Pour some sugar on me...

I'm back!!

I have for you all today my final Halloween manicure!  This one technically overlaps Halloween and the first couple of days of November. 

Today's manicure brings in a lot of home for me, a celebration of Dia de los Muertes and the art that is sugar skulls.

Now some of you may not think it's particularly Halloween looking (other than the sugar skull kind of), but I wanted to make sure it was closer to the aesthetic of the actual celebration.  So we got the result you are about to see!

I used three coats of the colors (from thumb to pinky).  Sinful Colors Aquamarine, Julep Niecy, OPI Green-Wich Village, Orly Au Champagne, and Nina Ultra Pro Tangerine Dream.  For the detail on the sugar skull, I used black acrylic paint and some precut fimo flowers from a dial-a-style I got at Sally's.

Here's a close up of the sugar skull for you all:

I'm really like how colorful this one is!  Dia de los Muertos is such an interesting holiday to me, and there's something kind of beautiful in the symbolism and ceremony of it all.

I hope you're all enjoying this manicure too!

I'm kind of sad to see this manicure marathon end, but not this just means I get to do even more things!  Coming up I have swatches, NOTDs, nail art, and more!

If you guys have any requests, ideas, suggestions, comments, or questions feel free to leave them!  (Thanks to the suggestion of the lovely Fingers, I have now removed that pesky word verification issue, sorry about that guys.)

I look forward to so much more with all of you!!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

A little random...but hey its free stuff!

So I know this blog post kind of comes out of nowhere, but I just recently started becoming active on Influenster again and I wanted to make sure I spread the word!

Now, who out there loves free stuff?  That's what I thought, everyone!

Influenster is an awesome site where people who enjoy getting free products can fill out information and qualify to receive a box LOADED with free products based on the interests you give on the site!

I got my first VoxBox (that's what the box of free things is called) back in the Spring and it had some AMAZING things in it!  I had a full size Bath & Body Works fragrance spray, Dr. Scholl's for her high heel toe cushions, a Chap Stick, Sheer Cover foundation, Sally Hansen real nail polish strips, a SoyJoy bar, and Aveeno Daily Mostuirizing lotion!

See, amazing stuff right?

If you go to their site, www.influenster.com you can see that amzing things they've sent in other boxes like full size nail polishes, fragrance mists, Venus razors, chocolate, tea, false lashes, Goody Spin Pins, and Bath & Body Works candles to name a few!

Seriously, look into it, the box I've gotten was so cool, and soon enough you'll qualify for a box too and you can tell me and others how you like it!

That's actually all you have to do to stay active and qualified is get your box, review the products and share on your social media!  Simple enough right?

Give it a try!  You'll be glad you did!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Oh the Tangled Web We Weave...

Hello everyone!

Sorry for such a late night post, but today was crazy!  My poor little dog Kyler got in a fight with a thorn bush and snagged his ear a little bit.  Me being the paranoid mom, freaked out cause he was bleeding so much.  Rushed him to the vet, got him fixed and then got him home to have him open the cut up again...and again...and again...ultimately equaling five trips to the vet today.  Everything seems alright now, but I have a depressed, bandaged dog, and a hurting bank account. 

Very sad little dog mummy...

So that's my reason for being so behind on getting this post up (I know excuses excuses lol).  But I think it will be worth the wait.

So I know I've been posting a lot of nail art for this Halloween manicure marathon, and I guess this one technically falls into the category of nail art too, but I wanted to be sure I included a little something for those who prefer a little more subdued looks.  So today is my take on a Halloween "french" manicure of sorts.

For this one I used three coats China Glaze Riveting from the Capitol Colors Collection for the orange nails and spider web.  For the black accent nail and spider webs, I used Ulta Little Black Dress.  To create the spider webs I used a small nail art brush and the contrasting polish to the background color.

Here's a close up:

I really like the effect of the two colors.  Since Riveting is a jelly base, most of what showed up over the black was simply the glitter, which can look a bit sloppy, but I still like the look over all.

What do you guys think?

Don't forget to leave comments, questions, and requests!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Cat's Claws...the Cat's Meow

It's me again!

You know what that means, and today's Halloween manicure is a lot of fun.  I went more with cute than with spooky, but for the superstitious, this might be pushing it.

