Hocus Pocus Series Part 2: Sarah Sanderson

This is part 2 of my Hocus Pocus Halloween manicure series. Part 1 was based on Mary Sanderson, you can see it here.

Sarah is my favourite character from Hocus Pocus. Played by Sarah Jessica Parker, this sister is fun, a bit ditzy, boy crazy and wears the sexiest dress.

Once more I took the inspiration for the manicure from the outfit she wears.

To start off I layered China Glaze I Love Hue with China Glaze Below Deck (mauve and red, like her dress) and I noticed she seemed to have a shimmery overlay on the bust of the dress, so I threw on a coat of OPI It's My Year.

After that I used striping tape and made a lace-up/criss cross/ corset design, painted over it with a miscellaneous burgundy-red that I have in my stash and presto - Sarah Sanderson manicure.

I like this manicure because it can be very versatile, especially if you're being almost any sexy female version of something - witch, fairy, pirate, vampiress, etc. It was just a huge pain in the butt to cut all the little pieces of tape so I'm  glad I got this one done on a weekend, it took longer than my normal manis.

I borrowed my Mom's camera for these photos but I don't think I'm a fan, I'll try to get some different pictures with my own later on during the week when the sun comes back out.

Part 3 will obviously by Winifred Sanderson - but that won't be coming until Wednesday or Thursday. See you then!

Halloween Stripe Madness

I just got my order of striping tape in the mail today and luckily enough I was already wearing glitter polish. I wanted my first slim striped manicure to be a sparkly one so it was super easy to just throw some black on top of my current nails.

I didn't want to do anything symmetrical or the same pattern, I wanted to go wild with it.

Glitter: Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice, Love & Beauty Rust.

Black is by Rimmel London, Black Satin.

Okay so there's a few things I didn't like about this. First of all, the striping tape is VERY thin and flimsy. That would be great if I was keeping it on the nail but it was difficult to work with. Secondly, the base of Pumpkin Spice  is a very dark brown so it makes the lines contrast less with the black coat on top. Thirdly, my black nail polish is not very opaque. I'm going to have to pick up a new bottle of WnW Black Creme, I need a one coater.

Oh, another thing, it was MESSY. I didn't cut the strips long enough so when I was removing them I got my fingers covered in polish -_-.

Sigh, what a mess.

Another thing I found tricky with this, it was super hard to photograph! I'm assuming it's because the lines weren't crisp because of the glittery base. Any feed back on that, photog people?

So all in all was the mess and effort worth it??

Wooo, striping tape! $6 for ten rolls on ebay.

Stay tuned over the next 2 weeks for a 3-part Halloween series I'm working on!

Autumn Manicures

Hello lovelies! I have a batch of manicures to show you. I've been a little sidetracked since I started my new job (which is going fabulously, by the way), but it means that I don't have a ton of daylight to photograph my nails with, nor do I have the time to do anything exciting very often. I don't want to bore you with regular ol' nail polish so I've gathered three of my more creative numbers as of late.

Voici my "Retro Stripe" mani, inspired by striped gym shorts from the 1970s. This was after two days of camping, forgive the tip wear.

Like these.

I used American Apparel Raccoon as the base because it dries really fast so it was easy to put the tape over it. From there I used Konad White, an orange from Aldo (I'm having a brainfart on the name, I'll get it ASAP ** EDIT - It's called Juicy Gossip) and Double Decker Red from OPI.

I wanted to use OPI Heeere's Tawny but it wasn't drying fast enough and I was pulling it off with the tape! Ugh.

This is what I like to call "Harvest," lame. It's a gradient of OPI The "It" Colour, China Glaze Lemon Fizz and Sally Hansen White On. I was inspired by a photo of wheat - so sue me, I love this season!

Finally - my current manicure. The colours were chosen by my boyfriend, believe it or not. He got all excited about it so I figured I would give him the credit.

Natural light

With flash

Right hand, with flash

Water marble! This is a fabulous blend of - Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow as the base, Joe Fresh Pumpkin, China Glaze Hey Sailor, OPI Heeere's Tawny, and the elusive Aldo orange previously mentioned (** EDIT - It's called Juicy Gossip). I'm in love with this one, it reminds me of the changing leaves.

So - who's still with me? Sorry for the hiatus guys! I'll try to keep things up, I swear. Take care everyone.

NOTD: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2

At the very last minute I ended up snagging some tickets for the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter film, which of course demanded I do a manicure to fit the night. So I scurried on home and decided it was about freakin' time I tried to do a checkered tape mani.

Each nail is painted with the colours of the Hogwarts houses made to look like the background of a crest (isn't is neat how nails are kind of "crest" shaped too? I think it really helps add to the concept). Overall, this mani was tricky. The paint from my index finger lifted twice, I had polish leaking under the tape, and some polish transfer to other places while removing the tape. I did a bit of touch up work to the really bad spots but I think for the most part it looks great.

Now onto my favourite part: the thumb.

Here is my ode to Dumbledore. I didn't know what to put on my thumb to complete the set, and I figured what could be better than making an "In Memory of Dumbledore" type statement. The stars are simply craft confetti that I had lying around the house. One from each thumb went missing in the forays of battling dark wizards, which I fully expected, but I'm impressed with the durability of the other two. They even made it through the night of me sleeping on them.

Anyway, thanks for looking!

NOTD: Royal Jewels

I'm attending a gala tomorrow for an organization I volunteer for, and the event colours are red, purple and gold. Yesterday I'd applied China Glaze I Love Hue, my bottle is actually pretty old.

Black Label, ooooh.

Then I added Sally Hansen Crushed Velvet, and Orly Luxe.

They'll match perfectly!

NOTD: First Tape Mani - China Glaze Refresh Mint + Accent Nails

Sorry about the post delay, this week has been crazy with school, no time to blog. That being said, my manis this week have been nothing short of extremely frustrating. I've discovered that Revlon is the worst brand of polish on the face of the planet. It takes forever to dry and dries sticky/rubbery. I am never, ever purchasing it again.

That being said,China Glaze is one of the best brands I've ever used, so I needed to make up for my week of nail polish horror. I got inspiration for this one from Nailside, whose manicures are absolutely beautiful - simply by using strips of tape! I'd tried it before for french manicures but I didn't really have the patience to pursue it.

I used China Glaze Refresh Mint as the base colour, For Audrey on my index finger and Secret Periwinkle on my ring. On my left hand I did the opposite colours and angles. It looks awesome.

 

And just because: Let me tell you about my new-found obsession. Survivorman. Les Stroud is the MAN. All I want to do is go up to the lake and be in the wilderness now. I really, really want this shirt:

I think I'm going to go to American Apparel today and check out what the sizing is like (probably preposterous, their clothes look terrible on me), maybe I'll pick it up.