Halloween

It's the Great Pumpkin!

11:00:00 AM

Happy Halloween Polished World!!!!  How are you all spending your day?!  I'm spending mine inside, staying warm and dry.  Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, but the weather is still awful.  First time in awhile where I believe no kids will be coming to our door.  Hopefully at least, I mean you never know, there are some Halloween die hards out there.  Kind of depressing that I won't be lighting my Jack O'Lanterns this year though.  Oh well, it's just a pumpkin.  Or two....lol

The other night, I asked my girl Ryan from Nail'd In the South if she wanted to do Jack O'Lantern nails and post then to her blog on Halloween.  Of course, she said yes and jumped at the opportunity, and I was happy to be posting a similar mani on the same day as a fellow blogger again.  I love doing this and seeing what the other person comes up with!

Originally, when I sat down to do this manicure, I had a specific idea in mind.  I was going to do black nails with orange pumpkins, each with a different face.  When I sat down to do the manicure though, I wasn't really feeling it.  I wanted somethihng different.  I stumbled across this post through the site Beautylish and fell in LOVE with the manicure!  This amazing manicure was done by Shannon over at Somewhere Over the Polished Rainbow.  I love everything about it, the pumpkin french tip, the glow of the pumpkin on the accent nail.  It's amazing.  Really, click the link above and check it out!

I wanted to copy her french tips, and possibly do a glow face on my ring finger and thumb.  After much consideration and realization that I would never be able to master that glow look in such a way to gain my own, personal approval, I opted for making bigger pumpkins on my nails.  In the end, I created a manicure that reminded me of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"  Let's take a look!






Colors Used:
  • Sinful Colors - Black on Black
  • China Glaze - Fairy Dust
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Zoya - Lianne
  • Sinful Colors - Courntey Orange
  • Sinful Colors - HD Nails
To begin, I started off with two coats of Black on Black.  Once dried, I added a layer of Fairy Dust.  I wanted my nails to look like they were a night sky, since the lil ones trick or treat at night time.  Fairy Dust was the perfect polish to add the look of twinkling stars.

Once dried, with a nail art brush, I used Snow Me White and painted on my pumpkins and vines.  When the white was dried, I added the green detailing, followed by all the orange details.  The pumpkins were done with a coat of Lianne, and then added details with Courtney Orange.  I then added the black Jack O'Lantern faces with some tooth picks, and called it a day.

I love how they turned out.  Definitely not what I originally imagined when I sat down to do the manicure.  I love finding blogs and other ideas which force me to be more creative.  My lil pumpkin patch nails are just too cute.

Now, here's a secret about me.  I have not once sat through an entire showing of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!  Not once.  To be honest, I don't think I've seen the Christmas special the whole way through, either.  Since my nails remind me so much of the Halloween Special, I guess this year I must sit down and watch the whole half hour.  Or is it an hour?  Who knows.  Either way, might have to get around to that.

What do you think?  You like the nails?  Do you love Shannon's also?  Ahhh I wish I could have done that glow look, maybe next year!

I hope everyone has a safe Halloween!!!  No silly business people!  lol

Crackle

Guest Post - A Halloween Pedi!

11:00:00 AM


Hello Polished Peeps!  Today I bring you an extra Halloween post.  This post, is not done by me, but instead my sister!  Unlike me with my crazy manicures, my sister does pedicures.  The other day when I was at her house, she was showing me her toes and asked if she could have a post on the blog.  At first, I didn't think she was serious.  Next thing I knew, she had my camera and was posing in front of Halloween decorations.


Now I hate feet.  I believe they are gross, shouldn't be touched, and are meant only to be walked on.  Only I am allowed to paint my toes and touch my feet, no one else.  Despite this lil fact, I couldn't say no.  My sister's pedicure is really pretty and perfect for Halloween.  So please, everyone welcome my sister to my blog for her first guest post, and who knows one of many more to come!

___________________________________________


As a busy stay-at-home mom of two young boys as well as business owner, manicures are merely impossible for me to keep up or have the time to do.  Between the repetitive washing of my hands from dirty diapers, to the constant clicking away on my keyboard, I am lucky to have a manicure last more than an hour!  That being said, I still like to be festive and join in on the nail polish fun.  Being limited for time, I kept this pedicure simple, but festive.  My four year old son told me my toes are “scary spooky.”  



