Halloween Nails 2: Spiders and Cobwebs

My sister bought these cute spider earrings for Halloween in Tesco for €2.50 and asked me to do her nails to match. I figured since there's a pretty decent amount of people that are scared of spiders (how can you trust something with that many legs?!) that this would be a perfect addition to my Halloween nail art tutorials.

Firstly, I used the following to create this look:

Rimmel London I heart Lasting Finish - 080 Black Cab

Rimmel London Nail Tip Whitener

Nails inc. - 072 Westminster

Dotting Tools

Striper Brush/ Cocktail Sticks

The Spiderweb

1. Use a base coat to prevent staining. Then paint the nails you want to have your spiderwebs on black. Make sure the black is streak-free, paint two or three coats if needed.

2. Take your striper brush/ cocktail stick and dip it in your white polish. Use this to draw a "+" from the top to the bottom of your nail.

3. Take the tool you used in the last step (I used a cocktail stick) and dipping it in white polish again, draw an "x" over the "+" making sure the centre of the "x" crosses through the centre of the "+". Your nail should now look like the bottom left picture above.

4. Take your striper brush/ cocktail stick with your white polish again and connect each strand of the cobweb to the next. I did this twice, once closer to the centre of the web and the second time towards the edge of the web. Your nail should now look like the picture on the right above.

5. Finish with a topcoat, protecting your design from chipping.

The Spider

1. Use a base coat again to protect your nails from staining. Paint the nails you'd like to have spiders on purple. Make sure it's streak-free, painting two to three coats if needs be.

2. Take your second largest dotting tool and dip it in black paint. Place a black dot about a third of the way down your nail.

3. Take your largest dotting tool and dip it in black polish again. Place a slightly bigger dot beneath the dot you just made in step two.

4. Take your striper brush/ cocktail stick and dip it in black paint. Draw four pairs of small black legs extending from either side of the spiders body. They should increase in size slightly as you work your way down.

5. Take a small dotting tool and dip it in white paint. Place two dots beside each other at the top of the smaller circle you made in step two.

6. Take your smallest dotting tool and after dipping it in black polish place a small dot inside each of the white dots you made in step five.

7. Use a topcoat to protect your design from chipping.

And there you have it!! An adorable, yet creepy halloween manicure you can do in no time!

Halloween nails 1: Tombstones

With college work having kept me busy lately my nail art has had to take a back seat. However, thanks to the long weekend, I'm doing a spooky Halloween nail art look every day from now until Halloween! Today I've gone for an incredibly easy to do tombstone nail art look. Want to know how to nail this look? Just follow these four simple steps.

Firstly though, you will need some supplies!

Nails Inc. - 072 Westminster

Rimmel London 60 Seconds - 805 Grey Matter

Rimmel London I love Lasting Finish - 080 Black Cab

New York Colour - 298 Highline Green

Sally Hansen Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Treatment (base coat and top coat)

Striper Brush/ Cocktail Sticks

Now for the fun part!

1. Paint your nail a deep, dark purple. Purple is a great Halloween colour that you can use to brighten up a dull and dreary manicure. Paint as many coats as you need for the purple to be streak-free and then let dry.

2. Next, take your grey colour and paint an oval from three quarters down your nail to the tip. Fill the oval in with grey polish and let dry. Paint another coat if necessary, you don't want any purple to be seen beneath the grey area.

3. Now that you've the shape of your tombstone sorted you can take your striper brush/cocktail stick and dip it in green paint. To make the tombstone seem unkempt and overgrown (and a little more spooky) use the green polish to create short fine strokes at the base of the tombstone. This will look like overgrown grass.

4. The finishing touch is what you write on your tombstones. I went for a simple "R.I.P" because the tombstones are small and I must admit lettering is my least favourite part of most nail art designs. However, if you're feeling particularly morbid/creative you could paint the names of famous Halloween celebrities to make your tombstones seem more realistic. Clean up the messy bits with a cotton bud dipped in nail varnish remover and then use a topcoat to seal in your design.

Ta-dah!! You've nailed the first of my spooky Halloween nail art looks!

