OK, this photo is actually from a wedding we attended a few years back… but still!

So, it is almost Valentine’s Day. Now me and the boyfriend don’t really celebrate it other than going out for a meal. I tend to find all the romantic items that get shoved down our throats a bit sickly. One thing that I do love about Valentine’s Day however, is the chance to get creative with manicures and nail art.

So baring Valentine’s day in mind, I decided to experiment with negative space nail art. Negative space nail art is set to be the big thing for manicures this year, even though it looks like a bit of a faff to do. No pain, no gain, eh?

For this look I used Collection 2000’s Lasting Colour in Damson Jam. Which is possibly older than my niece, so there’s that. Despite being old it still goes on a dream, offering quick and equal coverage. I like this polish mainly for its colour; a lovely deep red. It kinda hints at being vampy without being full on femme fatale.

I painted 3 nails, leaving bare the nails on the thumb and ring finger. On the bare nails, I then used a dotting tool to draw the outline of a heart.

I thing painted the rest of the nail, using the dotting tool when I needed to paint close to the outline. As you can see on the photos, the heart on the ring finger went a bit wobbly however unless you’re looking (or taking blog photos) I think I can get away with it.

And there you go, that’s basically it.

I was toying with doing the outline of the hearts in gold, but then big brother happened.

Super simple and fast to do, this is a perfect manicure if you’re a beginner or don’t have time to create intricate Halloween nail art. For this look I have used Barry M’s bright purple as the base, an old unbranded silver nail polish and Barry M’s Diamond Glitter nail polish as a top coat .

First apply an even base coat in the bright purple. I love this nail polish, probably because the colour reminds me of Cadbury chocolate. Yum.

Once this has dried, use a dotting tool, nail art pen or cocktail stick to draw on three distinct lines. Try to get them all to originate from the same point, or as close as you can get, and flare outwards at an angle. This will form the basis of the web. You could have the starting point of the web at any place on the nail; however it makes more sense to me to place it into a top corner. I’ve chosen the ‘outer corner’ so that my webs are reaching inwards – as you will see in the photos.

The second part of this Halloween nail art, is to add in the horizontal webbing (is that what it’s called?) on the web. Do you have webbing on a web? Who knows?

You can see on this photo what I mean. The lines here look a bit thick, and if you are worried about them merging into a silvery mass, just carry on. You can define them later by adding purple in where the ‘gaps’ would be.

In the photo I have only completed one section but you need to carry on filling in the sections until the web is attached, so to speak, to each side of the nail.

I did these webs on four fingers, but felt that for Halloween nail art, it just needed something else to give it an edge.

As such, on my ring finger I created the spider. To do this, make a small circle ¾ of the way up the nail. This will be the head of the spider, and every head needs a body. So, make a larger oval attached to the head and add on one leg at a time. Try to give the legs a bit of a bend in them, rather than just sticking out straight.

For a final touch to the spider, add two small stubs to the head to act as pincers.

Cover in glittery top coat and you are done!

Told you it was quick!

If Edgar Allen Poe indulged in nail art, this would have to be his signature style. Spooky, subtle and hints of decaying glamour… The perfect Halloween nail art idea if you’ve still got to work on the day.

To create this Haunted Forest nail art look, I first applied the base coat of Collection’s Work the Colour in the shade Going for Gold. I was highly excited at trying out this colour as I have long been looking for a gold nail polish that is a clean metallic and not full of glitter.

It took two coats, but as you can see on the nails of my glamour assistant (aka The Mother) it gives a really nice coverage.

Once the gold has dried, it’s time to start on the design.

I started by sketching a tree trunk onto the ring finger. Use a dotting tool, black nail art pen, or cocktail stick to draw a crooked thin line, from the tip of the nail up three quarters of the nail. Then starting from the bottom, slowly make it thicker, as you can see from my photo it is a good idea to try and make the line get thicker towards the tip to the nail like a tree trunk reaching down to the ground. Try to make it crooked, as this is Halloween nail art, and all sinister trees are crooked, are they not?

For the ground of the haunted forest, I’ve just painted a black line. Then swiftly moved on to the fun bit of adding the branches to the tree. I’ve tried to keep them quite thin, however in some areas they do get a bit thick.

After adding the ‘main branches’ I’ve just painted on shorter off shoots from them. All of the black polish that I’ve used is part of Rimmel’s 60 Seconds  collection – which I think is perfect for nail art because of how quickly it dries.

On all other fingers (excluding the thumb) I have only put on one branch, using the same method. On the little finger I have created it in a more swirled shape, and on the other two fingers I have one going up and one going down. I was trying to give them the impression that they was slowly growing and creeping – smothering anything it their path. A bit like the thorns in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.

There’s always an excuse for a Disney pic, right?

For the thumb, I felt the need to do something a bit different. So I drew a horizontal line (thicker at one end than at the other) to act as a branch, then added on a large circle. On top of this I added a smaller circle and triangle to act like a beak (can you tell what it is yet?)

After asked if it was a cat (and reverting back to a pre-school child for a moment) I added on two wing shapes… and voila, a raven appeared.

For a final touch I added some thorn like off shoots to the branch.

I hope you liked this tutorial, and that it made sense!

Hello!

Here as promised is the first in my series of Halloween nail art. I’ve chosen to start with this one as I think that it is simple, yet still packs a punch. Also if you just wanting to do one or two nails, I think this on the ring finger, with the rest in black would look amazing! As you will see from the photos; I’m quite a messy painter, but hey who cares… that is what cotton buds and nail polish remover is for!

So let’s start!

Firstly paint on the base colour of a plain black. The deeper the better. I’ve used Rimmel’s 60 second dry, purely to save time. I haven’t bothered to find the official name of this shade because let’s face it, it’s just plain black.

For the second step you need to pain on the ‘lips’ otherwise known as two red strips. One at the top and one at the bottom. Again I’ve used a Rimmel polish; I don’t think they sell this actual one any more. However any bright red would do. See I told you this was simple!

Finally (and this is where the nail art, becomes really Halloween-ified) you need to add in the fangs. I used a dotting tool to do this, but a white nail art pen or cocktail stick dipped in the white nail polish would work just as well. I like to start off with the fangs… Two at each side, top and bottom. I suggest drawing a white triangle starting at the red lips and going almost to the centre of the nail. Once you have the triangles, simply fill them in.

If you have room, I then suggest adding more teeth, using the same method but making them shorter. This was unfortunately where my battery ran out, so the image below is stolen from Google… However it should give you a good idea how the finished product will look! This is a classic style of Halloween nail art, and even if you are not doing anything special I think these are wearable and fun.

If you have done any Halloween nails, or have blogged about Halloween nail art please let me know in the comments!