Halloween Nails 6: Dracula

Nothing screams Halloween like Bram Stoker's Count Dracula so it seemed fitting that he'd appear somewhere in my list of Halloween nail art tutorials. See how you can get this cute Dracula manicure in six easy steps.

Rimmel London - 080 Black Cab

Rimmel London a nail Tip Whitener

No 7 - 12 Temptress

Striper Brush

Dotting Tools

Now lets get creative!

1. Use a base coat to protect your nails from staining. Paint your nails white, you may need to paint two or three coats before the white will be streak-free.

2. Use your striper brush dipped in black polish to paint a black French tip at the top of your nail. Then draw a small point coming from the centre of the French tip like the top centre picture above.

3. Take your largest dotting tool and dip it in a dark red polish. Place two large dots side-by-side about halfway down your nail.

4. Take your striper brush and dip it in black polish again. This time draw a curved line beneath the eyes. Draw two small triangles coming from the curved line, these will be the fangs.

5. Take a slightly smaller dotting tool and dip it in black polish. Place a smaller black dot inside both dark red dots.

6. Finally, take your smallest dotting tool and dipping it in white polish dot two small circles inside the black dots from step five. Use a topcoat to protect your design.

Congratulations, you've nailed a fang-tastic nail art look in no time! 

Halloween Nails 5: Pumpkins

What says "Happy Halloween" better than a well cut jack o' lantern?pumpkins are a bright and cheery alternative to some of my darker Halloween nail art looks. Plus this one I'm about to show you here is very simple to do too!

To paint my pumpkins I used the following:

Rimmel London - 705 Tangy Tangerine

Rimmel London Nail Tip Whitener

GOSH - 12 Orange Splash

New York Colour -  298 High Line Green

Striper Brush/ Cocktail Sticks

Now for the painting!

1. Use a base coat to protect your nails from staining. Paint your nails white. This could use a couple of coats before it gets nice and streak-free, the way we want it.

2. Take your orange polish and paint a semi circle art the tip of your nail. This will be the top of your pumpkin.

3. Take your striper brush and dip it in your green polish. Paint a small stem growing from the top of your pumpkin.

4. Taking your striper brush again dip it in light orange. Use this to give some highlighting to your pumpkin, making it look a little less flat.

5. Use a topcoat to protect your nails from chipping. Clean up any messy bits with a cotton bud dipped in nail polish remover.

There you have it! Pumpkin nails for Halloween.

Halloween Nails 4: A Crime Scene

Who doesn't enjoy watching procedural shows like C.S.I, Bones, Hannibal and the Mentalist? Do you know what all those shows have in common? Creepy crime scenes of the murder variety. Now if that doesn't sound like real-life Halloween horror, I don't know what does! So here is my take on a crime scene nail art look complete with police tape, chalk outlines and blood splatter.

To do this manicure I used:

Rimmel London I heart Lasting Finish - 030 Double Decker Red

Rimmel London I heart Lasting Finish - 080 Black Cab

Rimmel London Nail Tip Whitener

Maybelline Color Show - 749 Electric Yellow

Striper Brush

Cocktail Sticks

Now for the fun part!

1. Use a base coat to protect your nails from staining. Once that's dry paint your nails black. Use as many coats as needed to make the black streak-free.

2. Take your striper brush and dip it in white polish. Staring about half way down your nail, paint a thick line that reaches down towards the opposite corner (towards the tip) of your nail.

3. Repeat step two but this time coming from halfway down the opposite side of your nail and crossing over the thick line made in step two. Your nail should now look like the nail in the top right picture above.

4. Paint over the white lines in yellow. The reason I used white first was to really make the yellow pop. If you paint yellow over black it tends to look dull, which we don't want for our police tape.

5. Now is the time to clean up your strips of police tape. Outlining them in black using a striper brush not only defines the tape but you can give your tape very clean, straight lines which is what we want for our tape.