Winter Essentials

Now that the sunny days of summer are a distant memory and umbrellas are a necessity whenever you leave the house, I've started enjoying the things that make winter a little more bearable. Like hot chocolate with the little marshmallows on top, comfy knitted jumpers and of course the big fuzzy slipper socks! With this change in weather I've decided to let you all know what I consider to be my winter essentials.

1. Candles

I know that you can use candles any time of the year but I think there's nothing nicer than lighting a lovely scented candle while the rain is pelting against the windows. It just makes me feel so cosy! The candle above is from the Yankee Candle range which is my favourite for gorgeous scents. My candle is Waikiki Melon scented and smells of exotic juicy melons and sweet oranges. As soon as you light the candle it fills the room with its gorgeous scent but never gets overpowering. I bought this candle in the Yankee Candle store in Stephen's Green shopping centre in Dublin. This candle is in the medium sized jar and cost me €19.95. This may seem pricey for a candle but they really do last an incredibly long time. I've had this candle since before October last year and look how little has burnt down! The best part about these Yankee candles is that if you don't feel like having a candle lit in your room, you can just take the lid off the jar and the divine smell still fills the room! You can get these candles in all sorts of sizes and scents ranging from as little as €1.50 to €26.95. If you go on line to www.yankee.ie you'll be able to find some of their 'fragrance of the month' candles on special offer. You can find Yankee candles easily in gift shops, pharmacies and Yankee Candle stores across the country.

2. Hand Cream

The colder the air gets, the harsher the weather feels on your skin, especially on extremities like your hands and face. While I always use a good face moisturiser I usually don't use a hand cream. During the colder months though, I find that the skin on my hands is left feeling dry and hard. To treat my mitts I use this 2 in 1 hand and nail cream from Superdrug. It's specially formulated with Keratin and Pro-Vitamin B5 to moisturise and soften skin, whilst strengthening nails. I've found that, used regularly, it helps give me stronger nails (making them less likely to split, flake or break). This 2 in 1 cream is easily absorbed and leaves my hands feeling soft, smooth and supple. The 150ml bottle I got only cost me €2.35 in Superdrug and lasts ages. Total bargain!

3. Dark Nail Polish

Again, I know we can wear whatever nail polish we want whenever we want but I still feel like summer months call for brighter more vibrant polishes while the colder months call for dark, jewel tones and deep, rich hues. I personally love a deep shade of burgundy or a midnight blue on my nails but my favourite winter polish you ask? Nails inc. 411 Elm Park Gardens, a gorgeously dark shade of green. I love that it's so dark it's almost black because I often feel like black on its own is just too dark for my nails whereas this colour has the darkness of a black nail colour while the green adds depth to it. This colour has a gorgeously rich, polished finish. The bottle was a total bargain too as I got it in a pack of four nails inc. polishes in TkMaxx for €18.90. Considering that these luxurious polishes are usually €16.50 on their own I was delighted with my find!

4. Lip Scrub

I've dedicated an entire post to this lip scrub already but when it comes to winter weather there's really no greater saviour for lips than my Lush Lip Scrub! The cold air dries out lips leaving them looking flaky and chapped. A good lip scrub is a must during these months and My Boy Lollipop Lip Scrub from Lush Cosmetics really does the job.This lip scrub uses fine castor sugar grains to gently buff and remove flaky dead skin. This is best achieved by dabbing your fingertip into the pot and once a few grains are stuck to your finger taking it and rubbing it in small circles across both your lower and upper lip working into the corners from the centre to ensure the skin on your lips is all fresh and clean. Then the jojoba oil acts, soaking into the newly revealed skin, it moisturises and nourishes your fresh and flake free lips. It costs €8, which may seem pricey for a small 25g pot but I've had mine for nine months or so and there's still more than half the pot left! Definitely an investment I don't mind making. These pots come in various flavours and can be bought in any Lush Cosmetics store.

5. Vampy Lips

I am a huge fan of dark lip colours and love breaking them out again in the autumn! My favourite from my collection of lipsticks and stains is actually quite inexpensive. It's the Rimmel London 'Lasting Finish Matte' by Kate Moss in 107. It's a gorgeous dark, berry red colour with a matte finish. However unlike a lot of other (even more expensive) brands of matte lipstick I found that this one does not dry out my  lips and is really comfortable to wear. The intense velvety colour and in-season matte finish all make this the perfect autumn/winter lipstick. It doesn't hurt that this lipstick doesn't feather or bleed and lasts up to four hours before needing to reapply! The best part though is the price tag. €6.99 for the perfect winter lipstick? Yes please!

