Happy Halloween: Cracked and bloody nails!

cracked and "bloody" nails

cracked and "bloody" nails

cracked and "bloody" nails

Doesn't he look good in orange?

Painted Hand

First time painting my face.

Zombie Nails

As Halloween approaches, I like to play around more with the gruesome inspired concepts. I cranked these Zombie Nails out just using what I had on hand, the tools included the use of nail polish, a makeup sponge wedge, a Q-tip, and a sharp edge of a disposable chopstick (you can use any tool at your disposal). This design takes very little time and this effect is great for using your natural nails! 

Step 1: Apply a base coat.
Step 2: Apply a neutral skin tone, I used my favorite french manicure base, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength #62 'I do'.
Step 3: Apply a thick coat of glow in the dark nail polish, which you can find at most seasonal Halloween Costume Branches or online.
Step 4: Take an dark red color, I recommend shades that are darker than an oxblood polish, and apply it to the edges of your nail and to the cuticle, vary the portions of the nails that get painted darkly, as you don't want the nails to look uniform. This gives the effect of aging blood. I used a darker shade that resembles a shade of eggplant by OPI 'Lincoln Park After Dark'.
Step 5: take a more realistic blood red shade of polish, as I mentioned earlier I only used what I had on hand. I used #38 Sacred Scarlet by Sally Hansen.
Step 6: Bring out your makeup sponge wedge and lightly dab over the red to spread the shade and start building texture.
Step 7: Take a Q-tip and run it along a fresh layer of polish to allow some of the fibers to stick to the nail before pressing them down with the sponge wedge to set. I used this on two of the nails that I left all red, as if the finger nail was missing. If you do this, I recommend cutting the nail as short as possible, I left my nails uniform, as I will be using another design for Halloween.
Step 8: Apply it on top of the darker shade in blood like streaks, I used a variation of a red deco art polish and the polish used in step 5. Use your imagination and whatever you feel looks good.
Step 9: Re-apply the glow in the dark nail polish on different parts of the nail, especially on the areas of the nail left nude. This gives a milky and almost bone like sheen. When you apply each layer remember to keep it thick, as you can go over it with a scraping tool (I used a chopstick) to create rivets and cracks. Afterwards, fill in the cracks with the bright red polish to give the effect of a fresh wound.
Step 10: Remember to use the sponge to keep building up a texture, as if you had ripped off part of the nail.
Step 11: Touch up on areas that that might have been dulled by the glow in the dark. Or go over a part of the red nail with the glow in the dark to create the allusion of bruising under the nail. Be creative!
Step 12: Apply a top coat and your done!

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October Geometric Shape Nails

When October comes around, I'm always playing around with new nail designs. Because its always fun coming up with something unexpected. It's a great time to test my creativity. I work free hand, so for a first trail and error, the white triangles came out okay. I had fun with the color scheme and plan on experimenting more with geometric designs in the future. For those interested, here is my process: 

Step 1: Apply base coat

Step 2: Choose a base color, I chose orange.

Step 3: Next take your next color, I picked a reddish brown polish by Elf, and taking your brush start from the cuticle and swipe down in one motion. Make sure the brush bristles fan wide and stay flat. I centering the brown bar and kept it wide at the tip of the nail. This allows the orange base color to frame the nail, almost like a geometric manicure.

Step 4: Where my thumb ends and the nail tip begins, I took the 'Smoky Brown' by Elf polish, and covered only the brown bar. 

Step 5: Apply a different polish to the tip of each nail. I like 'Twilight Rays' by Maybelline Color Show. Make sure to keep everything centered.

Step 6: Creating the dot. Dip the brush into your chosen color, I chose Revlon Top Speed #320 'Jaded' mint polish, and let a drop slide of the brush directly onto the nail. Then take a flat end of a chopstick (the disposable kind), and press lightly down so that the circle spreads wider and dries flat instead of raised.

Step 7: Afterwards take a white Art Deco brush or nail pen and free-hand an arrow, starting at the cuticle, with the point just meeting the mint dot. Then take a white polish, I used China Glaze's #023 'White on White' to fill in the triangular arrow, covering the orange and the brown bar.

Step 8: Apply the top coat.

Please share or leave a comment if you found this interesting or useful & enjoy!

geometric nails

geometric nails

geometric nails