Polishes used:
  • Sally Hansens Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear “Sun Kissed”
  • Pure Ice “Black Race” 
  • Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in “Ink Splatter” 
  • Sephora by OPI’s “Only Gold for Me Top Coat”

Although I have been told crackle nail polish is “so 2010” I think it is totally fitting for this time of year and added a great effect for a Halloween pedicure.  For the solid black and orange nails I used, Sally Hansens Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear “Sun Kissed” orange.  For the black polish, I used Pure Ice “Black Race.”  I really love the Pure Ice black polish.  It went on extremely well for such a dark color and really covered thoroughly with the first coat.  

 For the large toes, I used the Sally Hansen “Sun Kissed” orange and then used Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in “Ink Splatter.”  To add an even more festive, fun feel to the pedicure and make the nails really sparkle, I used Sephora by OPI’s “Only Gold for Me Top Coat.”  This is a great gold fleck polish and is going to be so pretty and versatile heading into the holiday season.  The pictures of my pedicure really didn’t do the gold top coat justice at all.  In person, the toes are so shimmery and bright!   

Moral of the story -- even if you can’t spend an hour or two on a complex manicure to get in the Halloween spirit (or celebrate any holiday), there are many simple and quick mani/pedi options.  This can be accomplished by combining crackle, sparkles, alternating colors, etc. and takes minimal effort!  Happy Halloween!

_________________________________________

Hmmm, I may have been the one who said Crackle is so 2010, but my sister is right, it is fitting for this time of the year and added a great effect for her pedicure.  I remember how heated some were about Julep putting Crackle in with their Halloween boxes and Sinful re-releasing their crackle, and I didn't get it.  My mind is still blown by the effect and cannot understand how the polish does that.  I also like it more than OPI Spotted.  I think spotted looks, I don't know, too black and gross?  

Thank you to my sister for this guest post!  I hope you all enjoyed!  I agree with her moral of the story, even if you can't spend an hour on a complex mani (like me lol) then there are simple and quick ideas which can turn out just as cute!

See you all tomorrow!!!

Halloween

Halloween Creatures!!!

11:00:00 AM

Hi there everyone!  How are you!?  Getting ready for Halloween?  I'm getting ready for that lovely Frankenstorm lol.  I think this is going to be the first year where all the little kiddies are not going to be able to trick or treat because the weather is going to be too miserable.  Kind of sad if you think about it.  Growing up the weather never really was too horrible where we weren't able to go out.  I remember the only time I was unable to trick or treat was when I had strep throat.  I stood in the front window of my house in a ghost costume while my mom handed out candy.  Not the end of the world though, my sister ended up getting candy for me and I didn't have to do any of that walking door to door lol.

Last year for Halloween I did a really cute Frankentstein manicure.  It was one of my first attempts at nail art with nubs.  I'll include an embarrassing picture at the end of this post.  My original plan was to do the Frankenstein's again and write a comparison post, that was until my friend Nicole from Polish Me, Please! came up with the idea of a Skittle Creature manicure.  That means, a different Halloween creature on each nail!  I loved the idea because it allowed me to do so much in one manicure versus a whole witch, mummy, ghost, whatever manicure.  So today we both have decided to post Creature Skittles on our blogs!  Make sure you head on over to Polish Me, Please! and check out her nails!

Let's take a look at my lil guys!








Colors Used:

  • Witch
    • China Glaze - I'm With the Lifeguard
    • Sinful Colors - Amythyst, Snow Me White, Black on Black, and Let's Meet
  • Mummy
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White, Black on Black, and Sugar, Sugar
  • Vampire
    • Pure Ice - Kiss Me Here mixed with Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White, Sugar, Sugar, and Black on Black
  • Frankentstein
    • China Glaze - I'm With the Lifeguard
    • Sinful Colors - Black on Black
  • Ghost
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White and Black on Black
These lil buggers took me awhile.  The ghost and mummy were probably the easiest and didn't take much effort.  For the ghost, I just used my dotting tool and dotted on the eyes, mouth, and the lil holes at the bottom of his ghosty-ness.  For the mummy, I outlined an eye area and filled it in with a nail art brush.  Then I added on the lines with a nail art brush, and dotted on some eyes.  For the Vampire, I painted on the hair with the nail art brush, and added details with the dotting tool and brushes.  Same goes for the witch and the Frankenstein also.  The others took me longer because painting on the hair and ensuring you have enough room for the faces can be a bit of a pain.