Myself, I'm not a superstitious person....but then again I'm not a cat person either.  I think they're cute to look at but I have a theory that their plotting their hostile take over of the planet...but I won't go into that, LOL.

Instead, I'll get back to the black cat manicure I've done for today!

For the main purple color I used three coats of Zoya Neeka, a nice dusty grape color with some pretty gold-green glass fleck.  Then for the cat I used Finger Paints Black Expressionism, painted over a corner of tape to make the pointed ears and then some touch up to make it look like a head.  The features of the face were done with acrylic paint.

Here's a close up of the kitty:

 

These are some cat's I can be fond of (and that won't make me sneeze of course).  I hope you like them and try the look yourself!  If you do, pass along some pictures!

As always go ahead and leave comments, questions, and requests!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

I Want My Mummy!

Hello again everyone!

I'm back with another manicure for you all (and less than creative title).

The people in the world, who like me, seem to be fascinated with the burial practices of other cultures, past and present, are likely to have at least some interest in mummies.  Other than that, anyone interested in Brendan Fraser might have their own affiliation with mummies too.

Either way...there's a good chance at some point in your life you thought the idea of mummies was interesting (even if it might have been when Scooby and the Gang found out the mummy was Old Man Jenkins all along).

All of that being said, this wouldn't be a marathon of Halloween manicures without a mummy manicure, right?

So here's mine!

For this one, I used a base of three coats of Essie Sand Tropez and then used a black stripper polish to draw on the bandages in a random way.  Then for the eyes I simply used red acrylic paint and a small dotting tool.

Here's the close up:

Oddly enough, even though they're mummies, I think they're kind of cute.  And lucky for me...there's likely no curse following these mummies, being that i never have the greatest luck to begin with!

I hope you all like this manicure (even if the post was short, that just means it's easy right?).

If you make your own version, or have another Halloween manicure to share, feel free to send them my way.  Otherwise, if you have comments, questions, or replies, leave those too!

See you all again soon!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!!

~ Cat

Grave Digger

It's me again!

Coming to you with more Halloween nail fun!  Going with another simple look, but no less fun and of course creepy!

I don't know if I'm the only one out there who is fascinated with cemeteries, but I am.  I've been a history buff for a long time, and what better way to immerse yourself in history than by exploring cemeteries?!  Older tombstones are gorgeous and just exploring in the peace and quiet has always been nice.

Oh...I'm the only one then....well alright hahaha.

Well then...who here is fascinated by fun easy nail art techniques?!  Seems like more of you...so I'll go with that angle.

First, of course let me show you my tombstone nails!

I love how these came out!  For the nail colors themselves I used two coats of China Glaze Elephant Walk, from the On Safari collection, for the base color and then Zoya Kelly for the stoney, marble effect, finishing with acrylic paint for my R.I.P.s. 

To get the marble look I used the plastic wrap technique, like the one in this video that I managed to stumble across on YouTube:

I know some people use the plastic wrap technique where they paint their second color over their nail and blot with the plastic wrap for the marble look, but the method in the video worked better for the look I wanted, either one makes a gorgeous marble finish!

Here's a close up so you can see the marble detail a bit better:

Grey polishes are some of my favorites for some reason, I just love how they look on my nails, so this one is another favorite of mine.

I hope you all liked it too and will go on to try this look or the plastic wrap method yourselves!

Feel free to leave question, comments, and requests if you'd like!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Haul 10/12-10/14 (Finally)

Hello!

So I want to start by apologizing for being so late in posting this when I kept saying it was gonna be up.  You know how things get, weekend gets busy, I get distracted...blah blah blah.

But never fear!  I am here with my haul from this weekend!

I raided the clearance aisle at Sally's and Target, found a new local beauty supply, and had some great coupons for Ulta, all of which culminated into nail polish epicness (not huge, but still nice haul I think).

L to R: Dotting tools, Orly Sunglasses at Night (Flash Glam FX Collection), Orly Go Deeper (Flash Glam FX Collection)

L to R:  Revlon ColorStay Cayenne, Finger Paints Fall-ing For You (Fall of Surprises 2012), China Glaze Sweet Hook (ElectroPop Collection 2012)

L to R:  Zoya Sarah (Flame Collection), Zoya Ray (NYFW Diva Collection), Zoya FeiFei (NYFW Diva Collection)

So there you have it guys!  My haul from this weekend!  I'm finding out that there are a whole lot more local beauty supply places around here, so I'm slowly vising them all for the wholesale goodies, haha!

