FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin

Hello all. I hope you are enjoying your afternoon. I'm excited for my sister visiting this weekend but this also means I have to hand over the polishes she loaned me including FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin. :-( It's so pretty.

I have swatches of this gorgeous sparkle packed polish over orange (Zoya Arizona), white (SH White On) & black (CG Liquid Leather).

 FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin over ZOYA Arizona

FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin over SALLY HANSEN White On

FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin over CHINA GLAZE Liquid Leather

I had to blow up that last one bigger so you can see all of the gorgeous colors packed into this; red, green, gold & orange. It's gorgeous over black. The black really brings out the full spectrum of color from Creepy Pumpkin.

I am so bummed to return this to my sister. She's really great about sharing her polish with me and her stash is much more extensive than mine so I'm sure I'll find more to snag from her.

Thanks for popping in!

"This is Halloween" Jack-o-Lanterns

It's the 4th challenge in the "This is Halloween" nail art challenge. Today's theme: Jack-o-lanterns!

Last year I remember seeing these completely unique and awesome Jack-o-lantern nails over at Nails by Kayla Shevonne. I went to her blog searching because I remember she had a tutorial for them. Well, I found said tutorial and decked my nails out.

Jack-o-Lanterns

I added CHINA GLAZE Ghoulish Glow to the cut out parts of the jack-o-lanterns, but I had one heck of a time capturing the glow. Here is the "best" (and I use that term loosely) photo of it.

Colors used:
   • base color - CHINA GLAZE Liquid Leather
   • base color glitter - CHINA GLAZE Skyscraper
   • Jack-o-lantern cut-out color - SALLY HANSEN XTREME WEAR Sun Kissed
   • Jack-o-lantern cut-out color - CHINA GLAZE Roguish Red
   • glowing top coat - CHINA GLAZE Ghoulish Glow
   • I used white and black acrylic paints as well to make the orange pop on top of the black and then to cover up any mistakes and add detail to the shapes

Kayla is extremely talented and artistic and this design and tutorial are both fantastic. I absolutely love how it turned out. This is the epitome of Halloween nails.

Thanks for popping in!

"This is Halloween" Water Marble Challenge

Today is the 2nd day of the "This Is Halloween" nail art challenge and it's water marbling.

This technique is not one I have perfected by any means. I have 2 designs to share today, one is from last year and one is from today. I hope you enjoy!

Orange Water Marble

Colors used:
   • FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin
   • ZOYA Arizona (base color)
   • SALLY HANSESN XTREME WEAR Sun Kissed
   • FINGER PAINTS Orange-Cordur

I had other plans for this manicure when I started out, but if you've done water marbling before than you know not all polishes work. I ended up going all orange because these colors worked the best in the water.

I also wanted to share with you the water marbling I did last year for Halloween when I wasn't actively blogging.

I added a cute skull decal I picked up from Sallys as an accent. The black certainly pops more and I was trying to use it in this years, but the polish refused to spread in the water.

Water marbling takes a lot of patience to be sure. I love how the end result is always unique and pretty. I do feel that I still need more practice with this technique.

Thanks for popping in!
I wish the inlinkz where different for each challenge, sorry the links are cluttered between two of the challenge days!

Autumn Trees Gradient

Today is the Autumnal Equinox which means fall is officially upon us. Fall is hands-down my favorite holiday. I love when the trees change colors and lose their leaves. I love wearing tall boots and scarves and drinking warm beverages. It means it's time to snuggle by the fire pit with my husband. Also, one of the BEST parts of fall is that Halloween is coming!

I found a beautiful nail art picture via Pinterest that I tried to recreate today. I tried searching to find where this photo originated from, but I could not locate the source. It's frustrating when people link their images back to their Pinterest Home Page just to get traffic instead of linking back to it's originating website.

Autumn Trees Gradient

Here is my inspiration picture. (if you recognize where this image is from, please let me know so I can properly cite the talented artist and turn this image into a link to their website)

Found on Pinterest - source unknown

It's beautiful, isn't it? I tried to make my trees as organically flowing as she did but needless to say I struggled with that a bit. Also, about 2 nails in I realized I was doing my art upside down, oops. This made it a bit more difficult to capture a good picture hence the upside down photos. Perfect capture of the trees changing during fall. I would LOVE to know where this is from!

Colors used in my photos:
   • FINGER PAINTS Cordur-Orange
   • CHINA GLAZE Lemon Fizz
   • JULEP Cameron
   • KONAD Special Polish in Black
   • Mixture of ZOYA Melanie & SALLY HANSEN Xtreme Wear White On

Well, HAPPY FALL to all of my lovely followers. Thanks for popping in!

Red, Orange & Yellow + Crackle

Hello, lovelies. I hope you are all having a fine and dandy Friday.

Last night I painted my friend Stephanie's nails. I  sponged on an orange, red & yellow gradient which I topped with a black crackle (China Glaze Black Mesh).

Yellow, Orange & Red Gradient

Black CG Crackle on top

Colors used:
   • CHINA GLAZE Lemon Fizz
   • CHINA GLAZE Black Mesh
   • SINFUL COLORS Ruby Ruby
   • SALLY HANSEN xTREME WEAR Sun Kissed 150

Who says crackle has come and gone, pssh. Granted I do not see myself picking up any new crackles at this point in time, but that doesn't mean I can't still enjoy the ones I have! I've done Melissa's (my other sister) nails with crackle and she really liked it too.

Thanks for popping in!

Orange Spring Tips

Hello, ladies. Summer is getting closer and the weather is getting hotter. Today I went with a bright orange tipped manicure. I think it's a fun play on the classic french that is perfect for Spring.

I started off with 2 coats of Essie Allure as my base color. For my tips I chose Zoya Arizona. Arizona is a fantastic sherbert orange cream. 

Zoya Arizona tips over Essie Allure - shade

Zoya Arizona tips - direct sunlight

To get that curved shape I used reinforcement stickers which I peeled off while the polish was still wet. If you wait until your polish has started to dry, the polish may peel off on the edge with the sticker.

The sun really brought out the milkyness of Allure, but indoors and in the shade it just has more of a great shine to it like the top picture.

I hope you all have a great rest of your day and thanks for popping in!

ZOYA Coraline

Hi, girls. I hope you are all doing well. Today is my hubby's birthday and my father-in-law is here for just under a week. We took him to see Avengers today (our 3rd time) and then he took us out for hibachi. I have some key lime pie for them for later here at the house.

Today I switched from ZOYA Kate to ZOYA Coraline. Kate was still looking perfect from my application on Monday. Coraline (created by Eleventh Gorgeous)is a tangerine jelly polish that is crazy juicy. It is also one of the trio from the Zoya Blogger Collection by Birchbox. These polishes have SO much shine on them that I get caught up staring at them. I have pictures of 1, 2 and 3 coats of applications. Coraline is a bit sheer, but I was happy with the opacity after 3 coats. 1-2 still had VNL.

Coraline - 3 coats w/ top coat

Coraline - 2 coats no topcoat

Coraline - 1 coat no topcoat

ZOYA Coraline

This color totally POPS, right!? Love, love love. Just a reminder that this trio is sold exclusively by Birchbox and costs $22. There is currently a wait list on the monthly boxes from Birchbox, but if you are interested in signing up for $10 a month click here.

Well, time to get back to my birthday man and Father-in-Law. Have a great night, ladies and thanks for popping in!