I sort of did this mani twice. I originally did a vertical gradient using each of these colors, but I didn't like it much. Shortly after I finished I realized that I should have done this version - sort of a gradient French tip design.
The purple polish is Heather's Hues Vampirette, which you saw me use last Halloween. The red is Firecracker Lacquer Stop and Smell the Blossoms (from the Powerpuff Girls box, ahh!), and the green is Daily Hues Nail Lacquer Fiona.
I definitely wanted this entire mani to be holographic, but my only black holo is Gothic Gala Lacquers The Search for Spock - which is beautiful and stunning, but leans a little bit purple, and I wanted a truer black for this design.
And, I don't have a holo yellow or orange! Well, I do have Gothic Gala Lacquers My Partner in Crime, but it's a more mustard-y yellow, and I wanted bright yellow, more like candy corn. Yes, I am picky, but that's what being an artist is all about, right? Knowing what you want and making it happen?
So, I looked at my polish collection and thought, "these would look good mixed together!" And I had several old, unusable bottles of top coat lying around, so I cleaned them out and mixed up some frankenpolish! I'm calling them "Kate Concoctions" so that I can have a "brand" to tag if I ever use them again.
The first one I made is the orange, which I dubbed Pumpkin Sparkle. It's a mixture of mostly OPI It's a Piazza Cake and Deborah Lippmann Don't Stop Believin, with a bit of Sally Hansen Orange Zest and a dash of Salon Perfect Traffic Cone (because I used too much Piazza Cake and the color was looking darker than I wanted it). Then I added three different holos to the mix: China Glaze Fairy Dust, Deviant Polish Lori, and Sally Hansen Disco Ball. I think Disco Ball shows up the best. In the end I decided to add literally like 6 drops of Zoya Jesy, both to brighten up the color and add a touch more sparkle.
Next, I made the black, which I named Night Sky and I think came out the very best. It's also the simplest: a large amount of Sinful Colors Black on Black, with a couple drops of The Search for Spock, and the three holos that I added to the orange - Lori, Fairy Dust, and Disco Ball. I'm sooo happy with how this came out, and quite happy that I made it in a full-sized bottle!
I made the yellow last, and I kind of like everything about it the least. The name, A-maize-ing, isn't great but I couldn't think of anything better. The holos barely show up in it, even though I added plenty of all three, which is the most disappointing of all. The color is mostly China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, with a dash of Finger Paints Master Muse and just 3 drops of Orange Zest. I suppose every indie maker winds up with slight disappointments like this!
What do you think of my Concoctions? Is there anything you'd like to see me do for Halloween nail art? There's still time - let me know in the comments!