If you want to see any of these swatched &/or reviewed, let me know!!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Caught Red Handed...

Hi everyone!

I'm back with another manicure for Halloween and its another one that I'm totally loving!!  As a long fan of crime dramas like CSI (Las Vegas 1st Gen, while Grissom was still there), Law & Order: SVU, and Criminal Minds to name my favorites, as well as documentary type shows like The Investigators and Forensic Files, I'm no stranger to dramatized crime scenes.  You've seen one room full of blood spatter and finger print powder, you've seen them all right?

Doesn't make them any less cool though.

I know I'm a freak, but stuff like that fascinates me (not that I think its cool that people murder and stuff).  

Anyway, back on subject.  I happened to see versions of this manicure popping up everywhere from Pinterest to YouTube and I just knew I'd have to try it myself. At first I thought I'd wait for True Blood to start back up again but that's not until next summer!!!  (I know...THE HORROR!!)  But then I realize Halloween was the perfect time to test this one out for myself.

So, without further ado, my own blood splatter manicure!

This technique is messy but a lot of fun!  For those of you how know the straw splatter method, you'll pick it up quickly.  For the rest of you, I have a video from one of my fave YouTube Beauty Gurus, WinterRose84, to help you out! 

Here's a close up of some of my nails and they have two very different splatter patterns:

I'm loving the creepiness of my nails right now, and taking pictures gave me a reason to pull out my handy dandy Tru-Blood bottle!

I hope you all like it too and will give the nail splatter technique a try.

If you do, send me some pics, otherwise feel free to comment, request, and question as usual!

Also, stay tuned for this weekends nail polish haul posting tonight also!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Chh Chh Chh Chh Ahh Ahh Ahh Ahh

I'm back!

I'm so excited about today's manicure it's not even funny!!  You ever have those days where you manage to paint your nails so well that you never want to take the polish off?

Yeah, that's where I am today.

Now, I know not everyone is a horror movie aficionado (myself included...I hate them), but most everyone knows iconic horror villains and slashers from some reference somewhere.  So that is how I justify today's nail look (though I have actually seen one of these movies...through my fingers...with my eyes shut most of the time).

And don't hate me if my title is in reference to the wrong movie...I'm sure it is, but again, I don't watch them, so meh.

Now I suppose I should get to the actual photos.

For this manicure I used three coats of Julep Kate as a base color.  To create the masks I first used some torn up bits of makeup sponge and brown acrylic paint.  The process is kind of tedious, since the sponge pieces are so small.  But I used the technique to first sponge in the shadow around the nose and where the eyes would go.  Then I lightly sponged the entire nail to give it that dirty look.  For the eyes I used acrylic paint and a small dotting tool and the smaller dots were done with a toothpick.  Then from there I just needed to add the red hash marks with a thin paint brush and a top coat, and there you have it!

Here's the close up for you:

Cool right?!  Sorry, I get way too excited when I'm proud of my nails...

Hope you all enjoyed this manicure, feel free to comment, question, request and I haven't mentioned it before, but if you end up doing your own Halloween manicures, I'd love to see them!  Feel free to send them my way!!

See you all again soon!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

We Can't Stop Here! This Is Bat Country!!

Hello again everyone!

I'm back with another Halloween nail job for you!!

In continuing with the creepy critters, I couldn't very well leave out these flying fuzzy little fiends...BATS!!

Now, if you've ever seen a bat (and I'm talking the little ones that live in like random building or under bridges or whatever that eat bugs and things) then you'll know that they're actually kind of cute...as long as you don't touch them and risk getting rabies.

I like bats myself...at a safe distance.  In fact, my college football stadium is a bat friendly stadium and you can watch them swarm out at sundown if you happen to be there, its really cool.

But anyway, other than all of that, bats are clearly associated with Halloween fairly regularly, mostly because of their association with vampire lore (which we all know my adoration of anything vampire).  So of course I had to put them in a manicure!

