Nail Art Tutorial: Bloody Prom Queen Nails

One of my all time favorite, gruesome Halloween movies is Carrie. The original one. With Sissy Spacek.

It is the quintessential girl coming of age/embracing her inner rage story. If you haven’t seen it, you need to. Seriously.

 

So, to commemorate such an awesome movie, and an even more awesome character, I give you Bloody Prom Queen nails!

Here’s what you’ll need: A pink polish; I’m using Wonderful World by Lyrical Lacquer. A black; as always, my trusty Carpe Noctem Under the Cover of Night. A red; I used Autumn Rubies by Bella Bosio. A silver for the tiara; I used White Gold Engagement. You’ll also need a topcoat, a dotting tool, a drinking straw and probably some latex clean up stuff lol.

First up, lay down your pink polish and let dry.

Put your latex cleanup aid on and let dry.

Ok here’s the tricky part. Dip your straw in your red polish and dunk it over and over, to create quite a big blob on the end of the straw. Then taking it and quickly placing it a little above the nail your working on, blow hard and fast. It may take a few times to get it right.

You’ll end up with this awesome splatter effect eventually.

You could just leave them like this. Because seriously, it’s kick ass.

On your thumb and pinky finger, create a bit of a “scroll” like shape that will “connect” when you put your fingers together. Let dry a bit, then add Prom on your thumbnail and Queen on your pinky.

Using a dotting tool or toothpick and your silver polish, create a tiara on one of your nails (I used the middle nail).

Top with topcoat and now you’re set to go wreak havoc on all the unsuspecting prom (or halloween) goers!

Nail Art Tutorial: The completely regrettable Jack Skellington nail art tutorial

So. Not all of my nail art tutorials are slam bang finishes. In fact, quite a few never see the light of day (or my editing program). This would have been one of them, but I had quite a few ladies on my Good Witch fanpage say that I should go ahead and post it. SO. I’m gonna.

Here’s what you’ll need: Your go-to black polish of choice; I’m using Carpe Noctem’s Under the Cover of Night. A white polish of choice; I know I am showing an OPI polish in the picture, but I ended up using Zoya Purity instead. You’ll also need a topcoat, toothpicks, a dotting tool, makeup wedges and a latex clean up helper thingy; I’m using Cinema Swatch’s That’s A Wrap.

Lay down a good coat of your black polish and let dry completely.

Using your makeup sponge, create a radial gradient (it’s a lot easier than it looks. It may just take a few times). Press it onto your nails and repeat a few times to get the opacity you’re looking for.

You’ll end up with this awesome faded look. Turned out pretty wicked, if I do say so myself.

Then, using your dotting tool or toothpick, create what kinda looks like an oval or squished pumpkin or weirdly shaped skull. It really doesn’t look a thing like Jack Skellington’s head. At all. In the slightest. I need some better nail art brushes. Grrr.

If you want, you can add some spiderweb decals, or paint them on yourself.

Then using a toothpick and your black polish, paint on Jack’s face, a little spider falling from its web and a spooky BOO! on one nail. And now you have a Jack Skellington nail art that looks like a two year old did it. Pffft.

Nail Art Tutorial: Sleepy Hollow Nails

This. Is. AWESOME! I love how this look turned out and I hope y’all do too!

Here’s what you’ll need: At least three polishes for the sunset gradient. You can use only two, but I think it adds a little depth to it with three. I used all Stached Lacquer polishes: Lovely Luna’s Livery, Orodruin and Pursue ALL the Knowledge!. For the clouds I used GG Polish Tin Man. For the black accents I used Carpe Noctem Under the Cover of Night. You’ll also need a topcoat, makeup wedge, tweezers and a tree decal (or you can do it by hand).

If you want, mask your nails using a latex mask. I used Cinema Swatches That’s A Wrap! (last mani with it )

Ready your sponge. You want the lightest color at the base, then getting darker as you get higher.

Sponge your gradient on your nails. One or two coats should be enough.

Affix your nail decal (or draw the tree on) and dab on a little moon using your yellow polish.

Using a little chunk of makeup wedge, dab on a little of the gray polish to create clouds on your nails.

Awww look. Happy clouds!

Using a dotting tool or toothpick, add some hills, tombstones and a blob that looks like a bat. The tombstones on the right look a little like a silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock. I totally didn’t mean for it to, but it really kinda does. Either him or Winston Churchill LOL

Cover in a topcoat and voila! Some super spooky sleepy hollow nails! And they shine like diamonds!

Nail Art Tutorial: Fall Leaves Cutout Nails

HELLO!!!! I am soooo glad to be back. I’ve been down with a horrendous sinus infection/head cold for the last week or so. I haven’t even been able to wear my glasses due to sinus pressure. Ugh! I hate it!

So without further adieu, here’s what has to be one of my most favorite nail art looks to date.

Here’s what you’ll need: At least four polishes- three to use as your gradient (or less if you want) and a nude for a topper. For the gradient I’m using Stached Lacquer’s Orodruin and Lovely Lunas Livery and Bella Bosio’s Autumn Rubies. For the nude topper, I turned to my favorite nude from OPI, Samoan Sand. You’ll also need the topcoat of your choice, nail art decals (again, I’m using Neverland Lacquer), a pair of scissors and tweezers- they make for placing the decals and taking them off a lot easier. You’ll also need a foam makeup wedge to create the vertical gradient.

