Nails by Megatuce

The challenge for BHBSpooktober tomorrow is Horror Movie Characters.  I had the day off, so I got to it a day early.  I had some amazing ideas floating around in my head, but nothing was working out for me.  I am just really not meant to freehand art (unless it is supposed to be a poorly drawn straight line).  So, I turned to movies that scare me.  Here’s what I came up with:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s right, The Wizard of Oz.  Dorthy drops a freaking house on a woman.  And the tornado…that thing haunts my nightmares to this day.  And, don’t even get me started about Return to Oz…that shit was super freaky…wheelies and talking chickens and headless women.  That’s some screwed up stuff right there.  So, while Wizard of Oz is not a horror movie, it is still a movie that scared me as a child.  And, while I can appreciate it now and have a deep affection for the colorful munchkins and beautiful city of Oz, I still look twice at scarecrows.

Here’s what I used today:

 

 

 

 

From left to right: Essie Grow Stronger, HK Girl, OPI Matte Top Coat, Mundo de Unas Red, Moyou London’s Halloween plate, piCture pOlish Bridget, Konad black, Zoya Kelly, and Zoya Dove.

I started with Grow Stronger, then one coat of Dove:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No top coat here.

I then used a wet make-up sponge dotted with Dove and Kelly and dabbed each nail.  I kept the sponge wet and reapplied the polish as needed.  I wasn’t super particular about it, since I was just going for a mottled gray look, which turned out like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, no top coat.  I really like how they looked.  They would be an amazing base for any number of designs, so I’m definitely tucking this back into the archives for use again in the future.

Once the sponging was dry, I went in and stamped the witch.  I dabbed MdU red on the shoes of the stamp, and black on the rest.  I applied the stamp to my ring finger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll notice above that my index finger was gray.  After I stamped, I decided I wanted a ruby slipper on my ring finger, which is when I busted out Bridget.  That color is so gorgeous.  It has amazing depth and reminds me of Dorothy’s ruby slippers (which is exactly what I was hoping for when I ordered it!)  So, on that went!  Then everything was top coated with HK Girl.  And, being me, I was unable to leave well enough along, so matted the non-art nails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like how these came out.  They are simple, but to the point.  Maybe not a traditional horror point, but frightening enough that hubs can guest blog tomorrow with tips on how to extract a wife from underneath the bed after tornado nightmares!

Anywho, stick around and see what I come up with next.  You never know…there could be a giveaway around the corner!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In hindsight, I wish I had done Batman nails, but I am happy with my actual bats.  The biggest problem I had with this mani was photographing it!  I could not get a good picture.  Nearly 70 tries, and this is the only one that came out well enough to use:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The problem I had was getting the right contrast so that the house design was visible.  I think this picture does it relative justice, so that’s the one I’m going with!

Here’s (more or less) what I used:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoya Harlow, Posh, and Loredana with Butter London Royal Navy.  I also used Moyou London Festive 15, but forgot to grab it for the photo, because I was too busy googling lumberjacks and beaver lumberjacks.  Seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Picture credit: Gatorvenom)

 

I just can’t get enough of it tonight.

Beavers and lumberjacks aside, I started with one coat of Loredana:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks terrible here, but don’t worry, it gets better (just like a picture of a lumberjack riding a beaver gets funnier the longer you look at it).

I used a wet make-up sponge to create a gradient using Loredana, Posh, and Harlow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posh did not show up as well as I had hoped.  The gradient tends more to Loredana and Harlow, although there are glimmers of Posh in there.  Either way, I like it.  I was worried about using the mattes for a gradient, but they worked pretty nicely.

I used Butter London’s Royal Navy to stamp.  If you are looking for a gorgeous navy, Royal Navy fits the bill.  It is beautiful on its own, and stamps surprisingly well!  I stamped the house with the bats, then added a full nail of bats on my ring finger and then two partial nails of bats on my index and ring fingers.

I tried all sorts of props to try and pick-up the stamp on my middle finger.  Eventually, I tried my husband’s shirt, which happened to be sitting next to my lightbox.  That worked out the best, although I doubt I’ll be making a permanent prop switch.  Either way, here is that one magical picture that actually came out okay again:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!  And come back soon…I suspect that there are lumberjack nails on the horizon.  No idea how or why, but they are coming.

So, after all of the Halloween and darker manis, I wanted something to lighten it up.  This one was pretty quick, and not quite what I was hoping it would be, but it fits the bill for now.  I think it would have looked better if my nails were longer.  Maybe I’ll bust it out again in a week or two if I don’t suffer any breaks between now and then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s what I used:

 

 

 

From left to right: Zoya Dahlia, Mundo de Unas Tulip, OPI Elephantastic Pink, Cult Cosmetics Hollywood Hills, Moyou London Gothic 07, HK Girl, Konad White, Poshe quick dry, and Essie Grow Stronger.  I have no idea why this picture is so blurry.  I tried to sharpen it while editing, but it just wasn’t having it and I was too tired to fool with it any longer.

I started, as usual, with a base coat of Grow Stronger.  My bottle is almost empty, but luckily I have a back-up ready to go.  After that, I may try something different.  But Grow Stronger has been good to my nails, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I came back to it over and over again.

I put down two coats each of Dhalia (middle), Elephantastic (ring), and Hollywood Hills (the rest).  Everything except Dhalia was then topped with quick dry before stamping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this, I stamped with Konad White on my ring finger and used MdU Tulip on Hollywood Hills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one went pretty quick.  Not quite what I wanted, but I was feeling uninspired, so this turned out well as far as my uninspired nails go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!