Here's a picture, taken in full sunlight:

 

Now, for this manicure I did the background in Color Club's Worth the Risque from their Femme Fatale collection in Spring 2009.  I was a bit sad to see that they awesome linear holographic effect didn't come out in these pictures, and I'm not sure if that was because of the angle, the lighting, or because I had things painted over it, but either way, the polish has a gorgeous rainbow linear holographic effect normally.  For the bats, the medium and big ones I painted with acrylic paint and the smaller (and much cleaner looking) bats, and the moon are from a set of Halloween nail stickers from Kiss that I found at Walgreens.  For the eyes of the two larger, bat close ups I used some gems from a Dial-A-Gem set I got at Sally's

Here's a close up of the two bats with the gemstone eyes:

 

I'm pretty proud of my painting skills (which knowing that they're not great is saying something haha).  And if anyone is wondering, I'm holding a stuffed Joker doll in these pictures...get it...Joker, bats?  I'm a geek.

Well, that's it I think...oh except for this bad pun.  I knew I'd end up batty sonar or later...

Yeah, I'm not funny.  Feel free to agree in a comment, as well as ask any questions or make requests.

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Brrrraaaaaiiiinnnnssss!!

I'm back again!

You know what that means don't you?  I can practically hear your polish addicted minds drooling at the thought of another manicure and I hope you won't be disappointed.

Now, the title of this post probably gave you a really BIG BIG BIG hint on the theme of this manicure (you know besides the going theme of Halloween...).

Yes, that's right...ZOMBIES!!!

You heard me!

Now, whatever your stance on the pending (or not) zombie apocalypse, you can't deny zombies are everywhere and in theory, they're kinda cool...in a bloody I want to suck your brains out of you head and turn you into a slow, limping member of the living dead, kind of way.

I digress...back to nail polish!

Let me go ahead and give you my first image (and I'm sorry ahead of time, the sun decided to hide from me when I was trying to take pictures):

For this manicure I used Finger Paints Military Green from their Fall Fashionista collection from 2011.  Then for the scars, wounds, and brains it was a simple matter of using acrylic paint once again.  The fun thing about this manicure is nothing has to be perfect.  After all zombies are made of rotting flesh and whatever it is that animates them.

Here's a close up of some detail:

So there it is, my zombie manicure!  Now I'm sure that by this point some of you are convinced that my nails are simply on bath salts...but I assure you, they're zombies and they have every reason to eat your face....

Just kidding!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!  As always share with your friends and feel free to comment and question!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Nail Polish Haul - Ulta & Sally Clearance Sections

Hey guys!

Before the next manicure get posted, I wanted to share a haul with you!

I picked up these polishes from my local Sally's Beauty Supply and Ulta this weekend on clearance.  In fact Sally is having a sale this weekend where you get an additional 50% off all clearance through Sunday.

Anyways, here's a picture of the whole haul:

 

Before I put up the close up pictures, I want to break down which polishes I got where.

Ulta:  

-  OPI Do My Back Please?, I think this was a leftover from their Summer exclusive collection (which if i'm being honest just looked like leftovers from a bunch of other OPI collections)  I picked this one up because if reminded me of OPI Mermaid Tears from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection which I have wanted for some time.  I don't think it's a dupe, but I could be wrong since I don't have MT to compare it to.

-  OPI All A-Bordeaux the Sled, This one was a surprise appearance from the Holiday Wishes collection from 2009 (no wonder it was on clearance haha).  Looks like a brownish, crimson jelly creme and I'm kind of excited to try it!

Sally:

-  Orly Monster Mash, One of the polishes from the new Flash Glam FX collection, released for Halloween.  Seems like they're releasing these a few at a time since there are so many, but I think you can get them all online as far as I know.  This one wasn't on clearance, but I had a coupon.  It's a grassy green with green medium hex, gold tiny hex, and gold-green mini bar glitter in a lime green gel base.

-  Orly Spazmatic, Another from the Flash Glam FX collection from its premiere release in the summer I believe.  This one has teal-blue medium hex and indigo-violet micro glitter.

-  China Glaze No Plain Jane, This one comes from this Fall's Bohemian Luster Chrome collection and is a purple-brown-gold multi-chrome.

-  China Glaze Want My Bawdy, Another from the Bohemian Luster Chrome collection that's basically a blue-toned violet chrome finish (I think its supposed to be duo-chrome, but you can't really see it in the bottle, and I'm not sure if I will on the nail either).

