Halloween Mani! Cheshire Cat Nails and Costume

Hello all! So yesterday was one of my favorite holidays, Halloween! I didn't really get to do anything exciting outside of work but work was a blast! Most of the staff dressed up as Disney characters and I was the Cheshire Cat from the movie Alice in Wonderland. My friend, who told me about the job, dressed as Alice! It was fun because we totally didn't plan it together. She did my face paint, which scared a couple of kids and most of them told me they found it creepy. haha. Oh well most of them could tell who I was suppose to be, which is fun. I'm going to share with you my nails I wore for the occasion and the costume I made!

As for my nails, I decided for each of my thumbs I would do the Cheshire's face. For my right hand I only did the smile because I'm still not that skilled painting with my left hand due to being right handed. For the rest of my nails I did his stripes. I painted the purple first which was a bad idea because it made the fuchsia color much darker than it really is, you can tell my looking at the thumb with his full face. 

I'm pretty happy with the way the nails came out. I started doing this mani with tape but I don't have proper nail tape so I lose patience and start painting the stripes themselves. So that's why they aren't perfect.

I was so surprised that I had proper Cheshire Cat colored polish! I do love my bright colors! 

What I used:

• Base colors: 
• Striped nails: LA Colors Fun in the Sun
• Left thumb: Zoya Charisma
• Right thumb: Sinful Colors Black on Black
• Stripes: Zoya Charisma
• Thumbs: White, black, yellow, red and pink acrylic paint
• Nail art brush and dotting tool

So I made my costume with furry ribbon stuff, safety pins, a sweater and jeans. I also made my ears with a headband, felt and cotton balls (genius idea thought up by Tara). I'm pretty happy with the way it came out.

The idea behind my costume was that I was the Cheshire Cat disappearing. In the original Disney movie he says, "Most everyone's mad here. You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself." He says this while he is vanishing. Below is the picture I used for my inspiration. 

I hope you all enjoyed the nails I painted to go along with my costume and my costume itself! What did you guys where on your nails for Halloween? And if you dressed up, what was your costume? I hope everyone had a fun Halloween this year!

Until next time,

Erin

Halloween Challenge! Day 4: Witches

Hello all! Sorry for the late post. My first week of work as been rather stressful. I've been so sore and so tired that I just haven't had the energy to blog, which makes me very sad. I was able to create witch nails for you, they aren't the best but here we go. I choose to do the Sanderson sisters from the movie Hocus Pocus; Winnie, Mary and Sarah.

Hocus Pocus is one of my favorite movies, I try to watch it every year for Halloween but sadly I no longer own it and it's not like I can go to a video store and rent it now... Anyways, I still need to work on my faces but for the most part I think my nails look like the Sisters and their cauldron of potion for the children!

I used polish for Winnie's hair and for the cauldron but everything else was acrylic paint. So what do you guys think? Don't be too harsh! I really like how my cauldron came out. The thumb looks crappy but I didn't know what to do for it. In hindsight, I should have done "the book." Oh well, I would like to do more Hocus Pocus nails in the future. 

Next week is freestyle and things that go bump in the night...Should be interesting. I feel like this topics are vary vague which leaves a lot of room but I'm so indecisive that sometimes it's hard for me to decided haha. I can't wait to see what everyone came up with today!

Until next time,
Erin

"This is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge! Day 3: Ghosts

Hello all! Today's challenge is ghosts! I absolutely love ghosts and just created a fun ghostly manicure for the 31 day challenge. I was very happy with that post, you can see it here. So for today's challenge I wanted to use one of the ghosts that I used for the last mani and I decided to go with Casper. Casper is a friendly ghost and he occasionaly has problems with these other ghosts, known as the Ghostly Trio. I've seen the early cartoons and the movies. Since Casper was a big part of my childhood, I thought he would be a fun ghost design, so I decided to create a design with him and the Ghostly Trio.

My nails depict (from thumb to pinky) Fatso, Stinky, Casper, Stretch and Casper's name. I knew the ghosts would just be black and white, so I decided to use a fun Holographic nail polish as the back ground. I think it really works! When I was telling Tara about the polish I totally said Horrorgraphic...haha I guess it's rather fitting for the ghosts! 

What I used:

• Base color: Kleancolor Holo Chrome
• Black and white acrylic paint
• Fine tipped nail art brush

So what do you guys think? I really love the way they came out! My thumb with Fatso makes me think of the earrings I use to have. The Fatso earrings were a tad heavy but I loved to wear them every October. I am pretty sad that they have gone missing. What is something you wear every October to celebrate Halloween? I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with for today's challenge!

