May Challenges - Negative Space and Halloween in May

I tried to do a negative space mani for a facebook group but it was a bit of a fail - even with 2 coats of tinted polish ( Leighton Denny Twilight) the staining showed through :( so in the end I added a coat Kandy Colors Grape Much? over DRK Magic Garden and A England Camelot.
I took a few photos and played around with filters but basically it was still a big no! matte or shiny - Nope!
Anyway, the Kandy Colours jelly did save it I think and it made a nice base for the next mani.
Halloween in May for #clairestelle8may - well certainly a better chance of getting a sunshine picture in May when you've used holo polish for your Halloweeny cobwebs! I used Nailways Darker Period - Halloween and SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes over the previous mani.

the negative space mani

Kandy Colors Grape Much? over DRK Magic Garden

Nailways Darker Period - Halloween and
SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes

 

October Challenges - Halloween

I combined the final 2 challenges of October for #clairestelle8oct and #30daysofcolourchallenge as they were both Halloween.

I started with a base of Smitten Fire Burn which is quite possibly the most sparkly orange in the world ever, and such a gorgeous colour.

Then I added its partner from last Halloween's duo, Cauldron Bubble for a quick simple gradient - still super sparkly!

Then I stamped using the Nailways Darker Period and Monsters Halloween plates and a combination of Colour Alike Kind of Black, Colour Alike Scary Pumpkin and Avon Metallic Effects Platinum Petal.

I was really short of time to get this done in the daylight so I quite pleased with how well it turned out.

Smitten Fire Burn

 

 

Smitten Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

 

 

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Halloween

Since I had given in and bought some Halloween plates I thought I'd better use them. I decided to do a gradient for this week's challange, and then add a glitter topper that I have had for 2 years and never actually used, and then stamp using the new plates.
I started with a base of Leighton Denny Attention -a  lovely soft neutral khaki green and one of my favourite LD polishes.
Then I used Nella Milano Evergreen, Leighton Denny Attention and Jacava Blueberry Muffin to create a gradient.
Then I added a coat of a Tara's Talons glitter which I bought in 2013. When I ordered this and one other Tara contacted me to say that as they were from the "Name your Monster" range I needed to name them. Since the other one was sort of pinky purple and and this green sludgy shades I thought it would be cool to call them Emily and James, after my very own monsters, so it is James that I have used for this mani. The polish is mostly green, blue, black and white glitter in a very sheer khaki green base.
Finally I used Colour Alike Kind of Black and stamped witches, spooky trees, and bats from the Nailways Halloween plates (Darker Period and Monsters).
As with many of my recent manis, I ended up with a matte top coat to get decent photos.
I thought I'd try and keep the photos to a minimum so I have done a collage of the stages and a few macros.

Halloween Stages 1-4

Halloween - the final stage

 

An InLinkz Link-up

October Challenges - Holoween

The #wnac2015 prompt for this week was Holoween.
I started with a base of Fancy Gloss Pumpkin Patch, which I have blogged before. I love this polish so much - the colour is so much nicer on the nail than it looks in the bottle. It is such a rich reddy orange with holographic sparkle and it applies beautifully.

I stamped the pumpkins with A England Camelot and Nailways Halloween plates (Darker Period and Monsters) and then I added the cobwebs with  SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes and Nailways Halloween (Darker Period).

Apart from the fact that when I finished this mani the sun  was long gone, I was pretty pleased with this. The final shot was taken outside with the flash to capture the holo cobweb.

Fancy Gloss Pumpkin Patch

 

Nailways Pumpkins and Cobwebs