Now for some photo spam!

So there's my haul for you guys!

If you want to see anything specific or know more, feel free to comment!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Dem Bones, Dem Bones

Hello again!

I'm back with my next spooky manicure for you all to see!  If you're a fan of the macbre, or a fan of Punisher (for my comic book fans)  then I think you'll have a great appreciation for this particular paint job!

I know that lead in might be kind of interesting, or for some confusing, but once you see my nails you might understand what I mean.

Keeping with my Halloween theme, I couldn't have a month of nails without a skull manicure!

There are a lot of options for skulls, but when it comes to spooky I try not to be too cute with things, besides, who wants to see a cute skull?!  So I wanted to be sure they weren't cartoon like, but I don't have nearly enough dexterity in both my hands to master amazing nail paintings, so I had to find something kind of in between, and I think they look pretty cool myself.  (In fact, I got a few compliments at lunch today!)

Anyways, to the photos!

 Photos are taken in direct sunlight.

To paint these, I used a nail polish from Forever 21's Love & Beauty line called Taupe.  As you can see its much more of a cream than a taupe, but whatever, none of their colors have accurate names.  If you'd like this one, I'm not sure how available this color is, since Forever 21 changes out their polish inventory constantly, and I don't think any two stores care the same colors, but for a similar polish, just look for a cream with a hint of tan, and a slightly pearly finish.  To do the skull details, I used black acrylic paint and tiny brush, but you can use liners or nail polish pens if you have them, the details might come out a bit nicer with those (though no skull is perfect or "pretty").

Here's a close up of the detail:

Those who know Marvel, and recognize The Punisher, will understand my reference since these skulls look a bit like his symbol.

But either way, I think they look pretty cool!

I hope you all enjoy them, and as always feel free to make requests, ask questions, and leave comments!

I'll see you soon with my next Halloween goodies!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Don't Mess With Jack...

Hey all!

Today brings you Halloween mani #2 and I can't take all the credit for this one.  I saw this cute nail art on one of my favorite YouTube beauty guru's channel, the wonderful MissJenFABULOUS!

Here's her original video:

Really cute right?!

So needless to say, when I saw this pop up on my video feed on YouTube I knew I had to add it to my Halloween manicure marathon!

That being said, here is my own version of this adorable and frightening manicure:

 This is the manicure in direct sunlight (and I'm holding a Halloween garland, its the only Halloween decoration I could find in my house LOL).

To create this manicure I followed Miss Jen's sponging instructions, sponging Wet n Wild's Wild Shine Black Creme over three coats of Julep Parker.  Then to create the evil faces, I used a small brush and some white acrylic paint since I didn't have any white nail art pens at my disposal, but I think I paid good homage to Miss Jen's original design.

Here's a close up of one of the nails so you can see the detail:

I hope you guys like today's Halloween nails!  I think they're rather cute...in an evil frightening way of course, haha.

As always if you have any questions or requests, feel free to comment!

See you all again in a couple of days for my next spooky manicure!

Wishing you Hugs, Kisses, & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

P.S. If you want to see more from MissJenFABULOUS, you can check out her polish blog HERE!

Taking a bite out of Halloween...

So as promised, this October first brings the first of my month of Halloween manicures!!  I hope you enjoy all of these and maybe even go on to come up with your own spins on them!

This first one, I decided to go off of the phrase of "the Halloween bug bit me".

With my obsession with nail polish and my love of vampires, this seemed an obvious first manicure!

I hope you all like it!

This is the manicure in direct sunlight (and only fitting to be holding a Tru-Blood bottle HAHA).

To create this particular manicure, I used China Glaze Adventure Red-y from the On Safari Fall 2012 collection for the red nails.  The accent nail has a background of OPI Skull & Glossbones from the Pirates of the Caribbean Spring 2011 Collection.  The bite marks are made with wide end of some fancy toothpicks in my house, but you can use a dotting tool and any black polish (though I used Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Black Creme).  Then using a toothpick, I created the blood drop using Adventure Red-y again.

Here's a close up of the accent nail for you:

This manicure was really simple, and I think it turned out really well (in my humble opinion).

A great start to my month of Halloween manis I'd say!

Keep coming back to see more and as always is you have any questions or requests, feel free to ask!

See you guys again soon!


Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat