Halloween Night Sky

I realized at the last minute that if I didn't do another Halloween mani this year, I'd have to wait til next year for a proper chance to try out the rest of the themed stamps on BM13. So I got on it!

The base is Nicole by OPI Denim to Earth, topped with Pure Ice Oh Baby.

For the stamping I used BM13 and Wet & Wild Black Creme for all but the spiderweb on my thumb, which I stamped with L.A. Colors Energy Source.

Spooky spiderwebs

It's time for some Halloween nail art! And also, a perfect opportunity to play with my stamping plates! 

Yikes, I didn't realize how sheer this polish was until I got it in the sunlight to take pictures! Definitely needed a third coat or a black base. Whoops! Now I know! 

The sheer jelly-and-glitters is two coats of Wet & Wild Fergie Make Them Boys Go Loco. I'm pretty sure I've also seen the same polish in the Fantasy Makers Halloween display (considering it's all made by Wet & Wild, no surprise there). This is the red cousin of Revlon Scandalous (Facets of Fuchsia), which I love, so... it had to come home with me when I first saw it. Of course I'm only just now getting around to actually using it!

The webs are stamped with BM13 and L.A. Colors Energy Source. I'm not such a fan of Energy Source as a base white, I prefer Wet & Wild French White Creme, but it works fine for stamping.

Got any fun plans for Halloween? Parties? Trick-or-treating (taking kids or going yourself... I won't judge)?

Easter grass

There's a giveaway over at Gorgeois where you can earn a big chunk of entries by doing a mani with a fun color combination. Here's what I came up with:

I started with Color Club - Sheer Sugar (which, they're not kidding on the sheer part... three coats and I'd have needed another if I hadn't put something else over the tips!) Over that I used the dry-brushing technique with a striper brush and Nina Ultra Pro - Emerald City.

What do you think of this combination? The brushy green kinda ended up looking like grass to me, this  mani totally makes me think of Easter!

I liked it a little better in my head, but it still turned out pretty neat looking IMO!

Dotted half moons

More dotting practice, and the first one that I'm really happy with! I think I aced the dots on this one :D

It helps that I love the color combination to pieces of course!

I did the half moon freehand over the base, rather than using hole reinforcers as a guide, which doesn't work well for me due to my nails having a high curve. 

The base is Orly Fowl Play, which OMG LOVE. Purple and color shifting flakies and shimmer! So glad I bought this, might need a backup bottle.

For the moons I used Wet & Wild Mauve Frost, and the dots are the light brown shimmer from that Simple Pleasures set I despise for shitty formula (but hey, they work ok for nail art details). 

Simple dotting

I've struggled so much with the dotting, maybe I'm being too much of a perfectionist but it's never quite as good as I wish it would be! So I decided to try something super simple this time. 

The base for this manicure is Sally Hansen Lustre Shine - Copperhead, which is just beautiful. My new favorite copper polish! It's darker than the other coppers I have, with a subtle duochrome that perfectly suggests an older, slightly oxidized penny.

For the dots I used Color Club Overboard. I really like this combination!

Are my dotting skills finally improving? This one didn't drive me totally crazy with imperfections at least!

Dotted Chevrons

Continuing with dotting practice, I threw this one together on the fly. Totally unplanned!

The base is Sinful Colors Outrages, and the dots are Wet & Wild Toxic Apple (dark purple) and Lethal Injection (dark red), both from the Pick Your Poison collection. 

What do you think of vampy shimmers paired with slightly-dusty neon like this? 

Diagonal dots

I've spent a good while now being jealous of girls who can wear OPI polishes without them being a chippy mess in hours, all because of My Boyfriend Scales Walls. So I decided to have a go at frankening a dupe for it (or at least something similar, since I don't have it I can't make a side-by-side comparison). And then, of course I had to do another dotting-practice mani with it!

Holy cow this makes me look tan! I'm not sure how my ring finger got messed up at the cuticle, but I apologize to you all for making you look at that!

The recipe for this franken is super simple, I got a new bottle of Wet & Wild French White Creme and added one drop of Wet & Wild Black Creme. Ta-da! Of course I can't be sure quite how close a dupe this is to MBFSW, but it's certainly a nicely wearable almost-white. 

Since I'm fussy about polishes having names, I decided to call this one Porcelain.

I did the dots in Sinful Colors Moss Have and Gone Platinum. Love the color combination, still iffy on my dotting skills.