Below is my awful, horrible, attempt at nail art back in the day.  Be gentle in your critiques of my lil Frankies.


I still am rather proud of these guys.  I had literal nubs back then, and I did them completely with toothpicks. None of this fancy, shmansy nail art brush stuff!  I'm happier I put the hair at the cuticle this year also.  To me, I did them upside down last year.

What do you think of my Halloween Creature Skittles?  Cute? Ugly? Stupid? 100% better than last years attempt at Frankies?  

Don't forget to head on over to Nicole's blog and see how her Creatures turned out!!!  

One more Halloween manicure for you guys and then I'm back to the Challenge.  Whew. 

Halloween

Halloween Candy Manicure!

11:00:00 AM

Hello all!! How are you today?  Welcome to the week break from the 31 Day Challenge!  I'm bringing you the nails that I did for a contest over at OPI's facebook page.  For this contest, we were asked to paint our nails with a candy themed!  Contestants weren't allowed to use any stamping plates or stickers, meaning, this was a free hand nail art contest.  Also known as, my type of contest.  Please GO VOTE for me, I would love you forever!!! lol

I sat down and started to think of different types of Halloween candy.  The obvious candy which came to mind was Candy Corn.  Since I already did a candy corn manicure, and I figured lots of other contestants would do the same, I wanted to take a different approach.  Of course I would include candy corn, but it needed more.

So, I decided to paint a variety of candies on my nails, with an accent on the thumb and ring of candy corn.  Here's what I came up with! (hello crappy inside pictures)





Colors Used:

  • Base
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
    • Sinful Colors - Black on Black
    • China Glaze - Glitter Goblin
  • Candy Corn
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
    • Sinful Colors - Courtney Orange
    • Sinful Colors - Let's Meet
    • Sinful Colors - Black on Black
  • Hard Candy 
    • China Glaze - I'm With the Lifeguard
    • Sinful Colors - Black on Black
  • Tootsie Pop
    • Sinful Colors - Courtney Orange
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me white
  • Hershey Kiss
    • Sally Hansen - Celeb City
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
Everything was done using my handy dandy nail art brushes, dotting tools, and toothpicks.  Took me awhile to figure out the layout behind it.  I have to admit, I wasn't 100% happy with the manicure, but I believe it's probably because i'm OCD and things weren't turning out as expected.  Here's how the manicure went down (crappy webcam pictures included!)


I painted on a base of black and white.  Despite my messy edges, I took to Twitter showing off my plain nails.  I was super excited for this manicure so pictures just kind of happened.  I added some Glitter Goblin and was ready to go.  I started out with my two candy corn  accent nails.  These were a tad time consuming but in the end the cutest part of my manicure.  I was so happy with how they turned out that I had to start sharing.


Cute, right?  I should have kept it as is.  My mind though wanted more candy.  It's a contest for goodness sake, so I had to go all out.  With my nail art brushes, I painted on white outlines of a Tootsie pop and a hard candy.  With Celeb City, I added a Hershey Kiss to the pinkie finger and detailed the lil paper with white polish.  I then went over the Tootsie pop with red polish.  I wanted to write "Pop" on it so badly but had no room, so I opted for a "T."  I really wasn't happy with how it turned out.  I personally thought it looked like Mario's hat from Super Mario Brothers and there should have been a "M" on it instead.  Thankfully, after adding top coat, it hit the table and was destroyed.  Didn't get killed though until I snapped a picture.


It just was ugly and did not look like a Tootsie pop.  Do you see the Mario look to it?  I wanted Halloween colors, and I don't know, even though red is the staple Tootsie pop color, it didn't go with the theme to me.  Plus, since I went with I'm With the Lifeguard (lime green) for my hard candy, red next to it was Christams-y to me.  After re-applying a base, I re-did the Tootsie pop and grabbed Courtney Orange.


