Shiny Pumpkins

[AD*]    Happy Halloween-eve! Halloween is one of my favourite holidays of the year (second only to Christmas) because I get to dress up, decorate my house, and also because it presents so many opportunities for nail art! 

This year I was asked by Naio Nails to create some Halloween nail art using their Urban Graffiti gel polishes, and I wanted to try and mix of matte and shiny with this pumpkin design. 

I've been wanting to try a matte gel top coat for ages so I made sure that was one of the polishes I chose for this collaboration, and I was like a kid marvelling when I saw that it doesn't go matte until you put it under the light. Science! (Or not science just magic who knows...). Anyway, read on to find out how I created these nails. 

Barry M - Black Cats

Happy Halloween! Whilst I said yesterday it felt like Halloween was over, I got back into the spirit today. We bought soooo many sweets for trick or treaters because we live right near a school, and we didn't get a single one! I'm guessing the creepy ghouls we've got stuck to our windows were too much, who knows? Anyway, my final Halloween design is hopefully a bit less spooky, but still on theme: black cats! 

To the horror of my boyfriend (he definitely prefers dogs), cats are my favourite animal and would be my pet of choice, so it seemed fitting to paint them on my nails this halloween. This isn't the first time I've done black cat nails (see here), but it is the first time I've done them this way, and I love the combination of pastel and black. This was my last design in collaboration with Barry M, I hope you've enjoyed them! 

I used Barry M - Rose Hip* as my base, and then I used Barry M - Black Forest* and Barry M - Cotton*, finished with Barry M - Matte Topcoat*. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Barry M - Moon Phases

After my Halloween party this weekend it kind of feels like Halloween is done and dusted, but it's good job it isn't because I've still got two designs to show you! The first of the two is these moon phases nails. I've seen this design done a few times so I'm not sure who originated them, let me know if you do! They're such a cool idea, I couldn't resist trying them myself. They took a lot of perfecting to make sure they were right, I must have sponged that gradient on at least 10 times per nail, but I was so pleased with the final result. These nails were created as a collaboration with Boots and Barry M, so keep an eye on Boots social media to see how to create these! 

Barry M - Pastel Halloween Bats

It's almost the weekend, and that means one thing... halloween party! I'm so excited. This is the first proper party we've hosted in the new house so I'm really looking forward to it, and I can't wait to put halloween decorations up tomorrow. As I mentioned in my last post, I've got quite a few halloween designs to post, so here's the second one I created for Barry M: pastel bats. 

These were a combination of different ideas I'd seen on Pinterest. I loved the idea of an ombre effect on the nails, and I'd seen a few mini bat designs, so I combined the two, and I really love how these turned out. 

Barry M - Halloween Gradient Graveyards

I can't wait for halloween this year, I'm really looking forward to having the house decorated for our halloween party next week, and I'm already counting down. Last year I didn't really get the chance to celebrate halloween, so I'm planning on going all out this year, and that means getting my nails ready for the occasion. Luckily, Barry M asked me to create some halloween tutorials for them, so I've got quite a few designs to show you before the big day!

First up is this gradient gravestone look. I won't pretend it's not a design that hasn't been done a million times, but I like to think there's a reason it's done so often. It's such a typical halloween look, but I love it. 

Glitter Pumpkins

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you've all had a fun day dressing up. My work dressed up on Friday instead as Monday is a super busy day and we wouldn't have had time to play any Halloween games, so I didn't actually dress up today. But on Friday I was Wednesday Addams, which makes a chance from my usual cat outfit that I do every year! I of course had to post some nails on Halloween, and whilst they are more autumnal than scary, I hope you still like them!

Gelish Glow In The Dark Polish + Halloween Nail Art

Hey everyone! I'm so glad it's the weekend. I'll soon be on my way to Sheffield to go pretend I'm a student again for the weekend, and I can't wait! I haven't actually been back since my graduation, so it will be great to be there again. Today I'm showing you my first Halloween nail art of 2016. Each year I struggle to come up with new ideas for Halloween and Christmas. Most of the designs have been done 5 billion times so it's hard to come up with something original. So whilst this isn't a particularly new design idea... it is glow in the dark! Glow in the dark nails are one of my favourite things about Halloween, and so when I saw Gelish were bringing out a glow in the dark polish* this year I jumped at the chance to review it. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the polish, I didn't know whether it would be a standalone colour or a topcoat-type polish. It turns out it's more of a topcoat type polish. When applied it looks kind of cloudy, but once cured it goes more see-through. I put two coats over the whole design below, and as you can see in the glow in the dark images, it shows up a lot brighter on the white but it is also still visible on the dark blue. I always feel a bit childish in my love for glow in the dark things, I used to have glow in the dark stars on the ceiling in my bedroom and it always reminds me of that. So glow in the dark nails will always be a win for me, especially when they are gels. I was worried when I first applied it (before curing) as it didn't seem to glow, however curing activated the glow and it was bright enough that I could see them glowing even when not properly in the dark. 

