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!

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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!

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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