Ahhhhh, much better.  Looking more like a lollipop too and not Mario's hat.  And hey, I did it big enough that I could attempt to write "POP" on it!!!!  And hey the lil hard candy was looking good with the green and the detailed swirls.  Mind you, the swirl was kind of a pain in my rear with a toothpick and goopy polish since I refused to nail art with my brand new bottle of Black on Black.  New bottles are saved for base coats only!  After an hour, my one hand was done.  Yes, an hour. It was bad.  This left me at 12am with a completed hand and a right hand only with candy corns.  In an frustrated mood, I grabbed polish and got to painting the details on the right hand.  Who would have thought this would have only taken 10 minutes?  Not I, the person who took an hour on one hand!  To prove I did both hands, I totally captured another picture.


Seriously, not bad for being 12am!  I'm very pleased I was able to get "POP" written on both hands as well. Usually my skills aren't that good.

Well, what do you all think?  Appropriate for this time of year??

I would love to say thank you to Ryan of Nail'd In the South, Nicole of Polish Me, Please!, and my chief manicure inspector Gabi for putting up with me sending them a million and a half pictures and ranting the whole time as I did the manicure. <3

I would love it if you would vote for me!  You can vote by clicking this link.  Make sure you hit the "Vote" button and not the "Like" button because "like's" don't count.  Which stinks because as of right now I have more "Like's" than "Votes" lol oh well.  I really, really would appreciate it :D.  If I win, maybe I'll host a giveaway?? hmmmm.  OOOO or a contest of my own!  Now my mind is filling up with possible ideas. 

Until my next Halloween manicure...have a good one! <3


Julep

Julep and Breast Cancer

3:21:00 PM

Just got this e-mail from Julep and thought I would share it with all my followers :)

From the beginning, Julep has been powered by girlfriends. To celebrate these unique roots and to continue to pay it forward, we are proud to donate to organizations that empower women. At Julep, our mission is to ignite the spirit of engagement in women everywhere, and our Powered by Girlfriends initiative is an important part of bringing this mission to life.

To honor National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we at Julep have teamed up with The Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Foundation. This October, not only are we happily contributing a donation to support their incredible foundation as a part of Powered By Girlfriends, but we also collaborated on this amazing infographic!


The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It's nice to see larger organizations are doing their part in sharing these statistics and ways that we can try to avoid and combat Breast Cancer!

<3

Swatches

31 Day Challenge - Day 15 - Jelly Sammich...Kinda...

11:00:00 AM

Well I should be working on my Final Exam right now, but instead I have decided to come and write this blog post.  Procrastination at it's finest...don't you think?  

Today's challenge day is centered around the Jelly Sandwich.  The technique where you take a jelly polish and layer it with some glitter.  Out of my stash of 80 some odd nail polishes, I only have about two jelly polishes.  It's not that I don't like them, but in the world of nail art, they can be rather impractical.  Also, to use them as a base for a nail art thing can be kind of annoying too since you have to use so much of it to get it to layer some what decently.  I don't know, the whole jelly thing I guess isn't for me.

For this manicure, I had an idea of what I was going to do for a jelly sandwich, then I purchased my first holo polish.  That polish - Color Club Halo Hue Cloud 9.  I couldn't resist using it.  Plus, I was going to a concert and I figured that it would be the most PERFECT polish to wear.  I decided, since you know, I'm not fond of jelly's, I would jelly sandwich an accent and let the rest be some holo goodness.

Please excuse the pictures, the weather has been kind of cruddy and outdoor pictures are rather impossible...





Colors Used:
  • Color Club - Cloud 9
  • Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl
  • China Glaze - Make a Spectacle
Color Club Cloud 9 is a gorgeous lavender polish with AMAZING holo in it.  Seriously, I love it.  These pictures were taken with flash, so the holo stands out a tad more, but in day light, the holo stands out very well.  Application of the polish was great.  With two coats, I had full coverage.  I may have to go back and purchase the green one.  

The jelly sandwich was made with Daddy's Girl, a purple jelly, and Make A Spectacle, a clear glitter.  The pictures don't show how cool it really looked.  Plus, let's face it, who is looking at the jelly sandwich.  Another thing I hate about jellies is how fast they wear.  Yes, I only have a few, but they both do the same thing with their tip wear.  It annoys me and you can't really touch up a tip on a jelly sandwich.

What do you think? Do you have any of the Color Club Halo Hues?  What are your favorite jelly polishes?!

