Cupcakes Halloween Challenge: Classic Horror Character

I chose to do a ghost design for this mani-

 

For the base I used Illamasqua Raindrops, then went over it with 17 Bluechrome. To draw my ghost I just took a plain white and using the brush in the bottle painted the shape, pressing more heavily at the beginning then with less pressure towards the end to make the tail. I used Andrea Fullerton's Dot and Flick to draw the eyes and mouth. To write Boo I just very carefully used Barry M Nailart Pen in White.

The makeup look to go with these nails-

For this look I started off with a wash of a matte white eyeshadow all over my lids and upto my brow bone. I then intensified the white on my lid by adding more of the white, I also put some onto my waterline to brighten up my eyes a bit. Then I took a light blue and applied that on the outer half of my lid. Once that was done I used a dark/navy blue to go right into my crease and took it right to the inner corner of my eye and very carefully winged it out lightly, then once I was happy with it I went back in and built up the colour. For my mascara I used Bad Gal by Benefit because I wanted something quite pretty and subtle, nothing to dramatic. On my lips I have Money, Honey Dazzleglass by Mac and on my cheeks I have a pink blush by makeup essentials, which I can't find the name of. 

Cupcakes Halloween Challenge: Vampires

My vampire inspired design

I started off by painting all my nails Barry M Raspberry except for my ring finger which I painted Ciate Shooting Star. On my nails painted Raspberry I painted a black stripe across the middle, then using my white Barry M nails art pen I drew on the teeth making sure to give the mouths fangs. Then for my ring finger I painted a black tip with the brush in the bottle then used a nail art pen to create the little v. I also used the pen to draw the smile. For the fangs I used a white nail art pen and for the eyes just black polish and a dotting tool.

The makeup to go with the nails-

I used the purple from my topshop duo pallette thunder all over my lids then I used just a plain matte black on my crease and brought it along the outer edge of my lower lash line. I used the silver Barry M glitter dust on the center of my lid to add a little shimmer (not really visible in the pictures). I have L'Oreal Super Liner Perfect Slim on my top lash line and Benefit They're Real on my lashes. I used the red blush from my sleek pallette pumpkin and on my lips I have Valentine by Collection. I also used Benefit High Beam to highlight my cheek bones, nose, Cupid's bow and brow bones.

Cupcakes Halloween Challenge: Witches

The next theme for the halloween challenge is witches so this is the design I came up with-

The green on my nails is Barry M Key lime and on my index and little finger I put a coat of Seventeen Monochrome over it. On my middle finger I used a black Andrea Fullerton striper to draw the witch's hat, I also used it to draw the handle on the broom on my ring finger. To do the end of the broom I took a small thin brush and used a mix of ciate pocket money and shooting star. On my thumb I used Rimmel Sky High then layered it with a coat of L'Oreal Crystalissime and a coat of an unnamed silver glitter polish by Ruby.

And the makeup look to go with these nails

On my eyes I have a glitter khaki and glitter black from an old Ruby and Millie pallette. I placed the khaki all over my lid and took it under my eye slightly. Then I took some masking tape to use as a stencil and placed it from the outer corner of my eye to the end of my eyebrow and took my black and placed it over the crease taking it out to my eyebrow. I also used my L'Oreal Super Liner Perfect Slim eyeliner to line the top lash line and used my Avon Super Shock gel eyeliner to get my waterline. I then used quite a lot of False Lash Telescopic mascara by L'Oreal to get very dramatic spidery lashes. 

On my cheeks I have Melba by Mac and on my lips is Classic Rose by No. 7.

Cupcakes Halloween Challenge: Bloodbath

My second design for this halloween challenge-

I tried to use the straw technique to create a splatter effect, but it was a lot harder than it seemed. The only nail it worked on was my middle one, so I ended up putting drops of red nail varnish on my nails and blowing them out with a straw and then putting on a topcoat before they were properly dry so as to smear them a bit more. On my ring finger I decided to do it more like drips so I just took a fairly big dotting tool, dotted the red where I wanted the drip to start and then dragged it up my nail whilst reducing the pressure applied. I did this three times starting at different points on my nail then I added some drops below the main drips and connected them at the top. I also smeared these by applying topcoat before they were dry. For this design I chose to use a matte topcoat, but a plain one would work fine too. 

