One Last Halloween Nail Design

I know this is last minute, but I love this design so much I had to share it. I wanted to do sort of a take on candy corn but with a twist. This bright beauty is what I came up with, and I am absolutely in love with it!

This one isn't difficult to do, but it is fiddly. First I painted the nail with pink, orange, and yellow. I went with vibrant, almost neon colors because I wanted a strong, graphic look to them. I also didn't worry about a neat line, since I wanted that sort of candy corn feel to it.

Once that layer was dry, I very precisely laid out stripes using three pieces of striping tape next to each other, then skipping around that much space and adding another three pieces side-by-side. This gave me much thicker lines than I would have had just using the single pieces of striping tape. However, you could use whatever size tape you like.

I then painted the entire nail with a black creme polish. I pulled the tape pieces off while the polish was still wet, being careful not to smear the still-wet black. I let this dry for several minutes before adding a coat of quick-dry topcoat. That sealed the colors together and let them look glassy and seamless.

Can I just say how much this design makes me smile?? Seriously, I want to do all my nails like this! The bright colors look all the more bright next to the black, and I think thinner lines of color contrasted with thicker lines of black could be a fun spin on this idea. Clearly, I have some experimenting to do!

Speaking of, I may have some nail sets up for sale soon, so if you're looking for some sparkly nails for the holidays I just might be able to help you out! Keep an eye on this space... :D

Some polishes were provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Doctor's Remedy Breast Cancer Awareness Colors

I have another post I've been intending to make for a couple of weeks now. Stupid body has been uncooperative, but I've finally got the photos for the post! Dr.'s Remedy has three gorgeous colors to help you observe breast cancer awareness month.

First up is Purity Pink, a delicate translucent pink creme that would be absolutely perfect for a french manicure. I'm not really one for the visible nail line look, so this color isn't my cup of tea. However, it's definitely perfect for women who want a delicate, work-appropriate nail color. These photos show three coats of Purity Pink.

Next up is Hopeful Hot Pink, a bright bubblegum pink creme color that definitely made me smile. This color is much more me, while still being work-appropriate for most jobs. It's not a super-vibrant hot pink so much as a softer pink that makes me think of Barbie.

I only needed two coats of Hopeful Hot Pink to have beautiful, even coverage. As usual, this polish applied almost effortlessly. I'll wear this one again.

Finally there's Defense Deep Red, a deep dark red creme that almost comes across as a very warm black. I used two coats of this and was very happy with it, although you can see I had a bit of dragging at the base of my nail on one finger. I blame my poor application on that one, though, because I swatched these while I was feeling poorly. This is definitely a color I like, and it's one I'll wear again I'm sure.

Unfortunately, since this red is so incredibly pigmented it can be a pain to clean up around the edges. You can see that my fingers have some leftover red around the edges. That's after I cleaned up with acetone and a brush, so be careful when you apply this one!

Dr.'s Remedy polishes can be bought at their website, and they cost $17 per bottle. Dr.'s Remedy polishes are not only big 3-free, they're also enriched with ingredients to help protect and strengthen your nails. It's one of my favorite brands, and I love wearing their polishes.

Dr.'s Remedy Breast Cancer Awareness polishes were provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects - Halloween!

Hi there! Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated! I've been sick for entirely too long this time, but after lots of antibiotics and incredible amounts of rest, I'm finally feeling like a human being! Thanks to this, I can show you a couple of items that I want you to see before Halloween is over with!

If you're like me, you want to do fun Halloween nails to go with your costume, even if your costume is simple. Sally Hansen has just the solution for you! The ones I'm wearing in this image are called Numbskull, and they're just the cutest little skulls and crossbones!

There's one thing that I really dislike about these, although it's a small thing. The pattern is unidirectional, meaning it only goes in one direction. This means that if you happen to use both ends of the strips, you're left with skulls facing in two directions! I'm neurotic enough that this does bother me, although at a glance they look perfectly fine.

I also learned something else about these strips. When I applied them last night, I had sections of the strips that weren't actually sticking to my nails worth a darn, and I was sure they'd be peeling by morning. However, I pressed everything down as best I could and went on to bed. Once I woke up, I found that they'd settled down and are now solidly adhered to all my nails!

So don't worry if they aren't perfectly adhered right at first. They will settle down! Just press them down as well as you can and leave them alone for a few hours.

Overall, I really like this design. I also think it would be lots of fun as accent nails, or trimmed down to use as french tips. The little skulls are so cute!

Also, have I mentioned these strips tend to wear like iron? If you haven't read it, you can see my wear test for these starting here, where I rave about how amazing they are. I wound up finally removing the strips after 15 days of wear, and the only problem with them was a chip at the tip of one nail where I'd broken it!

