Easy Tombstone Halloween Nail Art

Are you still looking for some last minute nail art for Halloween?  Well why not try some humorous Halloween Tombstone epitaphs on your nails?

Did you ever notice how technically, your nails are all ready shaped like mini tombstones?  Especially if you have square nails?  So all you have to do to begin painting your tombstones is grab some gray polish.

Unless you have some nice gray polish like NARS Storm Bird laying around, why not try mixing your own gray nail polish?  I picked up the recent release of Wet 'n Wild's Fantasy Makers Tombstone shaped polishes in Darkest Hour, the black creme of their collection.  For each bottle, I just dumped out at least half of the black polish to almost all of the black polish that was in the bottle, and then I poured in some white polish.  I used a nail wheel to swatch the color changes as I mixed the grays to make sure I had a light, medium, and dark gray, keeping in mind that the dark gray had to be light enough that text could be read on top of the color (so a color like NARS Galion may be too dark).

So, to begin, if you are using different gray lacquers, you can decide in which order you want to paint your nails - lightest to darkest, or any order of your choice.  Top with a quick dry top coat to speed up the drying process so you can move on to Step 2.  

Step 2 is where the nail art takes place.  For this easy nail art, I used Rub-on transfers.  The brand I bought was called Grafix Rub-Onz and comes in packs of 4 or more sheets.

To begin, with rub-on transfers, the way they work is that you will print your nail art on one side of a transfer sheet, and then you use a self-adhesive sticky sheet to separate the ink from the original sheet.  Keeping this in mind, with words you need to print them mirrored, so you will need to have some type of photo-editing software such as Photoshop.  I used Adobe InDesign to first create the epitaphs, and then flip each of them to their reverse image.  Also be aware, in the image below you can see that the writing is on a light gray background.  The reason for that is because when you transfer the image and then have it separate to rub it onto your nail, the ink separates from the background, so if you don't have a single background color your text is on, each of the letters will separate and you will have a separate nail transfer for each letter.  Note: that is not a good thing to have when the font is smaller than 12pt font to fit onto the nail bed.  And because the nail transfers are going on a gray background, the gray used on the nail transfers becomes less obvious.

Below you can see what it looks like when you separate the nail transfers and begin to cut them out.  For this brand of transfers, you need to cut on the boarder of the color (another reason for having a gray square background for the text), so that the image becomes separated from the original transfer material.  This step does not make much sense in words, but this transfer package I bought - as most of them do - comes with step-by-step instructions that you can follow that will explain each part of the process.

And now for Step 3 you are transferring your rub-on nail art onto the nails.  This step may take some practice.  If it helps, print out an extra set of transfers and try them on paper first to get a feel for how these transfer.  The backing of each transfer is hard thick velum, so it does not bend and conform to the shape of the nail that easily.  This makes it difficult to firmly press down and connect the transfer to the nail, but on the other hand, it also makes it easier to see at the corners of the transfer whether or not the nail art has transferred on to the nail.  The easiest way to tell this step is working, is that like a temporary tattoo, the image on the transfer becomes lighter as you rub it and it sticks to the opposing surface (of your nail), so if you see light patches on your transfer, that means it's working, and you may be able to peel away the transfer from the backing without having to keep trying to rub it off the paper.

The step above may take a little time, but if you go slowly and patiently, you'll eventually have the beginnings of your tombstones.  Now that you've utilized your transfers, you need to seal them in with top coat.  There is no dry time to wait for, so just start painting on the clear polish.

And the final step to making your tombstones look like they're made of stone?  Cover them with a matte top coat!  I chose Wax That… by Cult Nails because I was looking for that satin finish that would make them look like polished stone.

And here's the final product:

 

So, what do you think?  Have you already tried Halloween Tombstone Nail Art in some variation before?  Personally, I'm kind of happy that there were little ridges that showed up in the transfers because I think it adds to the ambiance - it makes the tombstones look old and cracked.  When you enlarge the image (just click on any image to make it bigger), you can see what I meant earlier about the gray background of the lettering.  It is only somewhat obvious on the lightest gray polish, but it still doesn't look out of place, since you'll just be layering gray over gray.

Honestly, five steps may sound like a lot, but when you break it down there is only really two steps:  painting your nails gray and then getting the nail art transfers onto your nails.

So do you think you'd try this nail art?  Have you already tried rub-on transfers for nail art?  Are you wearing nail art this Halloween?

Hope this post has left you with some ideas.  Have a happy Halloween!

Holiday Glitter Swatches: WnW, SH, OPI, SOPI

This holiday season many companies - many more than last year - came out with glitter polishes. Most are limited edition polishes, so they are only available while there are still bottles left, and after that they can only be found on internet sites (usually marked up in price).

So in case you are still undecided about picking up some of these glitter polishes at your local beauty supply or cosmetics stores, I thought I'd compile some comparison swatches so you can get a better look at these glitter polishes.

