HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Something ugly(and kind of a fail) inspired by something cute (Zombie Nails Pt.2)

So lately I've been seeing a lot of those cute Halloween manicures (Like the one here by Elizabeth of  Did My Nails).  Now I love these cute manicures and I would probably do one if I had some more days before Halloween.  But alas Halloween is upon us.  I decided to do a little twist on these nails.  Make them ugly.  So I decided to go with the classic stitched up look.

I liked the idea a lot but it was sort of a fail.  But I only have myself to blame.  I kindda rushed through the whole thing(didn't even get a great picture...but I guess and scary, bad picture works on Halloween).  Ah well next time.  And by next time I mean when I decide to start incorporating Halloween into Christmas.

It shall be called Christoween.

(L-R) OPI's Suzie Loves Cowboys, Cult Nails Quench, Essie's Fishnet Stockings, and Sew Phyched, and acrylic paint.

Eye See Slime!

First off(and most importantly) let me say to everyone being affected by hurricane Sandy I hope you are all keeping safe!  So far where I am it has just been overly shitty weather.

Next up I did a show the other day and of course my nails were Halloween themed.  Since there's only a few days left for till Halloween I want to get all my Halloween nails out of my system!

So on my left hand I did blood shot eyes(note how they are actually bloodshot) to get that bloodshot look I sponged on Cult Nails Quench after having dipped a makeup sponge in acetone.  I don't know what but it always kind of irks me when I see blood shot eyes that are totally white. I'm picky.  Then on my right hand I just did some slime over black.  Quick and easy.

I really liked how these turned out.  Especially the eyes!

Does anyone here also do completely different manicures on each hand sometimes?

 

(L-R) On my left hand I used Claire's Snowball, Cult Nails Quench, and acrylic paint.  Then for the right hand I used Orly Iron Butterfly and acrylic paint.

Brrrrraaaaiiinnnsss! Zombie Nails: Pt 1

So I did these nails for a contest over at The Polished Zombie's 200 reader giveaways.  I used mainly OPI's polishes on my nails along with Cult Nails Quench and Essie's Fishnet stockings. Oh and false nails that I roughed up.  And as you can see I didn't just stop at nails.  I figured I might as well go all out (well worth the hour I had all this on for).  Win or lose that gash is pretty badass. I would write more but I'm tired.  Enjoy!

ETA now that I'm a tad less tired: There is acrylic paint under the false nails make the nails look darker(they were white to begin with).  Then on top of the nails I sponged on OPI's Onyx, Over The Taupe and Suzi Loves Cowboys.  And around my cuticles and in the broken bits of nails I have Cult nails Quench and Essie's fishnet stockings.

 

 Everything I used

Oh The Horror!!! My Attempt At Gradient Nails.

So I don't ever think I've posted a gradient manicure here because quite frankly up until now they have all looked like complete, and utter shit.

This is the first gradient I have not taken it off within a few minutes of putting it on.  I also wore it out (and was complimented on it).

All in all I've seen waaaaaaay better but for me this is pretty go.

*Hands myself an award for effort*

I used Orly's It's Not Rocket Science and Zoya's Julieanne.

Color Club French Tip... The best white around?

I'm gonna go with yes.

So I got this in a mini set I found at Winners like... Gosh, probably nearly two years ago.  These were some of the first polishes I bought when I was just getting into nails.  It came with a black creme, Revvvolution, and Worth The Risque.  I'll have to swatch those sometime too!

So, I totally forgot about them until I was putting my new polish storage system(a plastic chest of drawers from Canadian Tire) together.  I've been hunting for a great white for ages, and I think the search is over.

This is two thin thin thin coats with no topcoat.  It covers perfect and pretty much applied itself.  I've never found a white, or a pastel for that matter, that applies so perfectly!  This means that my other whites are going to be franken-only from now on.  I've found my HG white!

Isn't it great?

Mink Mitten 2.0. Happy Hands, indeed!

So I promised some lovely layering with Manglaze Mink Mitten, and here it is!  I actually came upon this combo on another blog while looking for swatches of MM, and I happened to own both polishes and I fell in love with them together!

So, I present:  Mink Mitten + Happy Hands Motherboy!

