Just a Quickie: Crime Scene Nails

White: Sally Hansen White On

Red: Art Club Red

Black: Sally Hansen Black Out

Fingerprint Stamp: BM-414

Pumpkin Gradient

I have been gearing up for Halloween. I've been watching all of my scary and Halloween themed movies to really get myself in the spirit. I don't even really know what it is about Halloween that I love so much. I just get so excited about the decorations and the costumes. People make fun of me but I don't care.

I couldn't do Halloween manis without including at least one Jack-o-Lantern, right? Well, here you go!

Spooky Stripes and Spots

I was digging through my polishes looking for an orange and a green to use for today's design. Then, it occurred to me that Julep's Wanderlust collection came with amazing shades of both! I pulled them out and knew they'd be perfect for today's Halloween manicure!

Initially, I wanted to do stripes. When I opened my drawer to get my striping tape, I saw my dotting tools sitting there. So, I changed my mind. But I knew my striping tape was looking at me longingly, So I decided to do both stripes and polka dots! Isn't compromise the best answer?

Just a Quickie : Halloween Glitter Gradient

I got a late start on my nails tonight (hence, the simple design) so I don't have time for a long post. I also changed the watermark to a more festive, Halloween-y font! Like it!? I do!

Base Color - Sally Hansen Black Heart

Glitter - Pure Ice Take Me Now

Bloody Mani

Halloween is about scary, bloody, gory things. So, what would two weeks of Halloween nail art be without something a little bloody? Two colors, a dotting tool, and a nail art brush and in just a few minutes, you've got yourself a gruesome little manicure.

Adorable Ghosties

I asked hubby what he thought I should do for today's Halloween design and he suggested ghosts. I liked the idea and decided to do a cute, minimalist ghost manicure. I thought about making them glow in the dark. But I preferred a stark white background to my ghosts.

Just a Quickie: Spiderwebs

Base Color - Wet n Wild Under Your Spell

Web Color - Sally Hansen Silver Sweep

Spider Color - Ulta Little Black Dress

Them Bones...

One of my favorite Halloween decorations is this cardboard skeleton that I hang on the wall. He has hinged joints so you can pose him. There's something both creepy and fun about skeletons. Considering how much I love monochromatic manicures, I thought it would be fun to do a bone themed design!

Sparkly Halloween Jelly

I love Halloween. It is, by far, my favorite holiday. Actually, it's really the only one that hubby and I really get into. For the rest of the month, I want to do nothing but Halloween designs. I have some really fun designs planned but I want to start out with something simple.

I know that some people don't care for jelly polishes. I like them, though, and every once in a while, I get a hankering to use them.

Water Marble Week - Day 7

Well, today was the final day of my week-long personal water marble challenge. I had so much fun and I feel that my water marbling skills have seriously improved. I'm sad to see this week end but, being that Halloween is my favorite holiday, I'm excited to start with the Halloween nail art!

Since these last two days have coincided with my planned two weeks of Halloween designs, I've also made today's water marble a holiday one.

Water Marble Week - Day 6

It's after midnight so, technically, this should be day 7. But I started before the stroke of 12 so I'm still counting it as day 6. So, I'm still on track!

I wanted to try something a little different with this marble. Since we are exactly two weeks away from Halloween, I wanted to start posting holiday nails. With my marbling challenge coinciding with that plan, I figured I might as well make my last two marbles a bit Halloween-y!

Water Marble Week - Day 5

Welcome to day five of my personal water marble challenge.

I wanted to involve glitter in today's water marble and I just happened to get a new one yesterday. Essence Glitz and Glam. It also happens to be my first Essence nail polish. I was walking through Ulta a week ago and it caught my eye instantly. I didn't buy it then but when I went back yesterday, I headed straight for it. I thought it would be pretty under some simple black marbling.

Water Marble Week - Day 4

It's day four and I am LOVING Water Marble Week. I feel like I've personally challenged myself and I can see myself improving! 

I was doing a quick inventory of some of my most commonly used nail polishes today; I wanted to see if I needed to stock up on anything. When I opened my Sally Hansen drawer, I saw two colors sitting together and knew, instantly, that I wanted to use them for today's water marble.

Water Marble Week - Day 3

Due to the success I had with my Funky Fingers polishes yesterday, I decided to use them again. This time, though, I wanted to use my Funky Fingers neons. It may be rainy and cool but I'm always up for a fun, neon manicure.

Water Marble Week - Day 2

So far, I'm loving water marble week. I'm learning so much! I'm also figuring out that a lot more of my nail polishes work great for water marbling. I used to think that the less expensive polishes would not work but I've started trying them out and some of them have worked like a charm.

I decided to use a couple of those cheaper polishes to created today's marble. I am just thrilled with the results.

Water Marble Week - Day 1

Today is the first day of my personal challenge to do a week of water marble nail art. Already, just in this first day, I've improved my technique. I've almost completely eliminated bubbles! Those always annoy me most. Also, I've cut down on the time it takes by marbling more than one finger at a time. Yay!

Anyway, for today's marble, I wanted a darker color scheme that screams fall. I love fall and the weather has been just perfect.

Anise Water Spots

Recently, I've become a little bit obsessed with My Simple Little Pleasures YouTube channel. Colette posts these nail art tutorial videos and, oh, the things she can do with water marbles! Amazing. I've always just hoped for the best when I do a water marble but she has actual technique and knows how to coax some beautiful designs out of the polish. Thanks to her videos, I've decided to challenge myself to become better at water marbling. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to do an entire week of water marble designs. I've always loved water marbling so I'm excited. Also, with her tips and tricks, I'm hoping that it won't be quite so tedious a process and I'll have a lot more successes than failures!

Because I've been thinking about water marbling so much, but I don't want to start Water Marble Week until tomorrow, I chose another water based design for today. I went with some water spotting. I used both of my Anise colors for it because they're lovely and look great together.

Weird Holidays - October: Moldy Cheese Day

There are some really weird and obscure holidays and celebrations out there. So many, that I decided to dedicate one post a month to my favorite! 

Today is Moldy Cheese Day! I don't know why there is a Moldy Cheese Day. I, for one, do not deal well with moldy foods. But I thought it would make for some interesting nail art.

Just a Quickie - Sparkly Gradient

Gradient Colors: OPI Danke Shiny Red & A England Avalon

Glitter: China Glaze Fairy Dust

Holographic Dry Spotted

Today was such a crazy, insane, never ending day. I almost didn't have the energy to even do my nails. But I mustered the strength and got to it. 

I wanted to play with something holographic and decided to see how a holo polish would do in a dry spotted design. Well, it did great and it looks amazing.

Bright and Shredded

It's been a few days since the 31 day challenge ended and I've been both mourning it's ending and giving my nails a break. But today it's back to the nail art grindstone. 

Hubby recently got me a fancy new hobby knife and I wanted to use it for some nail art. So I grabbed my knife, some scotch tape, and, of course, my nail polish!

31dc2014 Day 31 - Honor Nails You Love

It's here. The final day of the 31 day challenge. Such bittersweet feelings to have it come to an end...

The final prompt is to honor nails you love. One blog I've been really digging lately is Drama Queen Nails. I chose this design to recreate and I love how it turned out.

31dc2014 Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

I like this prompt because it pushes me to try something I've never done before. So the tutorial I chose is this one from Nailderella for Fishtail Braid Nails.