Taking your polishes, paint a stripe down the makeup wedge in the order you want. It doesn’t really matter how you do it, but make sure you do it the same way each time you go over the nail or else it’ll look funny. Once it’s applied, lightly press on the nail. You’ll have to go over each nail a few times to reach the thickness you’d like.

You’ll end up with something like this. Cover it in topcoat and allow to dry completely.

Press the decal to your skin a few times to release some of the glue and then fix them to your nails in the particular way you’d like them. Then cover with your nude nail polish. It may take one or two coats of the nude to cover completely.

And voila! A really cute hombre effect. I had some issues with the decals wanting to sit correctly on the left hand but oh well.

I really, really love how this turned out. The hombre was dazzling under the nude and I just love how the cutout turned out.

If you end up doing this awesome nail art look, make sure to let me know!

Thursday Tutorial: Zombie Nails

OK. I’m not a huge fan of zombies. There I admit it. That’s one fad that’s never stuck with me. Not sure why. These nails could also be considered as biohazard nails or nuclear meltdown nails or what have you. Or maybe even super villain nails. Cause they get turned into super villains due to toxic spills, right?

Supplies You’ll Need:

You’ll need a black base coat, I used Carpe Noctem’s Under the Cover of Night (LOVE this polish, seriously!); Poison Apple Cosmetics Zombie Tears, Mi Chiquita, Icy Air and Cherryberry Kiss (not pictured); a white polish (I used Zoya’s Purity); a matte topper, I used ButterLondon’s Matte Finish topcoat; and a high gloss topcoat of your choosing. You’ll also need a dotting tool or some other kind of nail art brush.

Apply your basecoat and let dry thoroughly.

Matteify one of your nails to use as an accent nail. Then, using your dotting tool and the white polish, create some drippy looking ooze spots on your nails. I tried doing this with just Zombie Tears, but it didn’t work, there’s no way to make it opaque enough to go on by itself. Doing it this way, you get a more vibrant opaque green that looks pretty freaking wicked.

Tapping one of your fingers in the shimmer polish (I used Icy Air for this), remove most of the excess polish. Using a steady hand, press your finger to your matte nail and lift straight up. Voila. Instant creepy fingerprint nail.

On a separate nail, paint a strip of white across it.

Color with yellow and then dribble some “blood” on top, making it drip down onto the “tape”.

Add a few layers of green to your white blobs until you reach the opacity you want. When done and dry, apply topcoat.

Write out CAUTION, or… If you’re like me… CAUTIN cause…. I couldn’t get the whole word on the nail… Cause I’m special…. Topcoat.

And VOILA! Perfectly creepy, oozy zombie nails that are sure to get some attention!

Grrr that picture turned out crappy.

Thursday Tutorial: Fall Trees

Helllloooooooooooo!!!! I am FINALLY getting a chance to post these. I’ve been so flipping busy it’s not even funny! But onto the tutorial!

Supplies You’ll Need

You’ll need: A good clear coat- I used Sally Hansen’s No Lamp Gel topcoat and LynBDesigns B-Shiny topcoat. You’ll also need some polishes of your choice. I used Stached Lacquers Lovely Luna’s Livery and Orodruin; Bella Bosio’s Roses are Gold, Autumn Rubies, White Gold Engagement and Galactic Rush (it’s on sale right now for $12!!!); and a nude polish- I chose OPI’s Samoan Sand. You’ll also need some chevron nail decals and some little tree decals unless you can freehand your own (which I probably could but I couldn’t find my nail art brush.)I got these from Neverland Lacquers during a sale they were having. I also used That’s a Wrap by Cinema Swatch to aid in cleanup, cause I knew it would be messy as all get out. You’ll also need a pair of tweezers and a porous sponge.

First up, paint your nails in the nude shade and put down your cleanup aid. Let this dry completely before continuing on.

Using the porous sponge, dip it in a little of your deepest color and stipple it onto your accent nails. I used Bella Bosio’s Autumn Rubies.

I then stippled Roses are Gold, then White Gold Engagement on top of the Autumn Rubies and covered it with LynBDesgins’ B-Shiny topper just to help the polish dry faster.

Using your tweezers (and a lot of patience) remove your tree vinyls from their background and place them on the nail.

Using a small piece of sponge and your tweezers, get a SMALL amount of polish gathered up, then pat most of it off. You don’t want a major amount on your sponge.

Using the darkest polish first, stipple on the “leaves” of the trees.

Continue stippling on the rest of the colors until you build up the color to your liking.

You’ll wind up with an end result like this. I REALLY like how it turned out. You can do this on every nail if you’d like. I have no idea why my nail shape is so screwed up. I didn’t even notice it until now. And now it’s glaringly obvious.

On the rest of the nails you have your pretty fall stippling on, once your polish is fully dry, apply your chevron decals. If you use a decal that has a lot of adhesive (and very strong adhesive) make sure that you put them on the skin of your hand or palm and take a lot of the sticky out of them. If not, you risk royally screwing them up. Cover the nail with your darker polish and remove the decals slowly and with a steady hand. Cover with the topcoat of your choice.

And voila! A gorgeous fall inspired mani!