 Don't forget to check out the other girls manicures!





31 Day Challenge - Day 14 - Saran Wrap Manicure

11:00:00 AM

Well hello polished peeps!  Today I bring you the Saran Wrap Manicure day in our 31 Day Challenge.  Are you getting sick of my Challenge posts yet?  I kind of am.  I keep seeing all these amazing ideas then I can't do them because I'm swatching my life away for this.  Oh well, at least that means I'm going to have a gazillion ideas and posts to keep this blog alive with after this is all said and done!

The saran wrap manicure is something I did before for as my favorite effect in another challenge.  That time I used a different technique, and the nails really were not my favorite.  I did them by painting on my base coat, letting them dry, and then painting on a second coat and dabbing off the second color with the saran.  To me, they didn't come out looking like all the pictures I've seen online.Looking back, I can't believe I posted those pictures....my cuticles were awful and the pictures were blurry.  I really have seem to come a loooong way with this whole nail art and nail blogging business.

When I did these nails, I used a different approach which Nicole had mentioned awhile back.  I think that they came out A LOT better.  Let's take a look....




(shade shot)

Colors Used:
  • Sinful Colors - Winterberry
  • Essie - Nothing Else Metals
Two colors, gorgeous manicure.  Before I get into how I did these nails using Nicole's technique, I am going to ramble about how much I love Winterberry.  Winterberry is a gorgeous deep dusty purple color.  I really have no other way to describe it.  It's purple and shimmery and dark...ahhh perfect Fall/Winter color.  I bought it in the summer time as part of some random Sinful Colors display and never used it.  I threw it aside and forgot I even owned it until this manicure.  I may have used it once for detailing, but to be honest, never actually swatched it.  

When I sat down to do this manicure, I originally was going to do Winterberry base with a gold top.  After one nail it was awful.  I thought that my saran skills were the problem, but instead it was my metallic gold polish.  Word to the wise, do not use Sally Hansen Golden-I as a top for a saran manicure, it will fail.  Then I saw my bottle of Essie Nothing Else Metals, the gorgeous lavender metallic polish I got free from Klout, and thought "hmmm this may be a good time to use it."  Sure enough, it was the perfect time.

What I did, and what Nicole does, is first you paint on a base coat of whatever color you want to use.  Obviously, I used Winterberry.  Then when that was dried, it was time to add the saran marbling effect.  I dripped some polish onto a paper plate, then I dipped a lil wad of saran wrap into the polish.  I dabbed the saran a few times onto the paper plate, then onto the nail.  This worked soooooooooo much better.  I obtained the perfect marble-y look and interesting design.  To me, it almost looked like a stamp.  So thank you so much Nicole!!  Now I don't have to give up on Saran Wrap Manicures again!!!!

What do you think?  Have you had success using either technique?  

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies posts!!!!


Halloween

31 Day Challenge - Day 13 - Tape Manicure - Candy Corn

11:00:00 AM

Well hello there!  Today is Day 13, or Day 2984928 of the 31 Inspired Days of Nail Art Challenge.  I say it is that many days because it's starting to feel like it since I decided to post every 3 days.  I'm not complaining, I'm super happy that it's spread out because it is less stress, but goodness it seems like I've been doing it for awhile!  Seriously though, I would NOT have ever been able to do this for 31 days straight in a row.  I do not know how other bloggers do it.  I guess that's why it's a challenge.

Anyways, today is the Tape Manicure day...one of the days which we came up with ourselves because we didn't like Water Marbling.  Yup, a lot of us girls are very anti-marbling here in the blogger world.  Me being one of them.  I will never waste my polish on a marble as long as I blog.  After this manicure, I'm very anti-tape.  I've always been against tape manicures because I stink at them.  Despite the fact I have used quick dry top coat in between layers, I still have polish ripping off.   Then I end up with one messy, thick manicure. And you know what, it's not pretty, I hate it, and I complain for days when looking at my nails.

Since I wanted to be a happy girl during the time I wore this manicure, I kind of cheated.  Only one nail was done with tape.  Yup, I was an awful, horrible, challenge cheater.  To be honest, if I used tape, it may have been nicer looking, but whatever, we will never know because I'm not going back and taping up ten nails and trying.  Deal with it :P.

