Halloween Nails - Take 1!

Good afternoon!

I wanted to get an early start on halloween nails this year, as I didn't get the chance to get many designs done last year!

This is my first design - I used my new gradient skills (still a bit shaky!) to create a blue gradient background using 3 Barry M shades - Huckleberry, Elderberry and Matte Malibu. I then used Nails Inc New York Noir to freehand a graveyard design across my nails.

We've recently released our Glow in the Dark Halloween range in our etsy shop, and I was dying to use Ectoplasm - our GITD topcoat. We made two different colours, so I decided to use the Aqua version in keeping with the background of my nails.

As is usual for GITD, it works best over light colours (especially white) but it does still work over dark colours. I have traced the outlines of my graveyard scene, highlighted the moon and also added a ghost on one nail so you can see the varying degrees of glow. It was SO HARD to get these photographs!

What do you think? I would love your feedback!

Our topcoat retails at £3 for a 5ml bottle and you can choose either green or aqua blue. Alternatively, you can get a free bottle when you buy a full size bottle of Stay Puft. Our other two halloween offerings also glow in the dark - please check them out!

Rachael xxx

Guest Post - Batmomo from Pokénailart

ATTEMPT 2! I am so sorry, especially to all my guest posters as I b*ggared up royally when I thought I could 'quickly' upload my guest posts before my holiday. Lesson learned, it doesnt work! Again, really really sorry.. so here is the first guest post from last week, this time with all the beautiful pictures!

Rachael xxx

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Hey everyone! 

I am so excited to say that one of my favourite bloggers is here with us today with a guest post!

Continue reading to see the amazing nail art of Batmomo from Pokénailart <3

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Hello everyone! I am very pleased and honoured that Rachael was willing to put one of my manicure on her blog, and I hope you will appreciate it ^^. So, pokémon nail art is my big speciality and with halloween coming soon, I really wanted to draw gengar! This pokémon is super funny and scary at the same time, so I really love it! For the background colour, I used a franken that I just created and that I called "gengar's puke". It is a teal/purple duochrome that I applied on a black base. Since the colours matched the ozotic 528, I decided to apply a layer of my ozotic, to give a more "sparkly" look. I drew gengars on my thumb and ring finger, and scary faces on the other nails. 

 

Wait, you can't see the scary faces? I'll switch the light off...

Boo! 

I hope you were not too scared :p

I really hope you liked this manicure, and most importantly: Happy Halloween everyone!!

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Thank you again my lovely for your beautiful guest post for while I am away! I am over the moon, especially with a 2 in 1 Halloween and my favourite pokémon ever all in one manicure! Look at his grin glowing in the dark!! Yay! <3

Rachael xxx

Halloween Nail Art Challenge - Day 3 Things That Go Bump in the Night

Hey all!

Day 3 - Things that go BUMP in the night!

When Becca and I worked on these themes, we wanted them to be as open as possible - so I'm pleased with today's theme as I went for what scares me most - the thought of things coming back to life! I hate zombies, I can't watch The Walking Dead or any other program / film with zombies in.. and yet I love all other things supernatural. Zombies are obviously just too close to reality for me!

My first Nerd Lacquer's arrived this morning, and the Quantum Bluniverse was just begging to be used! In my excitement I forgot to photo it on its own, so its another excuse to wear it again!

I then freehanded my design over the top, then outlined it all with glow in the dark top coat, but my camera (both my DSLR and my iPhone) refuse to pick it up. I see it though, I will just need to appreciate this element on my own! I think QB was a bit dark, so if you can't see, I have a black cat on my little finger, a tree on my ring finger, gravestones on the middle and a zombie hand coming out of the earth on my index.

Don't forget to check everyone else's out and let me know what you think of mine!

Rachael xxx

Halloween Challenge - Day 2 Pumpkins and Jack O Lanterns

Hey all!

Day 2 today - Pumpkins and Jack O Lanterns!