Motherboy is another new favourite from the previously mentioned Happy Hands I've Made A Huge Mistake collection(Arrested Development <3 <3 <3).  Amazing matte glitter in different shapes and sizes, all different pastel shades.  And there's my beloved square glitter!  And those large green hexes...  It's amazing over so many things, and I've already worn it over navy blue as well, and it's just ridiculous how gorgeous it is.  Formula is thick, but applies easily with a bit of patience.  Well worth it for her beautiful it is.  This is one dabbed coat over Mink Mitten.

It's Alive!!! Mwhahahahahahahahahahaha!!! *Thunder!* *Lightning!*

I love this polish.

And yet.  <Long pause>.  I hate it.

China Glaze's It's Alive is wicked pretty.  Its small, and microfine green glitter in a mossy green base.  It's a tad dull when it dries but all is forgotten when top coat is applied.  It was opaque in 2 coats.

Now here's my problem with it. I was goopy as hell, and because of this a pain in the ass to apply.  Even after I added thinner it was still a pain. *sigh* Me and my first world problems.

Flash! AHH-ahh!

Get your Mink Mittens on!

So like I mentioned in my last post, I also picked up Manglaze's Mink Mitten, a lovely lavender shimmer.

Have I mentioned I love Manglaze?  Once or twice, probably :P  Well, this is continuing the love affair in a big way.  These polishes are absolutely amazing.  From the formula to the range of colours, I am absolutely crazy about them.  They practically apply themselves, and they are SO easy to control.  This is one coat!  ONE COAT!  I could use two thinner coats, but to be honest one normal one does the trick beautifully.

I'm going to layer it with another gorgeous polish tomorrow.  I saw this particular combination on another blog and I've been dying to recreate it.  It's very girly, which is usually not me.

This one's a little brighter in person.

Roooooooooooowr. [Insert Other Cat Noises].

First off let me just say how pleased I am with these nails.  I love how they turned out.  I was convinced the lines would be off, the eyes would be different sizes, and at some point my hand would slip.  But none of these things happened!

Ever since I got China Glazes Cats Eye(a gorgeous golden olive colour)  I knew I had to do this manicure.  Then I just did the top of a cats head on my thumb and a tail on my pinky because they felt naked.  Also I did the shape of the eyes in white first as I didn't want to use more Cats Eye then needed.

I really have nothing to say about this manicure minus that I think it's great! *Pats self on back*.  WAIT NO I DO HAVE SOMETHING ELSE TO SAY!  THIS IS MY 100th POST (According to my tags at least).  I probably have a bit over 100 as I'm not sure the first few entries are tagged.  Still, Huzzah!

(L-R) China Glaze Cats Eye, OPI Onyx, acrylic paint.

Lesbihonest here, Manglaze is effing AMAZING.

So I was recently doing some digging in a box that I still hadn't unpacked from my move, and I found a bunch of birthday cards from the past couple of years.  I was reading them and found an amazon gift card in one that I had forgotten about!  I don't shop on amazon much, so color me surprised to see that Manglaze has an amazon shop!  I decided it was fate, having wanted to try their polishes for quite some time.  I had $25 to spend, so I picked up two polishes: Lesbihonest and Mink Mitten, which are a gorgeous raspberry pink and a shimmery lavender.  I only own one matte polish besides, and I never really wear it because stuff chips so fast on me that the idea of going without topcoat just seemed crazy, but Manglazes are just so amazing that I needed to try...

Well, I'm in love.  These are like, A England levels of amazing for me.  One thick coat or two thin ones(I went for two thin) and it's STUNNING.  I'm on day 3 now and I have a teeny chip on the index finger of my right hand, but that's from helping a patron who was falling at work yesterday.  Other than a wee bit of tip wear on my swatch hand, this stuff is wearing like IRON!  I'm going to top it with Seche Vite shortly and see what happens.  Consider me a Manglaze convert.  Aside from a chronic inability to paint my right middle finger nicely(I redid it like 6 times) I am loving these.

So, Lesbihonest is actually a deep raspberry pink, not QUITE as bright as it appears here, but it's a dickens to photograph!  Absolutely amazing in any case.  I've had so many compliments on this manicure.  Easily in my top five favourite polishes now.

 Better hand position?  Methinks yes.  

With flash, for the shimmer! 

Random Wednesday!: RUDE!

So every now and then I kind of just want to write a post that has NOTHING to do with nails.  So I decided to start Random Wednesday.  It would be neat for you guys to find out a bit more about me (I can only tell you so much in a swatch post).  And just an FYI I will never post on a Wednesday, and the topics may have to do with nails sometimes.