Ok, ok, I'll admit, these might not necessarily be winter essentials as such but they definitely help make my cosy, snuggled up wintery nights far more enjoyable! So tell me, what are your winter essentials?

'Friends' Nails!

Could these nails be any more Friends orientated?! (Excuse me, channeling my inner Chandler!) But yes, the summer, for me, has meant watching reruns of Friends pretty much every evening. So the hit TV show was my inspiration for my nails this week!

Excuse the mess on my thumb nail, I would have used a cotton bud dipped in nail polish remover but I'm away from home at the moment and because I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached to my shoulders I forgot my nail polish remover (le gasp!).

If you've watched Friends as religiously as I have I'm sure you can guess what's on each nail. However, on the off chance you can't, let me break it down for you. The Friends logo stretches across my thumb and pinky nails, the Central Perk coffee shop sign is on my index, then there's the peephole from the door in Monica's apartment on my middle fingernail and of course no Friends mani would be complete without Smelly Cat on my ring finger!

Now, I must admit I used a lot of colours for this. Here is the list:

Nails inc - 411 Elm Park Gardens

Nails inc - 042 Hampstead Gardens

Nails inc - 210 Floral Street

Catrice - Blue Cara Ciao

Catrice - 700 Birdy Reloaded!

Gosh - 571 Wild Lilac

Rimmel London I love Lasting Finish - 030 Double Decker Red

Rimmel London I love Lasting Finish - 080 Black Cab

Rimmel London 60 Seconds - 805 Grey Matter

The only tools I used for this were my set of dotting tools and cocktail sticks. The details took about a half hour/ forty minutes to do but I had time and had always wanted to see if I could actually do a Friends manicure! If you had been painting this what iconic Friends related things/ phrases would you have used? I must admit, I had thought about painting "we were on a break" instead of Smelly Cat!

Confetti Vs Grafitti

On a recent trip to Limerick I spent a small fortune in Superdrug. On my mad sale-induced shopping spree I spotted a glorious nail polish, similar to one that's a good deal more expensive. So of course, in the name of blogging I had to pick one up for a review! Here I am going to compare L'oreal Color Riche Nail Top Coat in 'Confettis' to Nails Inc. Graffiti Polish in 'Brick Lane'.

The Graffiti polish cost €16.50 and can be bought in Debenhams. On the other hand the Confetti polish only set me back €6.45 and can be purchased in pretty much any pharmacy across the country. Is the difference in price warranted? I'll let the swatches speak for themselves! Both polishes have been painted over the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polish in 540 'Frutti Petutie'.

First we'll look at the L'oreal number.

This gorgeous polish applies smoothly and with no trouble whatsoever. It's a clear polish with tiny hexagonal black and white coloured glitters varying in size in it. With just one coat (as seen above) the Confetti polish gives my nails a speckled look similar to that of a birds egg. It's a very quick drying polish and even with the speckles in it, dries smoothly with little to no bumps left on the surface of the nail. This polish is also pretty easy to remove which is rare in textured polishes.

Now, onto the Nails Inc. polish.

This Graffiti polish offers a completely different look once out of the bottle and applied to my nails. It's filled to bursting with hexagonal black and white glitters, smaller circular black sequins, black and white strands and teeny tiny black and white speckles. 'Brick Lane' clearly has far more in it which would explain it's price. I found this polish quite hard to work with though. With all those sequins and strands it makes for a very thick lumpy polish that is hard to manipulate evenly over your nail. It also takes a little longer than the L'oreal polish to dry and it dried far more bumpy and rough than the other polish too. However, I must admit, it does look really unique and edgy!

I suppose it really depends on what your personal preference is. Do you want a louder look with more variety? Then I would definitely recommend splurging and picking up the Nails Inc. one. However, if you're just looking for a simple nail art look that takes minimal effort and still catches people's eyes then I'd buy the L'oreal Confettis number. It gives a lovely simple, speckled finish and you can save yourself just over a tenner!