Up next for this challenge is Jack-O-Lanterns! I am pretty excited to do these. By the way! I am starting my new job today! It's only part time but I am nervous about it and I'm not sure how my schedule will be so I might be a bit slow with blogging and returning comments! Also, I was asked to do a tutorial, which is coming but I have been having problems with it. Hopefully I can get it out to you guys soon. 

Until next time,

Erin

"This is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge! Day 1: Horror Movies

Hello all! I have decided to do another nail art challenge! This one was created by Bec of Lacquer Dreams. It technically started yesterday, but I found out about it last night and figured I should join in! This one has Ghosts and graveyard! How cool is that? So as of now I am currently doing two Halloween nail art challenges and two Halloween nail art contests. I'm also doing the Let's Do the Time Warp Challenge, which ends tomorrow, and on Friday I will be starting another challenge. I am a busy one! Today's objective was to create a design inspired by a horror movie.

I get scared horribly easier so I am not a huge fan of horror movies. I haven't seen many in my life, so my choices were limiting. I decided to go with one of my all time favorite movies, (which might not be considered a horror movie) Sleepy Hollow. When I saw it for the first time it really scared the crap out of me. Christopher Walken as the headless horsemen is pretty frightening!

This is pretty horrifying, right?

I hope this counts as a horror film. I know the story that the movie is based off of is a scary story, so it should count right? I think anything that includes a headless horseman should could has horror. For my nail art design I choose to go Tim Burton style and make it all grey and dark. I hope you all enjoy it!

I just love how the tree on my thumb came out. This is the tree that Ichabod discovers to be the gateway to hell. I'm very happy with all the detail. If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend that you do! 

What I used:

• Base coat: OPI Skull & Glossbones
• Black, white, red, yellow acrylic paint
• Sally Hansen Silver Sweep
• Nail art brushes

As I write this post I can't help but wonder... Is Halloween Johnny Depp's favorite holiday? I really hope it is! I really want to watch this movie now! Well I hope you enjoyed my post!

See you tomorrow!

Erin

31 Day Challenge! Day 23: Inspired By A Movie

Hello all! I just loved everyone's song post yesterday! I'm thinking today's posts are going to be just as fun!  I like to consider myself a real movie buff, so I was very excited about today's challenge. I love creating nail art based off movies, I just couldn't decided on what movie! Then the song "The Candy Man" popped into my head and it was like a light bulb went off. So there you have it, my movie is Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.

Let's Do the Time Warp Challenge! Day 4: Lights, camera, action!

Hello all! I intended to have this posted hours ago but something came up. So let's get on with it: Lights, camera, action! Today's objective was to pick a nostalgic movie, song, or piece of literature and turn into an awesome nail art design. I choose to do the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. I would have to say that these nails were probably the hardest I've ever done!

I choose to do a story with my nails. My left hand depicts the yellow brick road and how Dorothy (the ruby red slippers) is on her way to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz! I have the yellow brick road, some poppies and then I tried to do the Emerald City, which was really hard! Right in front of the city, I have four little stick figures to represent the gang.

Before I added some black outlines to the Emerald City.  Looks like a green blob right?

 Which brings me to my right hand! I have Dorothy herself, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and of course, Toto. I just love how my Scarecrow turned out and Toto is just adorable. Unfortunately Dorothy looks like a creepy possessed doll, while the Tin man looks like Humpty Dumpty coated in silver paint haha.

I just love how Toto came out! 

What I used:

• Base color: Sally Hansen White On
• Yellow: Ulta Sun-sational
• Red: OPI Rudolph Red
• Brown: China Glaze Street Chic
• Silver: Sally Hansen Silver Sweep
• The rest of the colors are all acrylic paint. I mixed some. All the colors used: black, white, blue, yellow, red, peach.
• Fine tipped nail art brush
• Dotting tools for eyes

Here was the picture I used for inspiration:

Despite this film being from 1939, it is still an amazing and classic work of art. Generations have seen it and I believe will continue to see it for years to come. I definitely think this film deserves to have some spotlight.

Next week is definitely going to be a challenge, Day 5 especially! We have to create a manicure inspired by an influential women in history. Day 6 is going to be fun, since I already have a classic game in mind :)

See you tomorrow with more nail art!

Erin

2012 Summertime Challenge! Week 7: Inspired by a movie

Hello all! It's Friday, which means it's the start of another week of my 2012 summertime challenge! Week 7 was a hard challenge. The goal was to choose a movie that is either based in summer or has some summer fun in the movie. I decided to go with one of my all time favorite movies that takes place during the summer of 1963.

