Pinwheel Polish – Revelation & Tangled Web Swatches I was so sad that I forgot about the release for these and they sold out before I had a chance to get them, but Janna restocked and I’m so glad I was able to get these two! The exceptions to my no buy! First up, Revelation. I used two coats over white to make the glitters really stand out and for full opacity, plus top coat. I messed up the base on my middle finger and didn’t feel like taking it off so I painted a little ghostie and took care of the little smudge. I think my favorite thing about this is that since it’s just white, grey, and black, it’s not really a Halloween only polish. Next, Tangled Web. I fell in love with this the second I saw it and it might just be my favorite Halloween indie polish this year. I used two coats over black for full opacity, plus top coat. Look at all that glitter! Even one coat had a ton, but I was greedy and used an extra. Three coats probably would have given me full glitter coverage. It’s insane. I’m such a sucker for glitter polishes with really high glitter payoff and this one is so perfect!

Frankenstein and Halloween Patchwork Nails The part I thought would be a disaster is my favorite part of this mani, and the part I thought would look fine, I actually hate. Life… I had never done patchwork nails, but always thought they looked so cute. I planned on using striping tape or nail vinyls, but decided against them to save some hassle. I started with my green base on all nails, and made my beginner patches with orange and purple. Once dry, I used a striping brush and black acrylic paint for the seams. For Frankenstein, I used a mini chevron nail vinyl for his hair, a striping brush and acrylic paint for his scars, and acrylic paint and dotting tools for his eyes. I wish I would have either made his hair come down further, made his eyes bigger, or centered his eyes in the green part of that nail better. Polishes: China Glaze – Shore Enuff, X-Ta-Sea, If In Doubt Surf It Out Details with acrylic paints

Candy Corn Water Marble Nails I honestly don’t know what I was planning when I even started these besides “I want to water marble”. Uh… solid black on index and pinky with orange bows from Amazon. Started with a white base on middle and ring fingers and marbled orange, yellow, and white. Wasn’t too pleased with the marble so I added some dots which I’ve never done before. For something that was just kinda let’s just go with it and see what happens, not bad I guess. And I don’t even know which exact colors I used in the marble. I tried a few combos of different oranges, yellows, and whites because I always had one that wouldn’t marble right.

Mummy Nails I did my nails six times in a row to catch up on some of my Halloween plans before it’s too late. October flew by, and I hate it. I’m not sure why, but I’ve never done mummy nails. They’re so simple and so cute! I started with a white base, mixed a light grey with acrylic paint and painted the lines on with a striping brush. For the eyes, I used a larger dotting tool and red acrylic paint, and a medium sized dotting tool and black acrylic paint. Wait for the paint to dry completely and apply top coat! Easy peasy and look how cute!!

Breast Cancer Awareness Nails It’s hard to adjust to using light colors again after Halloween everything lately. I had hoped to use my new awareness ribbon stencils/vinyls I got for this mani, but I had some trouble with them. First, they’re too big for my nails. Boo. Second, when I was trying to position them (before I realized they were too big), they kept lifting polish up with them when they barely even touched my nail! So I gave up on those and just free handed the ribbon. It’s not perfect, but until now, I had no experience painting those ribbons. Polishes used: Essie – Romper Room Sally Hansen – Candy Drops Bliss Polish – Dandelion China Glaze – Feel The Breeze

Nailed Kit Jack O Lantern Decals A while back I had the chance to try and review Nailed Kit’s decals from one of their summer collections. It was my first time using water decals and I fell in love with how easy it was! So when I saw their Halloween/October decals, I had to have them. To save money, I subscribed to the monthly club ($10 for 2 sets every month instead of $8 a sheet. Yes, please!). I wanted to keep it simple since it was late and I knew I’d be waking up early. I couldn’t decide which face I liked better, so I used both! One on each hand. Polishes used: Zoya – Dahlia Zoya – Cosmo China Glaze – Stoked To Be Soaked (I know!) Nailed Kit Jack O Lantern Decals

Halloween Water Marble Nails I really only have one good orange crème and I’ve been using it like crazy these past few weeks. But now I have this awesome orange holo from Bliss Polish which made this mani even better! My plans were for an orange crème with black and clear marble over it. Not terribly exciting. Then I bought this polish and it became a little cooler. Then when I was top coating I thought, hey, why not add this new charm I just got! And ta-da! Polishes: Bliss Polish – The New Black Salon Perfect – Oil Slick And a cheap clear polish I had stashed Charm: Daily Charme – Skeleton Hand (Silver)

Gold and Black Halloween Spider Web Nails I bought that spider charm with this exact mani in mind in like… June! I started with black on my index and pink fingers and gold on my middle and ring fingers. I applied top coat to the black and placed the studs while the top coat was sticky. Once the gold was completely dry, I placed spider web nail vinyls from Nails Redesigned facing opposite directions and painted a coat of black over them. I quickly and carefully removed the vinyls with tweezers and waited for the polish to dry again. After the black was dry, I applied top coat to both nails and used tweezers to place the spider charm in place while the top coat was sticky. Polishes: Salon Perfect – Oil Slick, Gold Leaf, & Top Coat Spider Web Vinyls: Nails Redesigned Charm: Hex Nail Jewelry – Tarantula Charm

Born Pretty Water Decals - Camouflage Pattern

These decals are also different than ones I’ve used before. Instead of already being sized for individual nails, you cut your selection out of a large piece of the pattern. It might sound a little tricky, but it’s seriously so easy!

