Halloweenie Nails & October A Box, Indied

Greetings & Nailutations!

Holidays are always an inspiration for being creative.  There are plenty of tutorials online from using fake nails or tape and making Zombie Nails to intricate art work of scary characters.  I am not artistic, my sister Rachael got that ability in the gene-pool from our mother.  They both can draw & paint beautifully.  What I do have though is a bunch of nails, polish & tools.

This week's blog will be on some of the Halloween nails I have posted on Instagram over the past 3 weeks.

I place "Halloweenie" nails into 2 categories 1) nail art & 2) Halloween themed nail polish

There are many nail art challenges online which provide themes or guides on what to paint on your nails.  I loosely follow a few challenges to help with inspiration.

This first one is from a theme of blood bath....I'm not into scary movies (I'm a huge scaredy cat).  So I opted for taking drips of red nail polish (China Glaze Merry Berry) just on the tips of my nail & using a scary prop.  Oooooooh....be scared!

Next is for a theme of vampire.  Since I can't draw, I went with two puncture wounds from a vampire bite with red nail polish drips.  The red jelly nail polish with black shards is from Cascade polish & it is called Opera FTW.

Then we move to the theme of ghosts.  I made girly ghosts topped with cute little bows.  This is Blameless by Pure.

Next is the theme of candy corn.  I did a color gradient and added black to spice it up with a black & white glitter topper and a tape chevron nail.

Then we have haunted house.  I used Fickle Fairy Potions Orange-A-Peel and Foxy Lady lavendar and glitter topper Hallow's Eve.  I stamped a spooky house on it from Winstonia Plate 016.

Now we will move onto some of the Halloween Inspired nail polish.  The October A Box, Indied which is a monthly subscription box you can purchase on Llarowe.  All are limited edition polishes made only for this box.

Screaming Halloween is made by Jindie Nails.  I was excited about this one because I don't own any Jindie Nails polishes.  My favorite part about this polish that there is zero fishing for glitters.  They don't sink to the bottom so each dip of the brush brings up stars, moons & circle glitters.

Devoured is a beautiful deep purple holo polish by Ethereal Lacquer, again my first of this line.  Second photo I was able to capture the holo sparkle in the sun.

Next is Came Back Haunted by Black Cat Lacquer, which is a black holo jelly with multi-colored shards of glitter.  This was on top of a black base.

Then there is Luna Verde by Polish Me To Go, which is a bright green glow in the dark polish.  I also decided to add a little Frankenstein on an accent nail.

Lastly there is No Tricks, Just Treats by Lacquerlicious, a glitter topper that contains multi-colored bars, stars, micro glitters, hexes, small hexes & circles.

Happy Polishing!
Kristi aka @Beginnails

 

e.l.f. Disney Villians Review & Giveaway!

Greetings & Nailutations!

My goal for this blog is to be mostly indie (or independent aka non-mainstream polish reviews), however I could not resist a nail polish that has the word Disney in the title.  I am an avid lover of Disney and go yearly with my husband & since we do not have kids we borrow my niece & nephew to spoil them like crazy.

e.l.f. & KISS joined with Disney to create this limited edition line of products only to be sold at Walgreens for the month of October which includes nail polish in the form of minis, eye make up, nail art kits and cosmetic bags.  I went in search of this elusive polish cube that I had only seen pictures of on Instagram one weekend & found nothing at all in the nearby Walgreens.  The following weekend it took 2 different Walgreens locations & I was able to find the "holy grail" with the help of my husband and a helpful Walgreens employee who called around to others within the area to see if anyone else had it.

Here is the cube & all the different sides.  In all honesty...it was the female villains in these movies who had the best make up.

I didn't pick up any eye make up or cosmetic bags, but here are the photos of the nail art kits.  Each comes with caviar beads, striping tape, loose glitters, cuticle stick, flat brush, nail glue, nail art stickers and rhinestone stickers.  They even have an example of how to use the nail art supplies for a cute design.

