Outta My Skull.

More Halloweeny nails! I love doing them and I love seeing the influx of them all over the place.

A friend of mine had posted a picture of this H&M nail sticker set and I told her I loved them - and she sent them to me! An absolute darling. I can only say I'm very grateful because I love the collection of images present here.

I have skulls standing around all year.
Halloween or no Halloween.

Though it was the little alien heads that caught my attention initially, for this manicure I wanted to utilise the little skulls.

The stickers all seemed a little large to me initially but once applied it wasn't an issue.

When removing the sticker from the set I was a little surprised to find it was transparent instead of the white I was expecting, but by then I'd already coated the nail in Herôme W.I.C's 'Zagora 150'. I went ahead and applied it anyway and I can't say it looks any worse for it.
As for the rest of the nails, I wanted to complement the orange with a heavy black-white contrast. I'd considered using tape to separate the black from the white but it would have been far too clean for this look.  I wanted something grungy, and roughly sponged Catrice's '39 Black to the Routes' over 'P.S.' white so the distinction would be clear without becoming a smooth gradient.

Franken-French.

Today, on October 21, 2015, the day when Doc and Marty traveled to the future I bring you some Halloweeny nail art. I present to you the Franken-French. (And don't get started on how that should be 'Monster-of-Franken-French'.)

I wanted to keep it as subtle as is possible when you've got fake stitches running along the tips of your nails with a subdued kind of green, if you will. Chanel's '645 Paradisio' has recently entered my collection so it seemed like a good choice (and let's be honest here, I just wanted to use it, I can't resist a shiny new green).
As base to lighten the nail I used Koh's 'Orchid', and the stripes were done with Catrice's '39 Black to the Routes'. What this nail art irrefutably showed me was that I really need a new nail art brush. During this I kept alternating between the two I've got, and neither of them actually do what I need of them to.

The owls are not what they seem.

 Who's excited about the return of Twin Peaks? Meeee!

I've been wanting to do some Black Lodge inspired nail art for a while, but it kept on not happening somehow. 
Then I ordered some chevron-guide stickers and.. they were way too big for what I wanted to do, so that didn't pan out.

Then I got a pair of those scissors that cut zig-zag patterns, which is how I accomplished this. The scissors kept misbehaving though, so I'm not sure if I'll see a return of the chevron on my nails again soon. 

Damn fine cup of coffee.

The base whites are Safari's 'No56' and a Hema polish, neither of which I particularly recommend. The black, Catrice's '39 Black to the Routes'. The red nail, based on the scenery of the waiting room, is actually several shades of red stripes layered over each other to get that curtainy effect, though it's not too clear in the pictures. They are YSL, 'No04', Max Factor '549 Red Passion', Rimmel '035 Wine Not' and Koh's 'Red!'.

Cell.

Though I've done Hannibal inspired nails before, the inspiration here is a lot more subtle and I doubt anybody would have picked up on it without my specifically pointing it out.

In Hannibal's third and final season, we see the titular character held institutionalized in an impossibly stylish cell - the walls wood paneled and lined with golden details.

In this scene, the lighting gave the normally white walls a green tinge that I loved in combination with the gold, and I tried to reproduce the effect on my nails.

Colours used are YSL's gold from the 'Belle de Nuit' duo, and Koh's 'Groovy Green (239)'.

The lines were accomplished by utilising the help of my trusty sidekick, Striping Tape.

Victoriana.

I was looking for a nice combination of colours with which to do some stamping, and I had this sort of light-burgundy shade Konad stampy polish sitting around waiting for me (though it looks much lighter in the photo).

The BM21 plate has this almost Victorianesque set of filigree swirls on it which I'm very fond of and keep trying to use somehow, but my nails tend to be too long for it, since it's a full-nail image. Not now, though!

I thought the burgundy-ish colour would look good over purple, and used Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Rabbat 149' as a base with some gentle sponging of 'Athens 77' to give the tips a bit of a sparkle. The stamp was also gone over with a matt top coat.
Truth be told, I like the print more on the flat canvas of the plate than the curved surface of the nail. It loses its.. je ne sais quoi, somehow.

Outatime.

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending a convention where Christopher Lloyd was one of the guests. I adore the man for not only his work in the Back to the Future films, but I watched The Addams Family movies to death in my childhood and am currently hooked on Taxi.
A part for every phase of your life.

When attending cons, I like to do nail art somewhat in theme with whatever franchise one of the guests I like is from - whether overt or more subtle - and this time I went for more subtle and stuck to the colour scheme of orange/yellow/blue you'll see on most Back to the Future posters and other imagery.

The yellow is Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Utreg 173', with a MAX nail art striper ('Neon Orange') for the lines. The orange is the only one in the ensemble that's a straight up opaque colour so it sets off nicely against the other two shimmery ones. Lastly, the blue is Koh's 'Midnight Blue (130)'.
Tape was used for the initial triangle shape with the orange parts done freehand.

A grand total of two days(!) before the convention I got stuck on the notion that I definitely should cosplay Marty McFly to the con, and to my great astonishment actually pulled it off.

With a €2,99 plain red t-shirt bought from the local Zeeman, I borrowed the rest together from friends, family and neighbours. Many thanks to all of them.
(Who even has one of those red vests nowadays? Turns out, my uncle's wife does.)