Water Marbled Lollipops

You probably saw my Halloween lollipops for my Katy Perry costume (if not, click here). I wore it again last night for a Halloween party and wanted to remix that manicure. Since I love water marbling, I tried my own technique to get a lollipop look, and I think it turned out great!

To highlight the sparkle:

I first coated with Ulta Angel Baby. I used that polish as well as China Glaze Breakin' and Grape Juice for the marble. I then used Fairy Dust for a sparkle finish and Seche Vite for my top coat.

Evil Eye

I wanted something simple and fun since I always want something fun, but I have a manicure planned for Saturday when the Katy Kostume is coming out again and didn't want to spend a lot of time on something I was just going to take off in 36 hours!  I still have these sparkle polishes from China Glaze Halloween (Awakening) collection and wanted to showcase them a bit.  Plus I picked up a clearance Sally Hansen sparkle polish and decided to throw them all together.  The design is a cultural talisman that wards off the evil eye.  Don't know what the evil eye is?  Here's a link to Wikipedia for some background info.  And here is a look at some images of the talisman (as seen on my nail) to protect me or anyone from harm!  So I asked you last time if you believed in ghosts or the paranormal, now I want to know: Are you superstitious?  Do you have any rituals or beliefs that you feel protect you from harm (or those who want to do you harm)?

The Pink/Purple side of manicure:

The orange side of manicure:

For the manicure I first coated twice with China Glaze Mummy May I, then on one half of my nail I painted a coat of Ick-A-Bod-Y.  Over the whole nail I added Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in Rockstar Pink.  The evil eye is made of the following colors Essie Midnight Cami, China Glaze Bahamian Escape, Ulta Angel Baby, and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Midnight in NY and China Glaze Golden Enchantment as a sparkle over the eye.  I used one coat of Seche Vite to bring out the sparkle!

Trick

This is the ultimate Halloween manicure because it scared me and I hated it!  A total trick, not a treat.  It lasted a day and I am glad for my pure acetone remover because I really needed it to rid myself of this.  I do still love the colors and the sparkles of this manicure, so it has that going for it.  But it deserves proof of its existence because, who know, someone else might love it.

Extreme Sparkle Close Up:

I painted first two coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Midnight in NY.  Then used China Glaze Ick-A-Bod-Y and Orly It's Not Rocket Science with one coat of Seche Vite to finish.

Hello 100!

I'm honored that there are 100 of you following my little polish site.  I am not the best at replying to all the comments you make--but I read EVERY ONE!  Thanks for making this a fun endeavor and hope you keep coming back for more!  

Whooo Believes in Ghosts?

I don't think I do, but I've never had the opportunity of a haunting.  I guess maybe time will tell on this one.  But I'd love to hear what you think about ghosts (or the paranormal).  I want to believe in vampires (and ghost vamp is my favorite nail), but unfortunately I am boringly grounded in reality.  I love me some fantasy, but I realize that is just what it is--a fantasy!  Tell me about your "Boo" radar.

Right Hand:

Left Hand:

The Friendly Ghost (Casper):

The white ghosts are comprised of two coats China Glaze White on White and one coat Ulta Angel Baby (only because my China Glaze was getting goopy--I need a new bottle).  I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Midnight In NY for the black detail.  One coat of Seche Vite was used to keep those ghosts shining.

Gone Batty

I've had a thing for bats since I did a report on them in the third grade; I think they are fantastic.  Plus, living in Minnesota, you have to love all things that can eat their weight in mosquitoes!  And  thanks to bats being the quintessential icon of Halloween, I get to make them the star of a manicure.

For the black base coat color, I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Midnight in NY.  For the orange I first coated with China Glaze Peachy Keen and coated Sun Worshiper on top.  (Sun Worshiper is a very hard neon to work with--very streaky).  For the bats in black, I used Ulta Black Diamond and the bats in orange were first painted in Ulta Angel Baby and then coated in Sun Worshiper and Breakin' for wing shading (and streak cover up).  Seche Vite, one coat, was used to seal the manicure.

Gumdrops and Lollipops

Well, really just lollipops.  Maybe you don't think immediately of lollipops in association with Halloween--and your instincts would be right in my opinion.  But I went to a Halloween party and I dressed up as Katy Perry from her music video "California Gurls."  If you have watched the video, you know it's all about candy and sweets.  So to keep with the theme of all things sugary, I painted lollipops.  I'm attaching some low quality pics the costume and a screen cap of Katy for comparison so you get the idea!~ 

Katy Perry

My Version

Base coat color was China Glaze Light As Air and I used Ulta Angel Baby for all the white accents and the colors used for the pops were Zoya Jolene, China Glaze Sky High-Top, Entourage, Sun Worshiper and Orly Mirror Mirror for the gray pinwheel forms.  I coated the whole look with a sparkle polish Fairy Dust and a top coat of Seche Vite.