6. Next taking your striper brush or cocktail stick dipped in black polish paint some lettering along your police tape. Because my nails are so small writing full words wasn't an issue but its good to have an idea of what words you're writing in your mind to make it look more realistic. I wrote "CAUTION - DO NOT CROSS" along my police tape. Your nails should now look like the second picture on the left above.

7. Now that we've got the lettering and straight lines out of the way we can get more creative! Dip your striper brush/ cocktail stick in white polish and draw your chalk outline. This may seem hard but really all you have to do is imagine your drawing around a very small stick man. I started with a circle for the head and then painted two small arms and a torso. Thanks to the police tape we've already painted we don't have to paint any legs on our chalk outlines which makes it easier again. Your nails should now look like the second picture to the right above.

8. Lastly, dip your striper brush in red polish and use this to create some blood dripping down from the top of the strips of police tape. This will add some Halloween gore and brighten up your manicure! Then use a topcoat to seal your design and protect from chipping.

Ta-dah!!! You've nailed an eerie crime scene manicure.

Halloween Nails 3: Frankenstein

Frankenstein is the epitome of classic Halloween horror. I studied the book by Mary Shelley last semester in college and loved it. So it seemed fitting that a Frankenstein manicure should appear somewhere in my Halloween nail art tutorials.

To nail this look you'll need:

O.P.I - Did it on 'Em (Nicki Minaj Collection)

Rimmel London I heart Lasting Finish - 080 Black Cab

Rimmel London Nail Tip Whitener

Dotting tools

Striper brush/ Cocktail sticks

Frankenstein's Stitches

1. Use a base coat to protect your nails from staining then paint your nails a Frankenstein-esque green. Use as many coats as you need for the green to be streak-free.

2. Take your striper brush and dip it in black polish. Draw the lines in Frankenstein's skin that need to be stitched up. Your nail should look like the one in the top right picture above.

3. Take your striper brush again and using black nail polish, paint in short strokes to achieve the stitches along the lines created in step two. Use a topcoat to protect your design.

Frankenstein

1. Use a base coat to protect your nails from staining then paint your nails a Frankenstein-esque green. Use as many coats as you need for the green to be streak-free.

2. Take your dotting tool and dipping it in white, place two dots side by side about half way down the nail. These will be the eyes.

3. Take your striper brush and dip it in black polish. Create two curving lines beneath the eyes, these will make Frankenstein look like he has bags under his eyes (I doubt he sleeps very well!).

4. Using the same brush as before dip it in black polish again and draw two lines above the eyes slanting downwards as they come towards the centre of the face (Frankenstein isn't happy here). Then paint a hooked line, starting from the inside of the right eye and curving a little further down the face, this will be the nose.

5. Still using your striper brush and black polish paint a frowning mouth a short space beneath the nose. Draw lines extending from near the nose to near the mouth on both sides of the face to exaggerate how unhappy Frankenstein is. Then like we did with the stitches before, draw a small line anywhere on Frankenstein's face and create stitches across the line.

6. Finally, to give Frankenstein's eyes some character take your striper brush and dipping it in your green colour draw drooping eyelids across half of both the white circles. Beneath each eyelid, using your smallest dotting tool, place a dot of black polish (these will be the pupils). Once it's all dried, use a topcoat to protect your design from chipping.

Et voilà! Frankenstein nails for the gothic literature lovers out there.

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!

Autumn Nails!

Woodland creatures are set to take off in a big way in the fashion world this Autumn and Winter. I decided to paint an owl, a fox and a little squirrel on my index, middle and ring fingers. Then I added an autumnal gradient with a tree silhouette on my big thumb and pinky finger.

The colours I used to create this look are:

GOSH - 596 Miss Mole

GOSH - 570 Peachy

New York Colour- 298 High Line Green

Rimmel London I heart Lasting Finish - 030 Double Decker Red

Rimmel London I heart Lasting Finish - 080 Black Cab

Rimmel London I heart Lasting Finish - 805 Grey Matter

Rimmel London Nail Tip Whitener

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?