LPL Glamghouls Day 20: Spiders and Spiderwebs

Today's challenge theme isn't one I was super excited about, but it ended up being a lot of fun!

I decided to be a bit simpler than with previous challenges, and do roughly the same thing on every nail.  Five different styles of pattern just takes way too long, even for this out-of-work blogger.  But I spiced it up by using a few different colors for my background.  I considered doing a gradient background, but decided that I was too lazy even for that.

So, I used my three favorite Halloweeny colors: PS I Enjoy Acid Pops by Twisted Colors, Ablaze by ORLY, and Hot Tropics by ORLY.  I've used these three in several of the Glamghouls challenges now.  They're all just so bright and fun!

I got a little bit confused on my first three spiderwebs, but definitely didn't feel like starting over, so I just went with it.  Then I watched a few different YouTubers paint on their spiderwebs and realized that I was drawing my curved lines backwards!  I started out using my white Sally Hansen striping poilsh, but it was a bit too gloppy for the small curved lines, so I switched to my white Sally Hansen nail art pen.

Obligatory "my thumbs look cute but don't photograph well with my other fingers" shot

My spiders are also a bit sloppy... I think their bodies are too small for their eight legs.  I started out using my black Sally Hansen nail art pen on my left thumb, but sadly the ink inside just doesn't stay thick - it all ends up pooling somewhere and it gets way too sheer.  So I switched to using my black striping polish, which is a little harder to control in such small detail.  So don't mind my wibbly, lopsided, chunky-legged spiders!

 

There are only four challenges left this month!  Which one are you most looking forward to?  Let me know in the comments!  I'm excited for candy corn and matching my costume!

LPL Glamghouls Day 16: Witches

All right, I missed day 13, which was bats.  I had some business things to attend to during the day, and I also had an important networking event in the evening.  And I didn't think to paint the designs the day before - I was busy swatching the We'll Take the Lot collection that day.  Anyway, nevermind all that, because today is...

 

Witches day!  Holy crap, these designs took forEVER.  At least three hours.  There's just so much going on here!

At first I thought I'd do the same designs on both hands, like I have previously during this challenge.  But when my left hand started taking for-freaking-ever, I decided to just do plain socks on my right hand.

I used a kajillion different polishes to do all of this, and as before I gathered inspiration from a plethora of different YouTubers.

 

Those darned thumbs are just too hard to photograph with my other fingers! 

My left thumb was inspired by PackAPunchPolish, and I used Nina Ultra Pro "Black," Zoya "Malia," Zoya "Mitzi," and Sally Girl "Crazy."

The cauldron on my pointer finger was inspired by part of HotPinkZebraPolish's video.  I used Sally Hansen CSM "Trouble Maker" for the background, Finger Paints "Ch-Art-Coal Black" for the cauldron, ORLY "Ablaze" for the fire, and a combination of Sally Hansen "Peace" and Spoiled by Wet n' Wild "Show Me the Money" for the potion bubbles.

The witch face on my middle finger comes from IHaveaCupcake's Halloween monsters video.  Her face is Sephora "Caipi Freeze," her hair is Finger Paints "Monet Money," the buckle on her hat is Zoya "Ziv," the hat stripe is Ch-Art-Coal Black, and her hat is ORLY "Hot Tropics."

I LOVE the bubbly potion on my ring finger, which I borrowed from ArcadiaNailArt.  The background is a mix of Malia, Trouble Maker, and Zoya "Nyssa" - I wanted a murky purple like in the video, but I think I just ended up with a slightly lighter version of Trouble Maker.  The potion bubbles are Twisted Colors "PS I Enjoy Acid Pops" with a thin coat of Show Me The Money on top.

My pinky is pretty simple - a broom, inspired by the same HotPinkZebraPolish video - though I think she did a much better job of it.  By the time I got to my pinky, I was beginning to get impatient with this nail art and I just wanted to be done.  The background is Ablaze, while the broom is made up of Nyssa, OPI "How Great Is Your Dane," and a few stripes of Ch-Art-Coal Black.

My right hand is a lot more simple - just some solid-colored witch socks and shoes.  I still really like them!  From thumb to pinky, I used Spoiled by Wet n'Wild "Green to be Heard," Malia, Mitzi, Crazy, and China Glaze "Happy Go Lucky."  I actually painted all of these colors on top of Black, because originally I thought I'd do striped socks on my right hand - but then I decided that it'd still take way too long.  The shoes are all Ch-Art-Coal Black, and the buckles are all Ziv.

What do you think?  What's your favorite design that I used?  Let me know in the comments!

And as usual, here's the challenge image for you!

LPL Glamghouls Day 10: Frankenstein's Monster

Many people know him as "Frankenstein," but they are wrong!  Frankenstein is the doctor/scientist who created  the stitched-up monster that we all know and love.  And what better way to get in the Halloween spirit than to paint him all over my nails?

 

As with the previous challenges this month, I gathered my inspiration from multiple YouTube videos.  The stitched-up tips on my middle and pinky fingers was inspired by Elleandish/Janelle's video, as was the Bride of Frankenstein nail - though I decided to do a face instead of just one stripe of her hair.  The design for my Frankenstein monster nails were inspired by I Have A Cupcake's monster nail art video.  Well, I guess less inspired by than sort of copied from - but that's okay in the nail art community!