Blood Splatter Expert

I kind of feel like one after trying do figure out how to actually splatter nail polish so it would replicate blood splatter and become the second look in my Halloween themed nails.  I needed a technique I could do with one hand that had maximum accuracy with minimum mess.  I tried flinging brushes, tools that spun, motorized toothbrushes, blowing polish through straws, dripping polish with different sized brushes--all to no avail to the look I was going for.  I was just about to give up, when my bathroom medicine cabinet showed me the light: floss picks.  I jimmied an angled floss pick on the lip of an upside down disposable Solo cup and used the floss pick as a catalyst to fling polish to my nail below.  It yielded pretty great results.  If you are going to try to replicate this manicure, I will warn you, it was MESSY.  I had a feeling it would be before I started so I put petroleum jelly around the top of my nail bed to help in clean up (as I do in water marbling) and it helped, but I didn't account for all the polish I would be inadvertently rubbing my palm in and the underside of my fingers and hand got pretty messy.  Thank goodness for lots of acetone nail polish remover and patience.

Left Hand

Right Hand Close

Overexposed Flash

The Splatter Contraption

Colors used for this look:  I coated with Essie Naughty N' Nice and splattered China Glaze Foxy for the blood splatter.  I realize that blood is not as beautifully sparkly as this blood-like color, but I went for pretty over reality :)  After the blood splatter dried, I coated once with Seche Vite and got to work on the nail bed, crime scene clean up!

UPDATE:  I added a video for you to watch the contraption in action!  Check it out!

Creeping Up

'Tis the season...for ghouls, goblins, witches and spiders, that is.  I thought it was time to start doing some Halloween posts since it's just over two weeks away and the themes can be pretty fun.  I picked up some new colors today from Sally Beauty from the China Glaze Awakening collection for the season in preparation.  Also, I wanted to marble since it's been just a little while.  For basic tips on water mabling click here for my tutorial video.  The design I used for this look was found on another polish blog I visit "My Simple Little Pleasures" (she's a fellow MN blogger, which is great) and Colette made a great tutorial video to show you how to do it, which can be seen here.  

Left Hand:

Right Hand

I first coated with Zoya Sienna and also used that color in the marble with Yasmeen and China Glaze Mummy May I.   To seal the deal, I painted two final coats of Seche Vite.

Pinkspiration!

It's nice to have friends that when you ask, "What should I do to my nails?", they say "I love this scarf.  You should do it in nail form."  And then there was a manicure where inspiration was previously not there before:

I painted three coats China Glaze Something Sweet and then freehand dotted (with dotting tool) the design and added the tip with Ulta Total Eclipse and contrasted the tip with the same pink as the base.  I used one coat of Seche Vite for a top coat.

Metal Shavings

I can't decide what this manicure looks like.  The intention was to mix metals after seeing the base coat color.  But now that it's done, it reminds me strongly of chocolate or some other edible confection.  All I really know is it was simple and easy to design.

I coated four coats of Ulta Twilight.  I then dipped a thin brush in the following colors and swiped them across the nail: Orly Luxe, Rage and China Glaze Millennium.  I coated once with Seche Vite.

Black Hole

More like "Dark Gray Hole" but that name makes less sense.  I was kind of in the gradient mood, but didn't want to do the traditional straight gradient, so I made it circular.  I like the finished look because it has a lot of depth.

Mega Flash:

I first coated with Ulta Total Eclipse (which is interesting to know that without knowing the polish name before coming up with the idea, it inspired me...).  I then started towards the middle of the nail and sponged a circle with China Glaze Tinsel, then I sponged the outer of the circle, concentrating on the top and bottom edge with Orly It's Not Rocket Science.  I did touch up the center to make a more defined black center with the same base color and I finished the look with one coat of Seche Vite.

Falling For Fall

One of the reasons I love living in the Midwest is the fall season.  My family and I had a great day out in the woods and by the lake taking in the fall colors and spending fun time together.  All the glory of the colors of the changing leaves was my inspiration for this post.  I'm including a picture of the leaves that was taken today because it deserves to be shared.

Right hand:

Left hand:

I painted a base coat of China Glaze Heaven.  Then I used Bundle Monster Plates BM04 and BM05 for the leaves and the various colors used to make them are Foxy, Salsa, High Hopes, Peachy Keen, Breakin', Sun Worshiper, Solar Power, Four Leaf Clover, Entourage, Zoya Suvi, Ulta Lucky Penny.  Seche Vite sealed the look in one coat.

Golden Weave

Ok.  So three weekends, three weddings.  This is the last that I am attending for the year (at least I think so).  I'm switching up the dress and going for a vintage, high waisted gold and black skirt--as briefly shown in the photos.  I'm very excited because I'm doing the bride's make up.  Maybe I should also express nervousness, but I am hopeful she will be completely beautiful with or without my help!

I first painted a base coat with Ulta Purple Reigns.  On top of that I painted one coat of China Glaze Sexy Silhouette.  I used Bundle Monster Plate BM20 placing Black Diamond as the base and Orly Luxe as the gold overlay.  I used one coat of Seche Vite to finish the look.