On to the swatches:





On the index and middle fingers is a single layer of Back Alley Deals, with the right-most nails having two layers. Every other finger also has a half-coat of OPI Alpine Snow - Matte so you can see a bit more clearly how two coats doesn't give complete coverage because the white polish still shines through the purple glitter.

Back Alley Deals consists of fine violet glitter with less magenta hexagonal glitter pieces in a clear base.





One coat on left-most nails (index and middle fingers), with two coats on right-most nails. Alternating half-coat of OPI Alpine Snow - Matte used to show the glitter density.

Fine silvery-black glitter with larger, sparser hexagonal glitter that is silver but shines multi-colored in a clear base.





Two coats on one coat on left two nails, two coats on right two nails. Alternating half-coat of base color in OPI Russian Navy - Matte.

This is one of the denser glitter polishes out of the many glitter polishes available. A dupe to Lorelei's Tiara by China Glaze, Showgirl Chic is made up of small silver glitter with larger blue hexagonal pieces of glitter spread throughout in a clear base.






One coat on left two nails, two coats on right two nails. Half-coat of base color on alternating nails in OPI Russian Navy - Matte.

Bling-tastic consists of tealy-blue glitter that is small (but not micro), with larger silver hexagonal glitter in a clear base. This polish is less dense than most of the other glitters seen this holiday, because the small blue glitter is not micro-glitter, and so it is less dense throughout the clear base than the other small glitter pieces used in the other lacquers.





One coat on left two nails, two coats on right two nails. Alternating half-coat of under-color in OPI Russian Navy - Matte.

Cost is No Issue is made up of fine turquoise glitter with larger blue/teal glitter in a clear base. This one almost covered completely in two coats.





One coat on left two fingernails, two coats on right two fingernails. Alternating half-coat of base color in OPI - Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees (Suede).

Fresh Frog of Bel Air is made up of small green glitter with larger hexagonal pieces of glitter in silver, all in a clear base. This did not cover fully in two coats.





One coat on left two nails, two coats on right two nails. Alternating half-coat of base color in OPI - Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees (Suede).

Good Tidings We Bling (the bottom of my bottle has an excalamtion point at the end of Bling, while Sephora's online listing does not) is made up of small red and green glitter with large red and green hexagonal glitter in a clear base. There is also medium-sized black hexagonal glitter!


And now for some comparisons:

First we have Wet and Wild Diamond in the Rough versus Sephora by OPI If You've Got It, Haunt It.


Following the same one coat then two coat pattern, the one coat on the left-most fingernails exemplify how these two polishes are different. On the index and ring fingernails is Diamond in the Rough and If You've Got It, Haunt It is on the other two. Since Diamond in the Rough seems to be a dupe for Some Like It Haute by China Glaze and Dancing in the Dark by Deborah Lippmann and Sloane Square by Nails Inc, I thought it'd be a good comparison polish to the SOPI since If You've Got It, Haunt It used to be only available from the Halloween 2010 collection from Sephora, and the other colors were mentioned as being possible dupes to the SOPI.

In the above picture, you can see that If You've Got It, Haunt It differs from Diamond in the Rough with having the same fine black/silver glitter, but with just slightly bigger black glitter and equally big silver glitter that only flashes blue and green (with very slight orange/red flashes at some angles) in a black-tinted base. For some reason, this combination makes this glitter layer more completely, so that two coats of the SOPI are all you'll need, while the Wet and Wild could use a third coat.



On the index and ring fingers are one coat and then two coats of Bling-tastic with Fresh Frog of Bel Air in one coat on the middle finger and two coats on the last nail. Bling-tastic looks like a dupe for Gone Gonzo! by OPI, and since Fresh Frog of Bel Air is from the same collection, I thought it would be interesting to compare.

The main differences between the two seem to be that Bling-tastic is more dense, wile Fresh Frog of Bel Air has more silver glitter per brush-stroke. Both small glitters and larger hexagonal glitter is the same size between both polishes.


If you're in the market for glitter polish, the Wet and Wild Ice Baby limited edition collection has nice dupes to more expensive glitter polishes that look exactly the same (the three polishes I showed look awfully similar to the Dance Music trio Deborah Lippmann just released). Out of all the polishes swatched above, I found the Sephora by OPI to have the easiest brush to hold and polish with. The Wet and Wild were the most awkward to polish with because of the short square handle. Bling-tastic and Fresh Frog of Bel Air were the least dense and would need at least three coats to be opaque, while Cost is No Issue and Showgirl Chic are dense enough to be worn at just two coats. Price wise, the Wet and Wild were the cheapest and the Sephora by OPI (which is only available online) is the most expensive, but the OPI and Sally Hansen were both about the same cost (which makes the Sally Hansen seem expensive for a drugstore polish).