 

And on my thumbs, I wanted to do another symbol of Frankenstein's monster, so I went with the pegs in his neck.  I'm not sure they turned out very... good... but what the hey, right?  (Why didn't I take a picture of both hands this time?  I dunno.  I did the same pattern on both hands, as I did with the blood nails, but I just didn't feel like taking a picture of both hands.  Rest assured that I did, in fact, paint this challenge on both hands!)

The lighter green is "Green to be Heard" by Wet n' Wild, and the darker green used in the French tips is Finger Paints "Monet Money."  I used my Finger Paints "Ch-art-coal Black" striping polish for all of the black (though I dipped my dotting tool in it for the eyes), and the whites of their eyes is China Glaze "White on White."  Bride's face is China Glaze "Innocence," and the grey for the pegs is China Glaze "Intelligence, Integrity, and Courage" from The Giver collection.  (There's one polish that I definitely did NOT buy for the name - I can never remember it!  I needed a grey creme and that one was there.)

The best part about this manicure is that I watched the Frankenstein-y episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer while I painted it! :)

As always, here's the challenge image for you in case you don't have it saved or if you're just now hearing about it:

What are you looking forward to next?  Let me know in the comments!  I can't wait for candy corn on the 22nd!!

LPL Glamghouls Day 7: Jack O' Lanterns

It's October 7th!  Know what that means?  It's one day until my four-year anniversary with my boyfriend, for one thing.  But this post is about what's today - the next design for the Laidback Polish Lovers October nail art challenge!

Today's challenge is another classic symbol of October and Halloween season: Jack O'Lanterns!

 

Doing today's challenge made me realize that my orange nail polish is severely limited.  I only have five orange polishes, and only two of them are cremes!  Looks like I have some buying to do! ;)  The one I decided to use is Sally Girl "Crazy," a mini so small that I think I pretty much used up the whole bottle in this one manicure!

I didn't quite feel like drawing faces on all ten nails, so I used a bunch of different YouTube videos for inspiration.  My right hand was inspired by Totally Cool Nails' video, though I didn't feel like doing a French tip on every nail.  I especially like the scary monster face on my ring finger. :)

I LOVE these three!  This look was inspired by My Simple Little Pleasures' video, and the thumb and pinky on my left hand were inspired by MissGlamasaurus1's video.  The basic jack o' lantern faces were inspired by cutepolish's Halloween guide - I expect I'll have that one linked in just about all of these challenge posts!

My white and black polishes are the same as always: China Glaze "White on White" and Nina Ultra Pro "Black."  Though I did also use my Finger Paints "Ch-art-coal Black" striping polish, and I also tried using my Sally Hansen I <3 Nail Art pen in black.  (The pen didn't work so well for me - I find it easier to paint with my left hand than to draw!)

Once again, here's the challenge image for you:

 

Are any of you participating in this?  Which design are you most excited to do (or see me do)?  Let me know in the comments!

Laidback Polish Lovers October Nail Art Challenge Day 1: Ghosts!

Recently, while browsing the nail polish community on reddit, I came across a nail art challenge for the month of October.  I've never taken part in a nail art challenge before, largely because painting my nails every day for a month sounds exhausting!  But this one is a "laid back" challenge, with 3 days between manicures, so I decided to give it a go!  Here's the original image detailing the challenge:

I just want to note how awesome it is that #10 is Frankenstein's Monster, not just Frankenstein.  That's

a pet peeve of mine!

Apparently Laidback Polish Lovers is a Facebook group, but unfortunately I can't find it, not even through Google.  If any of my readers know how I can find this group, please let me know!

Anyway, as today is October 1, here's my ghost nail art!

 

I decided to mix it up a bit, and not do only white ghosts on top of black.  The green you see on my left hand is Twisted Colors' "P.S. I Enjoy Acid Pops," a color from the We'll Take The Lot collection that I've been waiting for!  My order of the whole collection came in today, and I decided to use it as a background for some of my ghosties.  (You'll see the color swatched with the rest of the collection in the next week or so!)

 

I used a lot of different nail art tutorials as inspiration for my ghost shapes - including ones by Naileditnz, SaraBeautyCorner, and BeautifulYouTV.  The white I used is China Glaze "White on White."

 

The face on my middle finger is based off of Ghostface from Scream!  I like these multicolored little guys.  I think they kinda turned out like the ghosts in PacMan!  My black polish is Nina Ultra Pro "Black."  From left to right, the ghost colors are Sephora "Pink Bikini," ORLY "Saturated," Sephora "Caipi Freeze," and ORLY "Ablaze."  (The Sephora colors are part of a mini collection, called "Paint Rio in Neon.")

 

Here's a closeup of my thumbs, since you can hardly see them in the picture of both hands.  The one on my right hand is actually 3D - I used Scribbles 3D fabric paint to draw on the face, then painted over it.  I think it really makes the ghost face pop!  And I like the little guy on my left thumb - I think he looks like he's singing. :)

I had a ton of fun with this manicure and I'm super stoked to paint the rest of the challenges!  If you choose to partake, even in just one of the challenges, be sure to include the hashtag #LPLGlamghouls in your social media posts!  Which design are you most excited for?  Let me know in the comments!