To stick with my attempt to correlate the challenge with Halloween nails, I decided to do everyone's favorite Halloween candy, Candy Corn!!!!  Okay maybe it isn't everyone's favorite, but whatever.  Wish I got better pictures, but it was raining and by the next day these were chipped =/







Colors Used:
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Sinful Colors - Country Orange
  • Sinful Colors - Let's Meet
  • NYC Matte Me Crazy
Since this is tape day, I will explain how to do this manicure with tape (dramatically), then how I did it without (no drama).

To get the look with tape, you first start off with a base of white polish.  When the white is completely dried for an eternity or after you applied a quick dry top coat and waited a good 5 minutes, you tape off the top section of your nail leaving a tip at the bottom section open for polishing. You then paint the yellow polish of your choice as a French Tip.  Next, carefully take off the tape and pray that your white polish didn't come ripping off on said tape.  Then, add some more quick dry top coat, wait 5 minutes or an eternity, and tape off the yellow and the top part of your nail.  Personally, I would not tape off the yellow part and just be super careful when painting in the orange, but sometimes people prefer taping off both to ensure they don't slip up. Paint in the middle area with your orange polish, pray, take tape off.  Add some more top coat, and you are done.

I did this manicure by painting on a french tip with my yellow polish.  Then when that was dried, with my nail art brush, I outlined the orange midsection, and then filled it in with the polish brush.  Once dried, I added on my matte top coat and was done.

See, tape is evil and more time consuming.  Also consumes some of your quick dry top coat, which to a broke girl, is like gold.  I feel like my challenge post has turned into "I hate tape manicure" and "Tape is evil" subliminal message/rant post.

If you are going to use tape, my suggestion to you would be to first make the tape less sticky.  If you stick the tape on your hand a couple of times before placing it onto the nail, it will make the tape less sticky.  It is gross that it does so by taking off some of your dry skin, but hey if it doesn't rip your polish off, it isn't too nasty.  Doing this is usually the only way my tape manicures work for me.

Well, I'm going to hush up now.  What do you think of my candy corns??  Will you try them?  If so, will you do them with tape or free hand them?  Can you tell which nail I did with tape?  I'll never tell hehehe

Do not forget to check out the other lovely ladies who I am sure used tape and didn't cheat like me!!!





  • Nicole from Polish Me, Please!
  • Cynthia from Of Life and Lacquer
  • Jessica from Once Upon a Polish
  • Ave from Polish Pixelle



    • Halloween

    31 Day Challenge - Day 12 - Chevrons - Frankenstein Patchwork!

    11:00:00 AM

    Good Day polished world!  Hope everyone is doing swimmingly.  Today is Day 12 of the 31 Inspired Days of Nail Art Challenge.  Today's theme is Chevron, something which I really have never done before.  I did attempt them awhile back, but the colors were all wrong and it was awful.  The manicure literally lasted about 10 minutes on my nails, if even.

    Since Halloween is fast approaching, I decided to start take inspiration from it and start figuring out a way to combine the challenge with this time of year.  If my manicures aren't Halloween themed from here until the 31st, then expect them to have Fall colors.  Ten bucks bets I will go back on this, I mean, I'm not quite sure how I can do a Halloween saran wrap manicure or jelly sandwich.  So we shall see.  Don't worry though, I have some super cute manicures planned for Halloween which I will be posting in replacement of the challenge during the week of Halloween.  Reason I'm taking a break and doing this is because I don't have time in my life to swatch so many manicures to do both a challenge and Halloween nail art, and well I really want to do Halloween nail art.

    Anyways, I'm rambling.  For this Halloween Chevron manicure, I grabbed all my Halloween-ish colors.  Those were black, orange, purple, green, and yellow.  I sat staring at them thinking of which would look cool together.  I really wanted to use my purple and green so those were a must.  I painted on my purple and did my middle and ring finger as accents and was planning on doing black chevron tips.

    While this manicure probably would have looked awesome, it was a tad boring in my busy, Little Canvas, mind.  I remembered patchwork manicures that I had seen on other blogs and on Pinterest and thought "hey why couldn't I have patchwork chevrons?"  Thus, the Frankenstein chevron was born.  Take a look.