If you're still looking, the fact that there are many dupes within the different Holiday glitter collections from the different polish labels makes it easier to find what you are looking for.


I hope you found these swatches helpful and that you've already stocked up on glitter polishes for the coming winter since the spring polishes are already showing up! Thanks for stopping by!

ND4: Golden Stripes of Sunshine aka Cheshire Stripes

Nail Design 4 is an alternating pattern of two different colors, with three stripes of each color. The final design reminded me of golden sunrays, so that's where the name comes in.

image from physics.unlv.edu

This basic pattern was used in the Cheshire Cat inspired nails (shown HERE), but this design can be used in a simplified format, if both colors used are cremes that are completely opaque, or if the purpose of this design is to have the color on top overlapping the original color, for a more unique look.



Step 1 is to completely cover the nail in the base color. The color used here is Orly Spark (an old formula polish), that translated as a light yellow creme.




If you are short on time and would like to move onto Step 2 right away, you can use your favorite fast dry top coat or quick dry nail drops to speed up the drying process.




Step 2 is where the blue tape comes in. Depending on the nail length, cut three even strips of blue tape and layer it at even intervals over the original color, making sure to press the tape down firmly so there is no gap where the second/top nail color can leak under and leave a mark.




After painting the top color, immediately pull off the strips of tape in the direction the tape was laid down, so no pull will occur from the top polish and the lines should be straight and even.


Here is the final result:




Now this same design can be used with Jelly polishes that you don't want overlapped, and that follows a slightly different format. These are the first 3 steps to the Cheshire Cat nail design.


Step 1 is to cut three even strips of painter's tape and layer them evenly along the nail, then painting on the first color over the base coat/natural nails.





After pulling off the tape used in Step 1 and letting the first color dry, cut a total of 5 slim strips of blue tape, where 4 of the strips should be slim enough to not completely cover the original color, but wide enough to be overlapped with another strip of tape to then completely cover the original color.


When laying down the strips of tape in Step 2, make sure each strip of tape just barely touches the edge of each side of the original color of polish, so there will be a barely visible overlap, otherwise there is the possibility of a gap occurring between the two colors.




And this is the final look for the alternating stripes of color when using Jelly, transparent, or sheer polishes.




There are extra details that can be added to this look, such as painting a glitter top coat over the dried stripes, but this look can be left alone to wow the crowd.

So, what do you think? Would you try one of these looks? Or both? What colors would you use?


Thanks for looking! Bye for now.

New and Old Cheshire Cat

Day 2 of 3 for the Countdown to Alice in Wonderland: 3 Days of Wonderland inspired nails.




(Another name I have for this manicure is "Down the Rabbit Hole" because the bright pink and blue clash brightly against each other, giving a dizzying look.)


So this manicure design was inspired by the differences and similarities between Disney's original Cheshire Cat, and the new Cheshire Cat in Tim Burton's adaptation.

image from www.dailypictures.info

image from cinematropolis.wordpress.com

I took the pink from the old Cheshire Cat and striped it with the blue from the new Cheshire Cat...and then added some glitter....





Colors used were Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Fuchsia Power, Wet and Wild Craze in Glitz, OPI in Absolutely Alice, and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away!...



Step 1 consists of cutting even strips of blue painters tape, so you will have an alternating pattern of tape and nail (as shown on the right nail below).


Then you stripe on the pink polish being sure to layer it evenly and quickly, so you can then pull up the strips of tape on each nail as you go. The size of your strips of tape will vary on nail length and how many stripes you want to fit onto each nail.







After painting the pink polish onto the nail and letting it dry, you then cut 5 pieces of tape (if you are going to have 6 alternating stripes of color). One piece of tape will be used to cover the pink stripe closest to the root of your nail, while for the other two pink stripes, one tape strip will cover one edge of the pink, and the other piece of tape will be laid down over the other edge of the pink stripe so that both edges of each pink stripe that have a chance of touching the blue nail polish will be covered.





This is what the final product of the blue and pink stripes will look like.








Steps 3 and 4 consist of adding glitter to the stripes. For Step 3, start out adding the pink glitter on alternating nails by taping off the blue polish with the same pattern used in Step 2 of cutting 5 slim pieces of blue painters tape, and then laying the pieces down so that the edge of each blue stripe of nail polish is covered completely.


For Step 4, once the pink glitter has dried, tape it off so you can start painting the blue glitter. The same pattern of 5 slim strips of tape to segregate the pink stripes from the blue (as used in Steps 2 and 3) applies here.





Once you are done with your glitter layers, you'll want to add at least one layer of top coat to all the nails (possibly adding a second layer of top coat to the nails with the glitter polish to smooth out the finish).


So, what do you think? The outcome is really bright and sparkly in real life, I'm really loving this look.



This concludes Day 2 of 3 for the Countdown to Alice in Wonderland: 3 Days of Wonderland inspired nails.

Thanks for looking. Bye for now.