Halloween Themed: Graveyard

Good afternoon all! I have a themed nail art for you today, something I really enjoy doing. Because it's almost October I thought it was fun to start off with something for Halloween.


When I think of Halloween I think of spooky and scary things so I decided to go for a graveyard. This really was an easy design, I wanted to make a tutorial but I did this in the evening so it was too dark for pictures so I might do this some other time.

First off I started by painting my nails with Misa On the Edge, a gorgeous dark blue. I wanted it to look like night time and a little foggy so I decided to sponge a little. I used Misa On the Edge, H&M Love at First Sight and OPI DS Fantasy for this. After that I topped it with Essie Silver Bullions.


Second part of this manicure, using black and create outlines for the graveyard. I used a black striper but this is probably easier when you use a nail art pen. After creating these, you can colour them in. I didn't want it to be perfectly neat because with the black and blue a little mixed it looks like it's being lit by the moon or something, I think it's a nice little touch. The ghosts are created with a white striper.

Creating a tiny graveyard is fun, you can add pretty much everything you want. I added trees, different tombstones, crows and ghosts.


When you're done with the graveyard just top it off with a top coat and you're done!

Are you creating something special on your nails for Halloween?
Michelle

China Glaze Awakening Collection

Hey everyone! Sweet Karrie got me the China Glaze Awakening set, their collection for Halloween 2010. I'm a little late to the party but I still want to show you guys because overall I think it's a fun collection. Besides, we have one month to go before it's Halloween! :-) This Halloween, China Glaze brings us three 'ghoulish glitters' and this set also includes the China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat. All swatches are three coats and topped off with the Fast Forward top coat.


Mummy May I, fuchsia glitter in a dark purple jelly base. It reminded me of Wet n Wild Night Prowl but that base is black. Mummy May I's base looks black but it really is a little softer. It's not unique but it's definitely fun to have!


I immediately knew I would love Zombie Zest. It's a swampy green jelly with gold, blue and green glitter. The glitter is very fine and dense, creating a great effect when you're wearing this pretty. This is a dupe for one of my favourite polishes of all time, SpaRitual Optical Illusion, and Orly It's Not Rocket Science.


This is Ick-A-Bod-Y, a dark green jelly packed with loads of orange glitter. I was really excited for this shade because of the combination - green base with orange glitter - and even though my expectations weren't reached, I'm definitely not disappointed! You can see the green base peeking through the glitters - awesome! - but I'd love to see a little more base. I'm too picky, sorry.

Application wasn't great, the polishes were a little droopy and Ick-A-Bod-Y was too thick for my taste. It isn't unmanageable but you want to be in a 'zen' mode when applying. Zombie Zest is the only one with finer glitter, for the other ones I'd really use a thicker top coat. Speaking of top coat, I am very satisfied with the Fast Forward. It gives me a smooth finish and dries fast, very nice!

Do you own these and how do you feel about them?
Michelle

OPI Go Goth Set

Hey guys! Yesterday a nice package arrived, Kris was so sweet to send these to me. I know I'm superduper late to show you these but I'm still going to because they are awesome.

OPI's Go Goth set contains four mini polishes (Unripened, Nevermore, Sanguine and Obscurity) and one free cuff bracelet. I'm not using the cuff bracelet but I'll be definitely using the polishes! The packaging is nice, it comes in a nice designed small box and on the back of the box there are nail art tips. Very simple so everyone can do this, big plus!





But the most important thing of this post, the swatches!


First up is Unripened, a black based glitter. The glitter in the bottle looks blue and purple but on the nail it comes out like a greenish blue, very nice. The formula was really good and it was opaque in two coats. This shade is also available full size but I haven't been able to get my hands on it. If you have one and don't like it, think of me, pleaaaase? ;-)


Meet Nevermore, a purple based polish with purple and blue shimmer. The shimmer is leaning towards glitter but is too fine for me to call it glitter. Also this one applied nice, I used two coats and it was completely opaque. Now this one is reaaaaaaaally familiar but I'll tell more about it at the end of the post.


This is Sanguine, a dark red shimmer. This polish is lit from within, which basically means that you can see the colour really good on the center of your nail but it turns black towards the edges of your nail. I love shades like this! Application was good and I also needed two coats for this one.


Last but not least, Obscurity. Obscurity is a black matte polish. I'm not a big fan of mattes like this but it applied better than most mattes I tried. It was opaque with one coat but it showed little imperfections so I used two. I also used top coat over my index finger so you can see how it looks glossy - just like your regular black creme.

You've all seen the swatches, now I want to talk about Nevermore because it looked soooo familiar when I tried it. I took out the OPI bottle I was suspecting and guess what - they still looked alike!


The bottle I took was OPI Ink, and seriously, they are alike. I haven't read a lot in nail polish land lately because my laptop died but I haven't seen a comparison so here's one for you:


Well, they are alike. To me these are definitely dupes so if you want to buy yourself a full bottle of Nevermore (not there) - buy Ink. I'm quite sad about this really because if I worked at a nail polish company I'd create a new shade but hey, that's me, and hopefully I'll work there in a few years hehe.

What's your take on the Go Goth set?
Michelle