Sugar Skulls Nail Art for Avon

Hey everyone! I know it's a couple of days past Halloween/Day of the Dead (yes, I know they're not the same thing) but I wanted to share these sugar skull nails with you nevertheless. If people are still sharing what they dressed as for Halloween I dont see why I can't still showcase these nails I created for Avon

Cute Halloween Witch

Happy Halloween!! Hope you're all having a fun day, I've had an entire day trying to find a last minute outfit but I've had zero luck. Which will teach me to leave it until the last second. I'm ending up just wearing devil horns, even though I actually tried to make an effort this year, which is frustrating. Anyway, at least I can be a bit more Halloween-y with my nails. This year I went with these cute witch nails inspired by these nails by Laura Merino, which I've had saved in my 'inspiration' folder since last year. I really love how these turned out, I got a tonne of compliments on them, I think the colours made them stand out as Halloween nails.

Barry M Halloween Accent

Hey everyone! I received the gorgeous new Barry M Glitter Gellies last week and whilst I was swatching Sparkling Amethyst* I couldn't help but add a halloween accent nail. I'll have my full post up on the gellies soon, but as you can tell here they're absolutely stunning. This shade is perfect for halloween, but I wanted to keep the polish itself on show so I minimised the nail art. 

Gradient Pumpkins for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I must admit I'm a bit of a scrooge when it comes to celebrating holidays early, Christmas is from the start of december, and Halloween from a week before (two at the earliest). I love both holidays, but I don't want to ruin them by dragging them out too long. Not because I'm boring (at least I hope not!). This is why I'm so late in posting my first Halloween nail art. I actually created these weeks ago for Divine Caroline, but I took them off almost instantly after painting them because I didn't want people at work questioning why I had Halloween nails in September! I was quite sad to take them off though because I really did like the design. I was trying to go with a cross point between galaxy and halloween nail art and this is what I ended up with. I reckon these could probably stretch after Halloween and just be autumnal, but pumpkins will always make me think of Halloween. If you want to see the tutorial on how to create these, click here.

The base is OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked? Then I used Barry M - Full Throttle and Cult Nails - Captivated for the gradient. The pumpkins are done using Essie - Fear and Desire, and the green is OPI - Don't Mess With OPI.      Remember to check out the full tutorial here.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Nailvengers Assemble: Halloween Nail Art for Avon

Hey everyone! It's the end of the month which means another Nailvengers Assemble post, if you don't know what I mean by that, read this post. I'm teaming up with Sammy of The Nailasaurus, Lucie of Lucy's Stash, Allie of Brit Nails and Amelia of xameliax once again to bring you Halloween nails, with this spooky combination look I created for Avon. I'm heading out the door in 5 minutes so this post is very rushed I'm afraid, but I'm super excited for tonight, halloween is one of my favourite days of the whole year and I've been looking forward to it for months! 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Tutorial Tuesday: Dracula for Beauty at Tesco

Hey everyone! Yet another tutorial for you today, I asked in my giveaway a few weeks ago what you all wanted more of and you said tutorials, so I'm currently spamming you with them. Today's tutorial is in collaboration with Beauty at Tesco, and is done using products all available in their range. As halloween is only a few days away I thought it was about time I whacked out some halloween designs. I always struggle to come up with anything original at halloween so after a bit of thinking I decided to do a peeking Dracula design. However I forgot of course that Dracula isn't Dracula without his fangs, which aren't on the nail, so if you would prefer to have the fangs in you can always have the face higher up the nail. 

If you want to see the steps, head over to their Instagram here.

You can follow Beauty at Tesco on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, and visit their website here, and blog here.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Slenderman

Happy Halloween everyone! I'm so excited to show you my final Halloween design: Slenderman nails! I know all my other designs have been quite cute this year but I wanted to try something a little different. For those of you who don't know what Slenderman is, he's the character of the game Slender, which is basically just an incredibly creepy game. I'm too much of a wuss to have played it personally, having got scared enough just watching someone else play! If you want to read more about it, the wiki page for the game is here. Hopefully though, most of you know what the game is, and therefore can understand the meaning behind each of these nails.

