Halloween 2013: Starfire Nail Art

Happy Halloween! I was going to post a Halloween-themed manicure today, but my Macbook's SD card drive has decided not to work and thus the pictures are now trapped in a weird limbo. I'll show that to you as soon as I solve that problem, but in the meantime, I have the nail art I'm wearing to go with my costume for this year! So it's still Halloween themed. Sorta.

Anyway, this year, I'm being Starfire! She's an alien princess superhero from the DC universe. She appears in the comics, but my costume is based on the popular cartoon, Teen Titans (not her comic book counterparts - those costumes show WAY too much skin for me!). I was/am obsessed with that show, and this year, my friend and I decided to dress up as characters from the cartoon. She's being Raven. We made our costumes by hand, which in retrospect was an insane idea. I can hardly sew, but I managed to create Starfire's entire outfit by hand! I haven't had a chance to take a lot of pictures yet (which is why I wanted to post this manicure later), but you can get the gist of the costume from the picture I've included at the end of the post.

Okay, so after that long introduction, here's the nail art! Starfire's powers include shooting bright green starbolts from her hands, so I did a manicure that was mostly a bright green. I also wanted to give a nod to her alien heritage by adding some futuristic detailing.

I started with a base of China Glaze in White on White so the neon would really pop. I layered China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard over that, which is a great, shimmery neon green. Then I added a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust for some tiny holographic sparkles. I let all of that dry, and then used a striper brush and Sephora by OPI Queen of Everything to freehand the striped pattern. I added purple rhinestones for a pop of contrast (and to match the purple of her outfit).

I'm pretty pleased with how these came out. They're super bright, and my freehanding skills are definitely improving. Even my right hand doesn't look bad!

Here's my costume! Starfire has really bright green eyes, so I used makeup to show that. I really wanted to use colored contacts, but sadly, my eyesight is absolutely awful so buying a pair of green contacts in my prescription would have been too expensive to justify. But I'm really proud of myself! I think the costume came out really well (especially since this is the first time I've attempted to make any sort of clothing). I also have really long boot covers on my legs, but you can't see those here. But trust me, the whole effect is really great.

I hope you all have a really awesome Halloween!

Black and Yellow Skittles

As you may or may not know, I go to college in the great steel town of Pittsburgh, PA. It's definitely an interesting place to live, and I have to say, I did miss it while I was abroad. And today's nails are unintentionally Pittsburgh colored skittles!

I started by painting all of my nails (except my ring fingers) with a base of Sun Kissed by China Glaze, a neon yellow. I used Liquid Leather by China Glaze for my ring fingers, then topped that with two coats of Humblebee by Ninja Polish. 

I used a makeup sponge for the gradient, a dotting tool on my pinky, and freehanded the stripes and flower.

Pittsburgh's sports culture is borderline obsessive - everyone here really loves their Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates (I personally am not a fan of their teams, but I digress). All of the teams share the same color scheme of black and yellow. Although I originally based my color scheme on the colors in Humblebee, my friends all commented about the Pittsburgh colors!

I have to say, I'm gonna miss this city when I graduate. And I do love the contrast of black and yellow.

Blue Gold Gradient

Gradients are my go-to nail art when I feel like I'm in a rut. This time, I went for the classic color combo of blue and gold.

I started with a base of Bluey by Butter London, a shimmering deep blue. I let that dry, then used a makeup sponge and Goldeneye by OPI to create the gold gradient.

I can't say enough good things about Goldeneye - it's definitely becoming one of my favorite polishes!

Happy Hands: Reptar's Revenge

I've gotta say, we had some really awesome cartoons in the '90s. I'm especially partial to Rugrats, so I was pretty excited when I saw this limited edition polish by Happy Hands. It's called Reptar's Revenge, named for the green dinosaur that the babies in Rugrats were so fond of.

I like my polishes to be opaque, so I layered this glitter jelly over Mojito Madness by Essie.

Reptar's Revenge is a murky green jelly base filled with purple, yellow, and turquoise glitter in circles and hexes. I used two coats and had no problems getting the larger glitters to come out.

I love this polish on its own, but the name really makes it for me! You can purchase Happy Hands nail polish from their store, where they currently have some other collections inspired by great stuff, like Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Purple Waterfall Stripes

The Nailasaurus has been doing some super cool things with what she calls waterfall stripes - and I decided to imitate her fabulous idea! Surprisingly, this mani is super easy to do.

I started by painting my nails with a base of Essie Bond With Whomever, a lavender creme. The formula was actually a bit runny for my taste.

After that, I took a striper brush and painted on some random, messy stripes of Essie Sexy Divide, a deep purple shimmer. I let that dry, then I added some stripes of Sephora by OPI in Queen of Everything.

Speaking of Sephora by OPI, I got really sad when I found out that Sephora was discontinuing that whole line in favor of something new, so I bought two back ups of Queen of Everything! It's literally the perfect silver; I am totally not being crazy. It's one of the first polishes I bought, actually - I got it to go with my junior prom dress, haha! Seems like so long ago.

But anyway, that's all it takes to make this gorgeous mani! Just some freehanded, messy stripes :) I'll definitely be doing this design again.