I love Halloween, especially pumpkin carving! I am disappointed that this year I am missing Halloween due to being on holiday - so I decided to show my pumpkin carving on my nails!

I have done all of these pumpkin designs in the past, so I thought why not put them on my nails this year? :)

I used an orange Essie as the base and sponged some Nails Inc - Notting Hill Carnival over the top before freehanding the black designs with Sinful Colors Black to Black.

What do you think? Don't forget, if you would like to join in, please do! Post links to your pictures on our facebooks / instagrams / in our post comments, wherever you need to - we'd love to see your nails! 

Rachael xxx

A little hallowe'en stamping

Hey all!

Last week may be a bit quiet as I have one of my other loves in my life. Pokémon! Yes, it was released last weekend, so I have devoted a fair amount of my life to it!

So I sat down yesterday and decided to have a go at some designs and get making my blog a bit more lively. No matter what, they just weren't working out.. apart from this one.

A nice simple design, but I love it none the less - the polishes and the plate are just perfect together! I wanted something I could wear for work and I got so many compliments, nobody believed I had done myself - I got accused of having salon nails and also of having used foils - compliments indeed!

I used the MoYou London Pro Collection 05 XL plate and used the cobweb design from the top row. The polishes I used are Zoya - Raven for the base and Mentality - Scalawag (my favourite stamping polish) for stamping over.

I am so pleased with how these stamped - the Mentality polish is perfect opacity and in light has a beautiful holo rainbow to it. Beautiful! And the stamp, I am so in love with these MoYou London plates so far - they are just perfectly engraved, pick up beautifully.. I just can't fault them at all!

What do you think? Do you like the simple finish or would you have gone more detailed and added something else? 

Dont forget to check out what other British Bloggers are doing!

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Halloween Nail Art Challenge - Day 1 Scary Movies!

Hey all!

Today is Day 1 already - can't believe how fast its come around!

When I finally sat down to have a think about this prompt, I realised what a silly idea it was for me! I HATE SCARY FILMS! I am the world's biggest chicken EVER!

Can't believe when I tumblr'd for an image, this was the first one. But it is quite relevant as I do try and block out scary things with music haha! I hum to myself in scary situations and generally come across as a bit crazy! I am a crazy bird haha!

Anyway, I digress! I really struggled today as I have watched so few scary films that I went for one that sticks in my mind - The Blair Witch Project. We never see anything scary, we see someone with their face pressed against a camera for around an hour and a half.. but I still freak out when I see those weird tree hangings if I'm out for a walk!

So my nails are supposed to be those tree hangings.. they are truly terrible and I apologise for my first nail art for this challenge - I promise my next ones are better!!

Don't forget to check everyone else's out! 

Rachael xxx

Halloween Nail Art Challenge!

Hello all!

I have another nail art challenge to share with you today - I hope you will all consider joining!

Becca from KPC and I have come up with a short and snappy Hallowe'en challenge. This is perfect if you can't commit to a long challenge, or an every day one. 6 themes, running on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday rota so that we end on Hallowe'een night.

The themes are as follows:

We have time to prep ahead if you need to, but if you would rather pop in and out, or you can't do a certain day, then don't worry - thats fine! Never done nail art before? Have a go! We'd love to see your designs and ideas. You can share these with us if you have your own blog or not - share your designs with us either way at:

Facebook: Kitty's Painted Claws / Rachos Nail Love

Tag us on instagram: @kittyspaintedclaws / @rachosnl / #NAChalloween2013

Twitter: @kpclaws / @rachosnl

The Nail Art Challengez Facebook Group

For those who do have blogs - link your posts up with our Hallowe'en inspiration board on Inlinkz (same code for each day). Above is the square graphic for Instagram if you want to share / promote!

Thank you to Becca for making the graphics and sorting the inlinkz for us!

Can't wait to see everyone's manis! So excited!

Rachael xxx