On my thumb I have the Slender writing (albeit a bit thicker than the actual text), on my ring and pointer finger I have the trees and moon which represent the creepy setting of the game, on my middle finger I have slenderman himself, and then on my pinky I have one of the eight pages you have to find throughout the game. 

The base for these nails was Alessandro - Midnight Black, then I sponged on No. 7 Grey Skies, the white and black is all done with acrylic paint, I then used a coat of Seche Vite before finishing with a coat of Butter London Matte Finish 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Then and Now: Frankenvamp + Tutorial

Hey everyone! I have the last of my 4 halloween tutorials for you today, don't forget to check out the tutorials tab at the top of my blog if you want to see the previous 3! This post is also another Then and Now post just like last week. I was so sad that I had to take these nails off for work, but at least with a blog I'm able to document my designs so I don't feel quite as bad when they have to go. Anyway, the tutorial and the 'now' nails will be after the jump!

The base for these nails was OPI - My Vampire is Buff (quite fitting), and Barry M - Key Lime, the black is acrylic paint, as is the white, and the red is Barry M - Bright Red, all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite

Tutorial Tuesday: Models Own Velvet Spiderwebs

Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been a few days since I last posted, I've been trying to get on top of the mountain of coursework that's due in very soon, and unfortunately that means my nails have fallen by the wayside. However, I still have 3 halloween posts for you (yep, I did an extra design) and I'm so excited for you to see the one I'll be posting on halloween itself. Today's post is a tutorial for these cute(ish) spider nails, which were done on a base of Models Own Obsidian*, from the Velvet Goth collection. The tutorial and swatches of Obsidian will be after the jump

Then and Now: Pumpkins + Tutorial

Hey everyone! Today's tutorial design is pumpkins, probably the most famous halloween food there is. Although, I'm about to making a shocking confession: I have never actually eaten pumpkin, dun dun dunnnn. The smell puts me off way too much, but every autumn I hear people raving about how good pumpkin is, yet I'm still not quite tempted to try it. Nevertheless, I can enjoy it on my nails, and it's such a simple design to complete so I'm sure you can all enjoy it too! The 'then' nails and the tutorial will be after the jump

For these nails I used a base of OPI - My Vampire Is Buff, then I used Barry M - Satsuma, Barry M - Mushroom, Barry M - Key Lime, and Seche Vite topcoat 

Tutorial Tuesday: Models Own Velvet Ghosts

Hey everyone! As promised, today I have one of my 4 halloween tutorials to show you. This design was intended to be a bit different, as I originally intended to have orange ghosts and white ghosts and look a bit like this, but I unfortunately put the white ghosts too close together to be able to fit the orange in as well. However, I like the look of it nonetheless and I thought I'd create a tutorial to go alongside it. The tutorial will be after the jump otherwise the post may end up a bit too long

Witch Owls

Hey everyone! As halloween is starting to creep up on us a bit (see what I did there?) I thought it was time to start bringing the halloween nails around. I have 5 designs for you this year, 4 of which are tutorials so I'll be doing tutorial tuesday and tutorial thursday this week, hopefully you wont mind too much. So I'm starting my halloween nails off with these cute witch owls. These were meant to be a tutorial but they ended up a bit too long-winded so I thought I'd just keep them as a simple nail design. I got this idea from Little Miss Nail Polish, you can see her design here.

To do these I started with a base coat of OPI - Nail Envy*, followed by 2 coats of OPI - Purple-iscious*, then I painted a circle of Layla - Marshmallow Twinkle using a small brush. Once that was dry I used Alessandro - Midnight Black and a small nail brush to paint on the hat, hair and broom, and then I used MASH - White for the eyes, to finish the design off I used a bit more of Marshmallow Twinkle on the broom, and I topped the design off with a coat of my trusty Seche Vite.

Here's a shot of the gorgeous Purple-iscious alone, I absolutely love this colour. It's so unique and there's so much going on that is just impossible to capture on camera. It shows up a lot more on the bottle in the pictures than it does on the nails unfortunately. The duo of Purple-iscious and Nail Envy has been specially designed for QVC to celebrate their 20th Anniversary this year and I think they chose an awesome colour to celebrate with, don't you?

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

China Glaze Monsters Ball Halloween 2013 Collection Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! I'm so excited for today's post, because I have the amazing China Glaze Monsters Ball collection to show you. This is my first time reviewing for China Glaze and the collection certainly doesn't disappoint. This a much more glitter-led halloween collection than I've seen China Glaze do before, but it works extremely well. And not only is it great for Halloween, but also for the rest of Autumn too! The rest of the pictures will be after the jump, as the post is probably going to be a long one