To apply, trim around your design, remove the clear protective coating on the front of the design (I forgot this a few times. Makes things really difficult or even impossible.), submerge in water for 10-15 seconds, slide off the design, place on nail and apply top coat! When you apply the top coat, the part of the decal hanging over the edge of the nail will start to shrink and dissolve. Use a tooth pick or manicure stick to wrap this under the edge of your nail. If you have excess on your cuticles, acetone easily dissolves the decal to make for easy clean up.

If you love these decals, you can get them at Born Pretty Store, item #15194, and use code “YEEDX31” for 10% off your purchase!

Polishes used:

Salon Perfect - Oil Slick and Top Coat

Born Pretty Water Decals - Hawaiian Palm Trees

Definitely glad I had some super fine tipped scissors laying around, there’s no way I would have gotten these cut out with normal ones.

These decals come with a ton of different sized palm trees, some facing left, some facing right, in two different color options (black or red/orange).

To apply, trim around your design, remove the clear protective coating on the front of the design (I forgot this a few times. Makes things really difficult or even impossible.), submerge in water for 10-15 seconds, slide off the design, place on nail and apply top coat! When you apply the top coat, the part of the decal hanging over the edge of the nail will start to shrink and dissolve. Use a tooth pick or manicure stick to wrap this under the edge of your nail. If you have excess on your cuticles, acetone easily dissolves the decal to make for easy clean up.

If you love these decals, you can get them at Born Pretty Store, item #16606, and use code “YEEDX31” for 10% off your purchase!

Polishes used:

Maybelline (Bleached Neons) - Pink Punch, Bleached In Peach, Citrus Collide I used the saran wrap technique to achieve the marbled look behind the palm trees using all three colors.

Born Pretty Water Decals - French Edge Flower Pattern

I’m officially a part of Born Pretty’s blogger program! I have so many tools and accessories from them already, so I’m super excited about this opportunity! I have three different water decals to show off today.

First up is some floral print french edge decals. I’ve only used water decals three times before this, all small designs, so I was definitely nervous how this would go. I watched a tutorial video that eased my nervousness a little bit. I really don’t know why now that it’s all over. These decals are super easy to use and look beautiful!

To apply, trim around your design, remove the clear protective coating on the front of the design (I forgot this a few times. Makes things really difficult or even impossible.), submerge in water for 10-15 seconds, slide off the design, place on nail and apply top coat! When you apply the top coat, the part of the decal hanging over the edge of the nail will start to shrink and dissolve. Use a tooth pick or manicure stick to wrap this under the edge of your nail. If you have excess on your cuticles, acetone easily dissolves the decal to make for easy clean up.

If you love these decals, you can get them at Born Pretty Store, item #15597, and use code “YEEDX31” for 10% off your purchase!

Polishes used:

Essie - Romper Room Salon Perfect - Top Coat

Halloween Nail Art - Freehanded Cemetery

I bought my first set of not $1 brushes from Amazon a few weeks ago from Winstonia. I’ve been dying to use them but A) haven’t known what to do B) been scared to use them because they’re so perfect and beautiful and I don’t want to mess them up! The pack I got is the Glam Gadgets 8 piece set. I’m so glad I gave in and bought them. Obviously i could still use some practice, but I can already tell a difference in the detail.

Polishes used:

Sinful Colors - My Turn and Garden Party Acrylic craft paints. Always make sure the paint is TOTALLY dry before you apply your top coat. Craft paint smears a lot worse than polish if it’s not all the way dry!

Halloween Saran Wrap Mani

Not too crazy about how these turned out. Boo… I used the saran wrap technique to marble orange, green, and purple, and used a small and tiny rhinestone for accents on each nail.

Polishes used:

China Glaze - Shore Enuff Ulta - Celebutante Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed Salon Perfect - Top Coat

Halloween Bats Mani

I love bats! I got the stencils for this mani from @nails_redesigned as a part of the Perfect Polish Pack. The stencils were a little too big for my nails, but that meant random placement of the bats. I did not want to take these off! They turned out exactly how I wanted! ~drools~

Polishes used:

Ulta - Devious Ulta - Clebutante Salon Perfect - Oil Slick

I have a crazy list of Halloween mani ideas. I've already started working on them (obviously) along with some Halloween indie polish swatches. I can't wait to share!

Made this little polish in between mixing batches for the preorders.

Other polishes:

China Glaze - Stoked To Be Soaked Salon Perfect - Oil Slick Zoya - Dahlia

I used mini chevrons from nailvinyls.com for the accent.

Bliss Polish's Sons of Anarchy 2 Collection Swatches

Bobby Elvis - Three coats, no top coat

Chibs - Two coats, no top coat

Juice - Two coats, no top coat

Nero - Two coats, no top coat

Tig - Two coats, dries matte, applied glossy top coat over ring and pinky fingers

Venus - Three thin coats, no top coat

Polishes used:

China Glaze - Bump In The Night Salon Perfect - Oil Slick Zoya - CosmoLiving Dead Lacquer - It's Alive!

You can pick up the polish I'm holding RIGHT NOW from Living Dead Lacquer, my new polish brand! Until 9/30/14, you can pick up the full 5 piece collection for the price of 4 individual bottles!