And the make-up to go with these nails-

On my eyes I have just a matte white eyeshadow from an old Ruby and Millie pallette all over my lid and then up to my brow as well, but not as intensely. Then I took the red blush from my Sleek pallette Pumpkin, I used a fluffy eyeshadow brush to apply it quite messily over the outer half of my lid and upto my brow and I also took it quite far under my eye. I took a smaller eyeshadow brush to apply it a bit more heavily on my crease.

I used a pencil gel liner by Avon to line my eyes, top and bottom, I made sure it was a bit messy and smudged and then went over the liner on the top with Super Liner Perfect Slim by L'Oreal to fill in gaps between the liner and lash line. For mascara I used They're Real by benefit to lengthen my lashes then I  used False Lash Telescopic by L'Oreal to make them more spidery. 

I used The Body Shop lip and cheek stain on my lips and cheeks. I then lined my lips with Ruby Rose Lip Lines by Natural Collection, then filled in my lips with Valentine by Collection.

I also contoured using the No. 7 bronzing pearls, but you can't really tell with the lighting.

Cupcakes Halloween Challenge: Pumpkin Patch

I found this challenge on Instagram by mscupcake05 so thought I'd give it a go

This is what I came up with

For this design I used 

Nails inc. Portobello Market

A green and orange nail art pen by Nail Art (they aren't named)

Barry M nail art pen black

Andrea Fullerton black and gold nail art stripers

I started off by creating a tip on all my nails except my ring finger with Portobello Market then added stripes of a darker orange with my orange nail art pen. To create these tips I used striping tape as a stencil because I was adding detail but ordinarily I would do tips freehand. Once I'd added the stripes to all my nails I peeled off my striping tape and used the gold striper to create a line under the tips. On my thumbs I also drew a little leaf with my green nail art pen and black striper.

On my ring finger I started off using portobello market again to create the shape of the pumpkin. To do this I just painted my nails like normal, but started off a bit higher up than my cuticle, about where my lunula ends (the bit you paint round when doing a half moon mani). I then used my orange nail art pen to draw slightly curved vertical stripes over that and added a stalk with my green nail art pen. Once all that had dried I used my black nail art pen to draw the face. For the face on this pumpkin I drew 2 ovals with flat bottoms for the eyes, a triangle for the nose and for the mouth I drew a thick curved line more towards one side of the face then added lines coming out of the top of the mouth to look a bit like teeth. 

I also decided to do a make up look to accompany the nail designs so here's what I came up with

For my eyes-

The orange is a blusher by Sleek (I didn't have any orange eyeshadow) it's the orange from the palette Pumpkin (very appropriate). I also took this under my eye, but it doesn't really show up in the picture.

I also have a gold from a very old No. 7 palette called dramatic eye palette and the colour is just called Gold. I placed this in the very centre of my eye over the orange and in the inner corner of my eye. From this palette I also used the green and placed a tiny bit on the out corner of my lid by my lash line.

The green is again from a very old palette, but this one was from Marks and Spencer. I just placed this colour in my crease. 

I also used the False Lash Telescopic Mascara by L'Oreal Paris. 

And my lipstick is Charmed by Topshop, I also used this on my cheeks and just blended it in with my foundation brush. 

 

Purple and pearls

For this design I painted my nails a lilac color then sprinkled some pink glitter in the bottom corner of my nail whilst the polish was still wet. Then I took some different sized pearls and using clear polish (you could also use glue if you want them to last longer) randomly attached them to my nails over the glitter. Finally I secured the whole design with a top coat!

You might also notice that my nails have gone short :( lots of them had broken or split so I decided it was time for them to go. Hopefully they won't take too long to grow back!