Halloween Manicures

*purchased by me*

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you're all getting more treats than tricks! This year I did a bunch of Halloween manicures that I want to share with you. 

Vampire Nails

I got this idea from Zoya, and absolutely love it. I used a base of Zoya Sooki than did the gradient with Sooki, Claire, and Raven.  I finished it off with KBShimmer Clearly On Top.  I am so happy with how this turned out! It's the best gradient I've done, and it's my favorite of my Halloween manis!

Blood Splatter Nails

For this blood splatter mani I used a base of Rica Whiteout and then with a straw I blew the blood splatters onto my nails using Zoya Riley.  I had seen this technique used before and had always wanted to try it. It's messy, but I loved how they turned out. 

Ghost Nails

For my ghost nails I used Rica Whiteout, Essie Licorice, Sinful Colors Citrine, and Zoya Purity. The ghost was done freehand with nail art brushes, and the dots/eyes were done with dotting tools. 

Frankenstein Nails

I saw a manicure like this that @mybelovednails did on Instagram, and thought it was a great idea for Halloween nails. I loved the Frankenstein's monster nails with a bride of Frankenstein accent and wanted to recreate it. I used Zoya Mitzi, Dovima & Purity and finished with Butter London Matte Finish topcoat. 

Friday the 13th Nails

Friday the 13th was my favorite horror series growing up so I knew I wanted to do a manicure in its honor.  I decided to do blood drips with a Jason Vorhees accent nail. I know my blood drips need some practice, but I love how Jason tuned out. I used Rica Whiteout, Zoya Sooki, and Essie Licorice to achieve this look. 

Candy Corn Nails

I wanted to do something different for my candy corn nails so I decided to do a gradient using Rica Whiteout, Zoya Pippa and Sinful Colors Citrine. Obviously I had some issues cause the white tops of the candy corn didn't show up in the gradient. For my accent nail I hand painted little candy corns over a base of Zoya Raven. I'm not a fan of candy corns, but I thought the were the perfect Halloween candy to use for a mani idea. 

Jack-o-Lantern Nails

I saw these Jack-o-Lantern nail decals from Lacquer by Lissa and knew I had to have them! I started with a base of Rica The Great Pumpkin, painted on black dots using Essie Licorice, and when the dots were dry I placed the decals on using tweezers. I really love these decals & the polish is absolutely gorgeous, but I think next time I use these decals they'll be over another base. 

Mummy Nail

Finally, I have my mummy nail for you. I wanted to do an entire manicure with mummies, but the only nail I was happy with was my thumb. He was just too cute not to share with you though. I used OPI Skull & Glossbones, Essie Licorice, and Zoya Purity to create this freehand mummy! 

I had a lot of fun doing all these different Halloween manicures. Have you done any Halloween inspired nail art? What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

Thanks for reading!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Inspired By...

Hey there! Today I have days 21-31 of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge for you. The challenges for these days were "inspired by" different things.  

Day 21 - Inspired by a Color

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

China Glaze For Audrey

Bow Nail Decal from You Polish

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I was obviously inspired by a Tiffany Box for this manicure, and China Glaze For Audrey was the perfect color to choose. I had these cute bow nail decals from You Polish that I thought were perfect. I kept it really simple, but I love this manicure. 

Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

ellagee Ring, Ding, Ding, Ding, Dingeringeding

Lime Crime Milky Ways

China Glaze Recylce

Essie Licorice

Zoya Purity

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

So the song I was inspired by is "The Fox (What Does The Fox Say)" by Ylvis. Honestly I had wanted to use this ellagee color which is named after a line in this song.  I found a tutorial from elleandish on YouTube for a fox manicure and just went with it! 

Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Jacqueline

Zoya Asia

Zoya Arizona

Zoya Josie 

Zoya Mira

Zoya Pippa

Zoya Rocky

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

One of my all time favorite movies is "Sixteen Candles" so that was my inspiration for this manicure. The accent nail is based on one of the best lines, "I can't believe I gave my panties to a geek!" 

Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

Polishes Used: 

Nailtiques Formula 2

Rica Whiteout

Zoya Riley

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

There are a lot of other books that I am inspired by in life, but I wasn't getting nail art inspiration from them. Then it hit me to do a blood splatter mani inspired by Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho". I used the straw method to do the splatter effect and love how this turned out! 

Day 25 - Inspired by Fashion

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

China Glaze Recycle 

Zoya Pippa 

Rica Whiteout

INM Out The Door

There were so many options for inspired by fashion. I actually found this look on Pinterest from a blog called "Hello, Gorgeous!" and loved the color combination. I thought it turned out pretty close to my inspiration. 

Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Neely

OPI Taylor Blue

INM Out The Door

I had been wanting to try quatrefoil nails for a while and thought this was the perfect day to do them.  I love how they turned out, and they were really easy to do. I used dotting tools to achieve this look. 

Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Neely

Zoya Pippa

Zoya Sweet

Essie Licorice

Sinful Colors My Buoyfriend

INM Out The Door

This look was inspired by the artist Theo van Doesburg. I used a thin paint brush to do the different colored stripes. 

Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Rica Whiteout 

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover 

Sinful Colors Feel The Vibe 

Straight Nail Vinyls

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I'm 50% Irish, but 100% at heart so had to do an Irish flag for my manicure! 

Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Rica Whiteout 

Essie Licorice

Sinful Colors Citrine

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I went with a ghost for inspired by the Supernatural and did some orange & black dots because the ghost reminded me of Halloween. 

Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Shelby

Zoya Malia

Zoya Purity

Essie Navigate Her

Essie Licorice

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

I found this tutorial for toothpick flowers from elleandish on YouTube.  I had used one of her tutorials earlier and really like her style and teaching technique. She's very easy to follow, and when I saw this one I knew I had to try it. I chose slightly different colors, but think this turned out great. Plus it was really easy to do! 

Day 31 - Inspired by Nails You Love

Polishes Used:

Nailtiques Formula 2

Zoya Ryan

Zoya Purity

Zoya Carey

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

While doing this challenge I looked at a lot of different nail art for inspiration, but one that stood out was from Lucy's Stash.  I found her tutorial for a swirl dotticure on YouTube and knew it was perfect to honor nails I love! I really love how this spiral dotticure turned out! 

I honestly can't believe I completed the entire challenge! It's definitely a proud moment for me! I learned a lot of new techniques and plan on continuing to use them on future manicures. 

What I learned from this is don't be afraid to try. I was really intimidated by some of these days and could have easily given up, but had to at least try. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have ended up with some of these awesome manicures. Do you plan on trying any of these? 

Don't forget to show some love on facebook for the brands I used - China Glaze, ellagee, Essie, Lime Crime, Nail Vinyls, OPI, Rica, Sinful Colors, You Polish, and Zoya!

Thanks for reading!