Happy Halloween 2015!

Happy Halloween!  Just one mani for me this Halloween.  The orange polish is Zoya Arizona, and the gradient is Pansy-Monium and My Life's Porpoise, both from KBShimmer.  Everything was stamped using Rica Blackout stamping polish.  The skulls is a design from MoYou London Biker Collection plate 08, while everything else is from Bundle Monster.  The bats design is off of plate BM-H08, both the text design on my ring finger nail and the spider web on my pinky nail are from plate BM-H07.

Going into it, I was originally planning to have all my nails be different base colors.  It wasn't until after I finished the two middle nails that I decided to scrap that idea and throw down a few coats of orange on my index and pinky nails too.  Otherwise, I would have most likely put the gradient on my ring finger nail as an accent, instead of my middle finger.  But really, there's no rules when it comes to accent nails, and I really like the overall look with the accent nail just where it is.  The gradient with bats stamp also went on my camera shy thumb nails.  I really love the look of the purple to grey gradient, I think I may need to use it for a full mani someday.

Have a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

Shangri-La Abstract Stamping

For the past month or so, I've been in a nail art slump.  I just haven't felt motivated to do anything other than switch out the polish on my nails.  Seeing this look though, that I wore pre-slump, is reminding me why I got into nail art in the first place, and also that a manicure doesn't have to be super complicated to have it turn out to be one of your favorites.

This mani was actually from back in July, I just never got around to using it in a post until now.  It had been a little while since I'd done any matte nails, and I was loving a look that Oooh, Shinies! had posted at the time.  It made me think about the China Glaze Romantique collection, which I had purchased online ages ago solely to use the polishes for stamping.  I also had just recently ordered the Shangri-La Master Set from Bundle Monster and was itching to try out one of the new plates in the collection.

For my base, I started with a polish probably almost as old as the Romantique Collection, OPI Steady As She Rose.  Then I stamped part of the design from plate BM-S105 with China Glaze Joy.  I finished the look off with one coat of OPI's matte top coat.

I need to remember to pull out some shades from the China Glaze Romantique collection more often.  They are great for stamping, and they look amazing matte as well.