Halloween Nail Art! Bats Emerging!

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying the long weekend - I sure have been!
It has been a while since we had a full weekend of sunshine and with the extra day, we've definitely taken advantage of it. 

Now, I know I'm a little early on this one. I was going to post this design next week but, due to my bad organization skills, you get it this week! Lucky you! Ha ha.
I 'accidentally' purchased several Halloween stamping plates a few months ago, so I have a lot of potential design ideas floating around in my head. But, let's start with something nice and easy; a simple gradient with some stamping. 

Halloween Bats Emerging Nail Art

I used these polishes for this mani:
Matte Purple by BYS Cosmetics
Mellow Yellow by Sally Hansen
Ready To Take Off by UNT Cosmetics
Kwik Dry Top Coat by Sally Hansen
Big Matte Top Coat by Sally Hansen
Black Stamping Polish by Emily de Molly

I also used these tools:
Liquid Latex by LuLaa
Stamping Plate BPL-031
Stamping Plate Celebration BPX-L007
Clear stamper
Scraper
Mani Saver
Cotton wool with acetone
Cosmetic Sponge

Halloween Bats Emerging Nail Art with Mellow Yellow

I started with Ready To Take Off for the base (this is just quicker than cotton pads and acetone, as I will be repainting my nails for an event next week). Once that was dry, I applied two coats of Mellow Yellow. For some reason, the second coat was taking quite long to dry, so I ended up applying Kwik Dry Top Coat over it to help the process along. While that was drying, I painted liquid latex around each nail.
After allowing that to dry, I applied Mellow Yellow and Matte Purple horizontally onto a cosmetic sponge and began dabbing it over each nail. I moved the sponge up and down to get even coverage whilst creating a slight gradient, reapplying polish to the sponge as necessary. Once I was satisfied, I removed the liquid latex and then applied another coat of Kwik Dry Top Coat before reapplying the liquid latex to protect my skin from the stamping polish.
Next, I gathered my stamping tools. I applied Black Stamping Polish over the design I wanted on plate BPX-L007, scraped over it, picked up the image and pressed it onto the nail. Cleaning the plate between uses with my mani saver and a cotton ball, I also removed the liquid latex after each stamp. I used this stamp on my index and pinkie nails. These steps were repeated for my middle and ring nails, with a different image on plate BPL-031. After allowing time to dry, I applied Kwik Dry Top Coat to seal it all in and finished off with Big Matte Top Coat. 

Halloween Bats Emerging Nail Art with Matte Purple

I'm pretty happy with this design. I didn't want to do another orange Halloween design like last year, so I decided to do purple and yellow because I feel that's still pretty Halloween-y. Plus, they're opposing colours of the colour wheel so you know they'll go well together!
I was aiming for a sort of creepy sunset look, with the bats coming out for the night. 

What do you think?
Do you do Halloween nails?
Leave me a comment below!

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Hamsa Polka-dot Nail Art

Hola everybody!

I hope you're all doing well.

This week has been very draining on me. I think I might be coming down with something, but it's taking its time getting here. It's causing some serious headaches, so I'm sorry if this blog isn't my strongest. I'll try my best, and hopefully my lovely boyfriend/editor will be able to help.

I took some inspiration from a few images on one of my Pinterest boards. See if you can figure it out which one I used, here. I try not to take directly from other people's nail art, rather just draw inspiration and ideas from them. I had a vague idea of what I was doing, I just needed to pick some polishes and a stamp.
I recently picked up some discounted Sinful Colors from the pastel neon matte collection that has been sitting in the "to be used" section of my polish shelf for a little while now. Obviously, I had to use them. I'll leave the details for now, but you can find a list of polishes and tools just below. 

Hamsa Polka-dot Nail Art 

These are the polishes I used:
Under The Inbluence by Sinful Colors
Quick Study by Sinful Colors
Black Stamping Polish by Emily de Molly
Top and Base Coat by Rimmel
Big Kwik Dry Top Coat by Sally Hansen
Big Matte Top Coat by Sally Hansen

I also used these tools:
Stamping Plate BP-05 by Born Pretty
Medium dotting tool
Large clear stamper
Scraper
Mani Saver
Sandwich bag

Hamsa Polka-dot Nail Art with Quick Study

I started by applying Top and Base Coat. After drying, I applied two generous coats of Quick Study. I say generous because these polishes have a habit of drying too quickly and then I end up pulling the polish off my nails, which is not a good look. Unfortunately, this dose means a longer drying time, but it wasn't too bad.
Once that was finally dry, I grabbed a sandwich bag and placed a drop of Under The Inbluence on it. Taking my medium dotting tool, I dipped it into the polish and began creating a polka-dot design on each nail. I did this by creating a zig-zag pattern with the dots.
Next, I grabbed Stamping plate BP-05 and my other stamping tools. Choosing the design I wanted, I painted over it with Black Stamping Polish, scraped off the excess, picked up the image with my stamper and pressed it onto my middle nail. I placed the image on the lower half of the nail, with it angling to the right. Cleaning the plate with my mani saver and a cotton ball, I repeated this step with my ring finger, but angling the image to the left. As you can see, I didn't place this image quick enough and some of it didn't transfer, but that happens.
I then applied Kwik Dry Top Coat and, once that was dry, finished off with Big Matte Top Coat. 

Hamsa Polka-dot Nail Art with Under The Inbluence & Quick Study

I'm pretty happy with the results of this one. I have always enjoyed a good polka-dot design. These colours are perfect as well; there's nothing better than pastel polka-dots!

I have been trying to use all of my stamping plates; I still have so many with the blue film on them and I haven't bought any in months! The image I used came from one of these plates, which worked out pretty well for me. 

The Hamsa goes well with all the yoga-related designs I've been doing lately. I do realize the last yoga design I did was very similar in the way of stamping placement and that it was also matte. Obviously I liked it though, so why not do it again?
I'll try and be a bit more creative with the next one.

What do you think?

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Spring Inspired Gradient & Stamping

Hello lovelies!

We have had some beautiful spring weather the last few days, so I thought this mani would be fairly fitting.

I really love the way they turned out. I think I could wear this design all year long! At the moment I am trying to break out of my comfort zone a little and try new techniques. This one isn't too far from what I usually do, but I'd never tried a vertical gradient before. I tell you what, I really like it. I think it brings a whole new depth to nail art!

For this one I used:
BYS - Isn't She Lovely
BYS - Matte Violet Frosting
BYS - Matte Mint Candy
BYS - Sky's The Limit
Essie - Blanc
Born Pretty - White Stamping Polish
piCture pOlish - D'day Matte Top Coat
Born Pretty Stamping Plate - BP - X05
Celestial - camo coat.

I started with two coats of Blanc for a base. Once dry I applied Camo Coat around the cuticles. While that was drying I applied three coats of Isn't She Lovely to my pinky nail, and Matte Mint Candy to my thumb. I took Isn't She Lovely and Matte Violet Frosting and painted them onto a makeup sponge, applied a thin layer of Blanc over the Matte Violet Frosting to de-saturate it a little, then dabbed it onto my ring finger, making sure Isn't She Lovely was on the left side. I continued to do this until I reached the right opacity, which was quite a bit due to the pale colour of Isn't She Lovely. I let each layer dry for a few seconds before continuing. Once that was complete, I removed the Camo Coat on that finger. I did the same steps for my middle finger, but used Matte Violet Frosting and Sky's The Limit instead. Same again for my ring finger, except with Sky's The Limit and Matte Mint Candy. Once they had all dried I grabbed my BP - X05 stamping plate and White Stamping Polish, and stamped the same design onto each nail. I finished with G'day Matte Top Coat to soften it even more. 

I really enjoyed this design, but it was a little time consuming. Probably the most so far. But I am okay with that because every time I looked at them, they made me smile. What do you think?
Thanks for stopping by!