    Colors Used:
    • Sinful Colors - Amethyst
    • China Glaze - I'm With the Lifeguard
    • Sinful Colors - Black on Black
    • NYC - Matte Me Crazy
    To get the look, I painted on the base coats of either Amethyst or I'm With the Lifeguard.  Then, with my nail art paint brushes, I painted on an outline the chevron tips.  I then filled in the tips with the opposite color of the base.  When that was dried, I added the black outline with the nail art brush and added the stitching details.  When everything was totally dried, added on some Matte Me Crazy, and called it a day.

    Pretty neat looking, huh?  I was in love with these nails.  Definitely eye catching because of the colors, but so neat with the patchwork look.  At work, I had a little girl asking me how I was able to do something so cool.  When I explained it to her, she had the widest eyes all enthralled....looked at her father and he said "Do not get any ideas!!! Maybe when you're older!"   That made me  laugh.  I also got a lot of people asking me where I got my Halloween nail wraps, which made me feel pretty dang good about my manicure.

    What do you think??  Like the Halloween take on a simple design?

    As a reminder, this is the challenge.  Do not forget to check out the other lovely ladies!





    Animal Mani

    31 Day Challenge - Day 11 - Half Moons - Owls

    11:00:00 AM

    Happy 100th Post!!!!!  I cannot believe that I have done 100 on this blog!!!! Thank you all for your continual support!!!  Here is to 100 more!!! <3 <3

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    Welcome to Day 11 - Half Moon Manicure Day!!!!  I have a love hate relationship with half moon manicures.  I think they look awesome with the right color combination, but for me, it always ends in a disasticure.  I typically use the technique where you use reinforcement binder labels and place them on the top of the nail by the cuticle.  I start off with painting a base coat of some awesome color, add a layer of quick dry top coat, and then stick on the sticker.  I then paint on the second color, which in many cases doesn't layer right or look right over the top of the other color.  Then when I peel off the sticker, part of the base comes off with it, or there is the top color underneath the sticker.

    For this manicure, I did not want that to happen.  I was thinking of doing a Halloween colored half moon, but wasn't feeling it.  Nicole was awesome and was drawing up post-it pictures and tweeting me ideas, but since it is a half moon and my little canvas is, well, little, I would have barely any room for her fantastic ideas.  Seriously, she had an idea of doing a half moon with a haunted house under the moon, but it would have looked like a black spot being so tiny.

    Then I remembered a really cute half moon idea which only used the naked nail as the base.  That idea....OWLS!  Since it is Fall, I pinpointed some Fall-ish colors and began painting.  Here's how the lil guys came out...







    Colors Used:
    • Blue Owl
      • Sinful Colors - Rain Storm
      • Revlon - Dreamer
    • Purple Owl
      • Sinful Colors - Amythest 
      • Revlon - Charming
    • Orange Owl
      • Sinful Colors - Country Orange
      • Ulta - Sun-Sational
    • Green Owl
      • Essie - Stylenomics
      • Revlon - Sassy
    • Pink Owl
      • Sinful Colors - Fig
      • Ulta - Flamingo
    • Eyes
      • Ulta - Sun-Sational
      • Sinful Colors - Black on Black
    For three of my fingers, I used the stickers to paint the half moon, but as you can kind of see on the pointer finger, I had an issue with the polish bleeding underneath the sticker.  With my nail art brushes, I decided to draw on the arches, which was sooooo much easier.  I will be doing this from now on!

    To get the look, I painted on the colors I wanted to be the body of the owls.  Then, with my nail art brush, I painted the stomachs in complimenting colors.  With my dotting tool, I added the eyes and spots on the stomachs.  With a toothpick, I drew on some lil beaks for the guys, and called it a day.

    These were a pain in my behind to do.  I think my left hand took me 45 minutes and the right hand 30 minutes.  The first hand took longer because I was using those stickers and was having such a huge issue.  They definitely took a lot of patience, so if you don't have that, then these nails aren't for you!  Who knows, maybe I was doing them in some bootleg way that took much longer than they needed to be.  If I do them again, the lil guys will be going on an accent nail.

    Do you like the owls?  Have you done them?  Found an easier way to do them?  How do you do half moon manicures??

    As a reminder, this is the challenge....do not forget to check out the other amazing ladies posts!!!