Dirty Dancing is one of my all time favorite movies. I can't really give a reason as to why it is, but I really love this movie. Since it's based during the summer of 1963, I thought it would be perfect for today's challenge.

It was very hard to come up with a design for this movie. I suck at drawing or painting people, so I decided to just depict Baby's hair and the pretty pink dress she wears at the end of the film. I then decided to include the watermelons that Baby helps carry. This is the part were she first talks to Johnny and she says something really goofy, "I carried a watermelon." I really love that line. I have been in similar situations many times haha. As for my pinky, I went with inspiration from a scene that really doesn't make any sense to me. Baby is asked to participate in the night's festivities which means getting sawed in half and winning a chicken. WTF. I don't think I will ever get that part of the film but it made it on to my nails for being so memorable for me. 

I watched the entire movie while I painted my nails, so it took me some time to create this nail art design. I found that outlining letters makes them easier to read. 

What I used: 

• Base color: Thumb- NYC Purple Pizzazz, Index- China Glaze Street Chic, OPI Alpine Snow for the rest of my nails
• I mixed a lot of my acrylic paint together (for all of the nails.) Colors mixed together include: White, black, red, yellow, blue and peach. 
• OPI Jade is the New Black for the watermelon stripes. 
• Sally Hansen Silver Sweep for the saw
• Fine detailed nail art brush

I really hope you guys enjoy my Dirty Dancing nails. I think next time I am going to do Johnny themed nails since this time was pretty much all about Baby. Here's a clip of the watermelon scene for your amusement:

There's only two weeks of the challenge left. It's kind of sad and surprising that summer is almost over! Where has the time gone? Next week's theme should be as challenging as this weeks, here's a reminder of what next week's theme is:

Week 8: Inspired by a summer song--- What song paints the picture of summertime to you? Be creative! 

I'm looking forward to next week. The 31 Day Challenge will continue, as will this challenge, and (since I am crazy) I am going to be starting another challenge next week! Details to come later. 

Until next time,
Erin

A Stranger...from the Outside. OOOooo!

Hello! I have a cute mani for you today. Inspired by the oh so adorable aliens from the Toy Story movies, these quotable little things are just so cute but not so easy to do on your nails. I hope to try this mani again and have better results but for now I hope you all enjoy!

As you can see, though adorable, the aliens came out a little smushed...I think what my problem is, is that my nails are to short. I don't know why but a couple of my nails keep cracking and peeling at the tips, which is making me have to shorten them. Does any one know how to avoid this? I always use a base coat, I just don't know what's up with it...but ya anyways this means I have to keep shortening my nails, which leads to certain designs being difficult. Thus why the poor aliens mouths look whack. Also their little pizza planet sigil came out to look more like blobs rather than the little plants they were suppose to be...

So I first painted two coats of essence Lime Up! onto my nails. This essence shade is only $1 at Ulta and it reminds me a lot of the OPI color, "Who the Shrek are you?" It's a really cool color but it looks awful against my skin tone by itself, so this will be a color that I use for stamping and sponging and what not. Then I painted half of my nail with the essence polish Let's Get Lost. This is a fantastic blueish teal. Just love this color. I wanted the suits of the aliens to have a little more shine however, so I wanted a layer of Julep Megan. I used L.A. colors Fun in the sun as the purple collar and essence Hard to resist as the belts and shoes. The sigil was Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow and the mouths were OPI's Jade is the new black mixed with white. 

Here's an outline of what I used:

Base coat: Essie Ridge filling base coat

Base color: essence Lime Up

Bottom half of nails: essence Let's get Lost, with one thin coat of Julep Megan

Purple collar: L.A. colors Fun in the Sun

Navy belt/shoes: essence Hard to Resist

Mouth: OPI Jade is the new Black mixed with white polish. 

Pizza plant sigil: Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

Eyes: black and white stripper polish with dotting tools. 

For the most part, I think the aliens came out cute. They were definitely a challenge but good practice with my nail art brushes. What movies or characters inspire you? I hope to have a segment on my blog where, at least once a month, I have a movie inspired day. I think that will be fun. I've purchased a few bottles of acrylic paint, so creating characters will be a bit simpler. Practice makes perfect right?

Enjoy this clip from the movie that inspired this manicure!

I hope you all enjoyed my post for today. Also, just a reminder, please choose a reaction to my post! Thanks!

Until next time,
☮Erin