I must admit the colors are not exotic, they are colors that most nail addicts will already have in their collection.  But they come as cute little minis & the best part is that they have complete coverage (they are opaque) with just one coat!  Below are my swatches - note, I did not want to swatch 12 separate polishes, I love nail polish, but I wasn't that patient & wanted to see all the colors so I did designs with each mini-collection.

The first set is Ursula which includes a beautiful mint green called Mint Cream, a brilliant coral called Coral Dream and lastly, my favorite of the three a black crelly (meaning it is more cream like instead of jelly or see-through) lacquer with micro blue glitters in it called Sea Scape.

The next set is Maleficent which has a cute pink called Bubblegum Pink, a calming mauve called Mod Mauve and a glitter purple jelly called Gina Girl with purple & gold glitter floating around.

The third set is Evil Queen which contains a metallic gold called Pot Of Gold, a beautiful shimmery maroon called Cranberry and a pretty grey called Thunderstorm.  The grey looks more black in these photos, but I assure you, it is grey (or gray depending on how you feel today)

 

Lastly there is Cruella De Vil which has three polishes where the names describe their colors being Nude, Smoky Brown and Smokin Hot (which is a red).  I love the formula and wanted to show that only 1 coat is needed, so this last swatch of Cruella De Vil is using 1 coat for all colors, yes 1 coat!  I got complete coverage with just 1 coat which will make the minis last all the more longer!

Pros: Formula was top notch & 1 coat was sufficient on every color, colors are cute, great deal price-wise, limited edition, Disney....need I say more? Great nail art ideas & fun supplies.
Cons: most of these colors are pretty common to most nail polish addicts' collections soooooo....do I (or you) really need them?  Um....YES!!  Did you not see limited edition & Disney?


Do you want to win the polish set & a nail art set?  Do you want to win 2 art sets?  That is 2 prizes for 2 winners!  Click the link below to enter!
*Must be 18 years or older.*
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Happy Polishing!
Kristi aka @beginnails

China Glaze Real Nail Polish Appliques Review & Tutorial

Greetings & Nailutations!

Every journey begins somewhere.  Great Olympians are not born great Olympians, but have gotten there with practice and....well more practice.  This blog will be a testimonial to just that.  I'm not an expert, have no technical training, but what I do have is time, patience and the ability to practice & if I fail, not to let it rule me.  My goal for this blog is for it to be a place where I can display nail art, ideas, swatches and reviews of products I use & brands I love.  It may even contain a tutorial or two....with sarcasm & dorky jokes.

This first entry will be about a really simple way to get a great looking nail art manicure by "cheating."  WHAT!  Cheating?  Yes....cheating.  A trending nail fad is nail wraps & they are made of real nail polish!  I tried out China Glaze Real Nail Polish Appliqués.  I personally had never tried using these wraps until this blog post & was pleasantly surprised.

The package comes with everything you will need aside from your favorite top coat.  Appliqués, cuticle stick, file and of course directions (not pictured).

I strongly suggest reading the directions, they suggest that you soft file your nails & shape them, wipe with acetone/alcohol and then you are ready!  Select the size that best fits your nail, but does not go over your skin or cuticles.

You will remove the plastic on the side your nail will touch.  Place the applique on your nail, they suggest you have warm hands....so obviously don't do this in the dead of winter outside.  Once it touches your nail press down & remove the top plastic & press down across nail removing any creases. Pull the top.

 Use the handy-dandy file to remove the excess at the end of the nail.

 Gently pull it off & use the file (or a smaller grit file/less aggressive) to clean all the edges.

 And last step is to add your favorite top coat.

The finished product used China Glaze Real Nail Polish Appliques called Shake Your Tail Feathers, China Glaze Flying Dragon & Essie In The Cab-ana.

Pros: Easy application, great designs & made with real nail polish so it comes off with nail polish remove/acetone.
Cons: it recommends to use all appliqués as soon as the package is opened as they will dry out, I am going to attempt to save some in a sealed plastic bag to test that

Would I use them again: YES!

Did you want to win 2 sets?  Two lucky followers of this blog will win 2 sets!
*Must be 18 years or older.*
*Valid for US mailing addresses only*
Click here:
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Happy Polishing!
Kristi aka @beginnails