This year's Halloween collection includes five designs- Numbskulls (shown here), How Corny (a silver-white background with repeating candy corn that looks the same whether it's upside down or not), Batty For You (black bats on a purple background that can be worn either way), Patch-O-Lanterns (orange jack o'lantern faces that can be worn either way),  and Spun For You (black spiderwebs on a silver background that can be worn either way). These can be found in drugstores near you for $9.99 a box. Go get some, before they're gone!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Numbskull was provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Celebrate Halloween With Us At Mazeparty!

If you've been following me for very long, you probably have noticed that I love to color. I don't know why, but I find watching the color evenly fill the page bringing an image to life. I enjoy adding shading and highlights to my coloring pages so that they look vibrant and fun.

I couldn't resist coloring this guy in Photoshop!

If you have little ones who love to color (and most kids enjoy it) you may want to visit MazeParty.com, my husband's website. It's got lots of mazes and coloring pages for kids, and even for their parents if they like. I've even drawn a few of the coloring pages there!

Since Halloween is coming up, we've added some great new spooky pages to color. I'm pretty fond of the jelly monster shown to the right. He looks like he'd be a fun guy to hang out with once you fill that empty tummy with some yummy cupcakes or something!

So be sure to stop by the Halloween coloring pages at Maze Party and print out some pages for your kids. They're totally free, and we update all the time!

Coloring is fun!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

I'm Seeing Stars

I've got another Halloween nail design for you! I wanted to do something with a bit sparkle to it for this design, but at the same time I didn't want it to be too complex. I think I hit just the right balance with this one!

Instead of trying to paint stars and keep the glitter in the spots I want it, I went the opposite direction. I started this nail out with a bright, deep orange. Once that was opaque I topped it with a golden-coppery glitter and added a coat of quick-dry topcoat.

I then let things dry for half an hour or so. Once things were dry, I took a piece of masking tape and punched little star holes from it. Those stars are the key to this manicure!

A quick tip: Make sure the sticky side of the tape is facing the opening of the punch instead of toward the die-cutting part. This way you can use tweezers or a dotting tool to remove the star cutouts.

While I was punching my stars, I stuck them to the edge of an Altoids tin to keep them organized and sticky. Once I had them punched, I applied them to the nail in a simple pattern. I tried to leave enough space between them to make sure they would show up as stars in a black background. It also helps with removal to have a piece of the star hanging off your nail.

Once my stars were in place, I topped things with a coat of black nail polish. I used an opaque black so I would only need one coat. Before the polish dried, I peeled the stars off leaving the bright orange sparkly stars behind. I let this dry for a minute or two, but I should have waited longer because I did smear the edges of my stars on one side.

Once your top coat is on, you're done! You could do this with any shapes you want- even round dots from a traditional hole punch would look adorable!

Leave me a comment if you like this one. I'm really enjoying it right now!

Some polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Another Halloween Nail Art Design

Today's halloween look is super simple and super easy. Again, instead of being an obvious nod to the holiday, this design uses halloween colors to get you in the holiday mood.

I started with a bright orange polish. You can use whatever orange you have, which means you can go with a pumpkin tone or a neon orange, a pastel orange or anything else that makes you smile. I went with a very saturated orange, but not quite neon.

Once that was totally dry I added a beautiful water transfer from the WDBLE981 set that's available at KKCenterHK. I absolutely love these decals! I love that there are many choices in one style, so that your nails don't look so obviously done with decals.

I'm also very glad to share that these decals acted much more like the decals I'm familiar with than the last set I used. Thankfully, these slid right off the backing once it was wet. Then I was able to slide them onto my nail and position it the way I wanted.

Keep in mind that these water decals will continue to slide around whenever they get wet, so you definitely need to top them with topcoat. The clear topcoat helps meld them with your nail polish so that they aren't going anywhere.

Once again, after I got the decal in place I wanted to add a rhinestone to give it a bit of flair. What can I say, I love shiny things! This stone came from the Fing'rs Nail & Body Jewels kit. I really like this kit because the stones are tiny and you get such a great selection of shapes and colors.

Once everything's on and mostly dry I added a coat of ProFX to protect everything. I really like the end result. This could be a beautiful accent nail or you could do all your nails with these decals. Whatever you do, they'll be pretty.

So go ahead, play with your nail art stuff. You may end up with a design you love!

Some polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Jordana Halloween Nail Art Contest

Hey! Do you love nail art? (Of course you do, that's probably why you read this blog!) If you do, then do I have a contest for you!

The lovely people at Jordana are hosting a halloween nail art contest, and it's open to YOU (as long as you live in the United States or Canada)! All you need to do is show them your best halloween nails, and you could win one of several prizes!

Eleven people will win prizes, which I think is pretty fantastic! So what are you waiting for? Go enter your favorite halloween nail art!

Image was provided by the brand.

See my disclosure statement for more information.