Pants

JLB - Immortal Gold

Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Seche Vite - topcoat

Shany - SH09

Halloween Witch

Another Halloween theme and I'm continuing to avoid pumpkins! I'm still in love with glitter so I wanted to make this one sparkly too. I went with a base of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Loves Me not. Then I did 1 coat of Sinful Colors I Miss You which gave me a purple starry night sky effect. I had to freehand a moon to get the witch to show up. The moon was a little sloppy, but it worked.

I'll be honest. I had to do some photoshop cleanup on this one to remove the next day cracking. I'm not sure which polish caused it, but that's what I get for not taking pictures the same day.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Loves Me Not

Sinful Colors - I Miss You

Wet n Wild - White Creme

Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

NYC - Fast Drying Top Coat

Shany - SH02

Shany - SH03

Snow White

I've been staring at the 2 Fantasy Makers polishes I got weeks ago and trying to think of something for Halloween. I got the red glitter Once Upon a Time and the purple based Rest in Pieces. The two of them together kept reminding me of Snow White's apple and the queen. So for the first attempt at Halloween this year, I went with more dress up than the tradition pumpkins or black cats.

Of course these were an impulse buy. After putting on the one coat of Once Upon a time, I realized it's exactly like Spoiled Ants in My Pants. Both have a gray base and take about 5 coats to get coverage. I'm not sure, but I think Rest in Pieces may be black with purple micro glitter. It definitely looks purple though with all those sparkles.

Fantasy Makers - Once Upon a Time

Fantasy Makers - Rest in Pieces

JLB - Immortal Gold

Seche Vite - topcoat

BM - 215

SE18

Black and White Swan

This week is Metallic Madness. I've been trying a few different things with this plate for a while. This week's theme gave me the inspiration for something better!

I would say I took some liberties with the madness part of this challenge. I used China Glaze Stone Cold and Pure Ice Platinum. Stone Cold dries matte, but it ended up with a satin finish with a shiny topcoat. I had to use a different black for the black swan because the stamper couldn't fully pick up Stone Cold.

To get the swan facing the opposite direction, I stamped with my XL stamper and then onto my Salon Express stamper before my nail. This is definitely a trial and error method, but it eventually worked out well. I wasn't a fan of the asymmetrical wings on this plate, but it actually turned out better that way for me on this manicure. My pinky nail is way to small for the wing size on the left. I used the stamper transfer method on my right hand to get the wings on the correct fingers too.

China Glaze - Stone Cold

Pure Ice - Platinum

Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Orly - Top 2 Bottom

Shany - SH03