So a couple of weeks ago I was at a show and I was chatting to a friend.  We were facing each other while talking(Yes the fact that we were facing each other is actually important information).  We were about a foot or so apart. My other friend and fellow performer that night was standing next to us with is back turned to us.  Out of no where a friend of his walks in between my friend and I, taps him on the shoulder, and starts a conversation.  All the while STILL standing directly between us.  We even tried to continue our conversation with her head in between us so she would notice... Nothing.

The hell?  Did the girl think my friend and I were each talking to ourselves and we just happened to be facing AND looking directly at each other while we did?

We eventually just moved on.  But looking back I wish I had said something.  How do you not notice?

Have you had a recent WTF moment?

Vampire Nails: Part 2

So since I had the false fang nails on I decided I need to at least use them more than once.  So here is my second fang mani!  It's the classic blood dripping down from the fangs, and puncture wounds!

I have since had to take the polish off as I have a show today and I thought they were a tad distracting.  I had one more manicure that would have worked with the fangs but I can do it without it.

I have a few more fake nail manicures planned.  Fingers crossed that they work out :P They are pretty amazing these ideas.

For the puncture wounds I did 2 dots and then sponged different shades of red around them.

Speaking of vampires, do you guys know any good vampire fiction books that aren't the obvious ones?  I would love to read some.  And no Twilight.  I don't need that fan fiction jabber.

If You Like Twilight...I Don't Think You'll Like This Post. BUT If You Like Twilight/Mortal Kombat Corssovers You Should Stay. (Aka Vampire Nails Pt. 1)

So every month I with go to or participate in a show that is just comedians reading fan fiction (usually really bad stuff).  This month the fandom we focused on was Twilight.  My sketch troupe read this.  It's a crossover between Twilight and Mortal Combat.   It was AMAZING. If anything you should read the last chapter just for the authors note.  BTW if you know any good(bad) Doctor Who fan fiction you should link me to it as there is a Doctor Who show soon :)

Anyways my left hand was dedicated to "real" vampires.  I decided to take some inspiration from over at The Daily Nail. And do fang nails.  I first painted my nails all white.  Then with a fan brush dipped in acetone I went over it with Cult Nails Quench, Barry M Red Black, and OPI's Royal Rajah Ruby.  Until I got the look I wanted.  I was going for the blood coloured teeth look.  When the vampire shows their teeth right after they have sucked blood.

On my right hand I used some Nailene polish from their french manicure kit and China Glazes Fairy dust.  Because Edward sparkles.  WTF Stephanie Myers? WTF?

 

I didn't file my own nails.  I used false nails and placed them on 2/3 of my nails and filed them from there.  So there was no giant hump when the fake nail ended I filled in the part over my own nail with some old Seche Vite.

I'll show you how I used the fangs again in my next post (Because I wasn't going to partially destroy my nails for just one manicure).

Glitter Herpes + Vajazzle? I swear this is still about nail polish...

So I've been pretty good about not buying any more polish lately(as in I just haven't bought any except with gift certificates), but I DID bite the bullet when I came across Polish Revolution and saw these.

Now, by now anyone who's read anything I've written here knows that GLITTER is my favourite thing.  So when I saw that Lauren had such amazing glitter polishes with such a great variety... I knew I had to have them.  They're so obnoxious and loud and crazy and just ME.  I'm sure these will make some of you nauseous... Can't say I care :P

So, Vajazzle is a mix of warm and cool toned glitter, and Glitter Herpes is straight up cool toned.

I absolutely love these.  The glitter is dense and EXTREMELY varied.  There are more colours than I can count and lots of shapes and sizes, including my beloved square glitter.  For these swatches I've shown ONE coat of each over black and then over white(Colour Club French Tip and Where's The Soiree, my new favourites of each, YOU NEED FRENCH TIP!).  These applied easily using the dabbing method and there are no bendy glitters to be seen.  I topped these with Gelous and Seche Vite, but they weren't too grainy to begin with.  I also mattified them so you can see the mix better!

Once again, try to excuse my cuticles.  I had to clean a machine at work yesterday and they took a beating.  Nothing a few days of being nice won't fix!

Look who joined me on the balcony for pictures <3 It's Sophie!  She just turned 10.