My Halloween "Costume"

Before I get to the nails, I'd just like to direct you to a lovely little nail blog that only has 17 followers and deserves way more, Polished Love. She does really great swatches and a lot of cute nail art, so check it out!

Today's nail art is not for the faint of heart, but not because it's particularly hard to do...let's just say it's not as cute as my Frankensteins. The fact that I had neither time nor money to come up with a Halloween costume this year meant that I was going the simplest route possible. Therefore, I decided that my costume would be a vampire in disguise. I'd wear my normal clothes and act normally in every way - but if you happened to notice my hands...

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Bwahahahahaaaa! I actually decided to make this my "costume" after I decided to do the nail art in the first place. I originally did a very similar design last July for a vampire nail art costume, but this time, I wanted it to be a bit gorier and bloodier. I really like all the dripping blood manicures people have done, but personally, I wanted something that looked a little more realistic, as creepy as that might be. Don't judge me - I swear I'm not actually a serial killer! ;) For the base, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement, and because I somehow didn't bring a single dark red creme with me to college, I mixed Sally Hansen CSM All Fired Up and Barielle Coco Bar for the red. I applied the "blood" with a toothpick, and while I'd normally advise using a dotting tool or a brush instead of a toothpick if you can, this is one nail art I actually think works better with a toothpick. If you use a dotting tool or brush, I don't think it looks quite as realistic, though perhaps if I were an actual artist I would be able to get the same effect with a brush.

I've been wearing this in public for the last several days, and I actually haven't gotten any "are-you-clinically-insane" comments yet, though I have gotten several positive remarks. Do you think you'd be willing to wear this out in public, or is a little much for you? Also, would you be interested in seeing a tutorial?

My Friend Frankie: Halloween Nail Art

Hey-ya! Sorry I haven't posted anything (PR doesn't count) for over a week...I blame midterms. But fortunately, they're over now, and I'm back to tomfoolery as usual, though I still have a crapton of papers and stuff to work on. I know you don't want to hear about that, though, so on to the nails!

After I took off the manicure I wore before the one I'm showing today (which I'll be showing you after Halloween's over), I knew I wanted to do something Halloween-y, but I didn't know what. There have been so many inspiring Halloween nail art posts recently that I just didn't know what to choose. Eventually, I settled on the one and only Frankenstein because I figured it was a good way to ease into the Halloween spirit - after all, I don't want to freak people out by whipping out a vampire manicure like the one I did last July (sorry for the cuticle flooding and bad pictures) right away, and these Frankensteins are pretty darn cute in my opinion. I did mess up on the right and pinkie fingers, but as always, it's much, much more obvious in the pictures than in real life.

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Aren't they adorable? Fuzzy wuzzy wittle Fwankensteins... *ahem* ANYway. This was actually a pretty simple design to do, and it would've been even simpler had I not been hungry at the time I did it, which caused my hands (especially my left hand) to shake. Fun times. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green with Envy for the base, my Nubar nail art pen in black for the hair and mouths, and Wet 'n' Wild White Creme and Black Creme, along with an orangewood stick (because I can't find my dotting tool...grrr), for the eyes.

In unrelated news, because I'm in a rambly mood today, I got my first job! It's a one-time thing, so I don't have to make a long-term commitment, but I'm going to get paid around $150, so I'll be able to buy a new iPhone before my old one completely craps out. It's been slow and crash-prone lately, and it's even sprouted a "buttcrack" - there's a small, one-inch-ish crack in the middle of the bottom of the back of the phone that seems to have come from nowhere. In other words, my phone is now a plumber. 

...I'm not sure how to transition from that, so, until next time!

P.S. I have a potential swap in the works that I am super, super, SUPER excited about, so I can't wait to tell you guys about that if/when it comes through! Yippee!