Happy Halloween Sally Hansen's Nail Strips

Happy Halloween! I hope you had a great day and a grand month. October is so fun!!

Here's my last Halloween manicure...

 This is Sally Hansen's 'Real Nail Polish Strips'. I got these as a gift from my dear Twitter friend, Somecrazedlady. She is a sweetie in many ways. I love these little ghosties!!

 I had been avoiding trying these strips because I just don't have a steady hand. However, I had to try these out, them being so durn cute and all. They were not as hard as I had anticipated, but it does take some skill. I got a few to turn out OK.

 My thumb seemed to turn out just right. I picked a size that was perfect. I seemed to have been between sizes (story of my fashion life!) for my ring and pinky fingers. But, unless someone looked really close, they wouldn't be able to notice that.

There were some wrinkles but I got all but a couple smoothed out. I had read enough reviews on these to be on the lookout for that and to not pull too tight and tear them.

It was fun to sports these today. I thought they were pretty 'ghoul'. ;P

Halloween's Starry, Nocturnal Night

The giveaway ends tonight, don't forget! Click here.

Halloween is tomorrow and I don't feel I have gotten through all my holiday manicures. Bummer. Don't be mad at me if I start, like, Tuesday with my Christmas/New Year's Eve looks.

I wasn't able to get my grubby hands on Wet 'n Wild's On the Prowl collection. Boo! But I did find this polish from last year...

This is Wet 'n Wild's 'Nocturnal.' It is the loveliest, inky blue. With no top coat, it remained shiny through the next day but, I did get tip wear.

Before I removed 'Nocturnal', I wanted to test out a glitter top coat. I like dark base colors to accentuate the glitter so I thought I'd give it a shot...

I went with another Wet 'n Wild polish, 'Kaleidoscope.' If you click here, it will take you to a post by friend Gianna, Nouveau Cheap's, blog where she discusses a re-issue of some of Wet 'n Wild polishes. 'Kaleidoscope' is one of them. It is called 'Whose Lips Are These?' (Like someone 'lost' their lips? *scratches head*)

Here is a close up of 'Kaleidoscope'...

 

 A gabillion microscopic iridescent and silver glitters.

This makes me think of the photos from the Hubble. Nerdy, yes. But at least I'm consistently nerdy about what subjects I pick. ;)

What got me thinking about using 'Kaleidoscope' was a post on Kelly's Vampy Varnish blog. If you haven't seen her blog, that's another one you should follow. So, what Kelly was reviewing was Nails Inc. Special Effects 'Electric Lane.' This isn't a dupe, but it remains me of 'Kaleidoscope.' Take a look and see if you know what I mean.

A whispery, starry, nocturnal Halloween night. Perfect for the night when the veil between the physical world and the spiritual world is lifted. :)

It Was a Cold, Rainy Night...For Pumpkin Polishes

Pleasant surprises are one of the top things I love about life. I love to get/find them and I love to give them.

A twin twitter friend, Somecrazedlady, sent me a delightful, pleasant surprise package in the mail. (Ask her why we are 'twins'.) She sent me Julep's Hand Brightening Creme and some hand/nail softening gloves. She also sent me the ghostie design from the Sally Hansen sticker nails and a sample of CND foot creme....hmmm...fresh and smells like cucumbers.

Then, if those wonderful items were not enough (and they were!), she included these...

Pumpkin polishes!!!!! And the top two glitters EVER!!!  On the left is the one that has iridescent quarter moon shaped glitter and regular size glitter. Then in the middle is my own Finger Paints in 'Stunning Stilettos', which I used as a base color. The pumpkin on the right is iridescent bar glitter. I'm in the camp that loves bar glitter, some say they feel it's too hairy. But, I think it's adorable.

I swatched these the day after I received them...

I alternated fingernails with both as I couldn't do just one. Plus, I loved the look and actually got some compliments on it when I was out and about working.

I picked 'Stunning Stilettos' as the base color as I wanted to emulate a sense of a dark, cloudy night with the moon flitting in and out of wispy clouds. When I was a kid, we called that 'spooky moon.' It is a total set up for a movie with a werewolf howl. :)

Twin sister, Somecrazedlady, you are the BEST!!! Thank you, again, for your sweetness.  Great Big Hugs!!!

I posted that my brother, his wife and daughter came to Orlando to do the touristy thing and to see me. My niece and sister-in-law have never been to the Atlantic Ocean. So we took a day trip to Daytona Beach.

Here is a photo of mom and daughter enjoying the shore line...

My October Pink Giveaway ends this Sunday. If you haven't entered yet, this is where the post is located at....HERE.

An Intoxicating Grog: Witch's Brew

There's a pink giveaway going on at the Pink Vanity. Click here and enter.

Halloween is coming up so fast, I'm going to run out of days before I can do all my Halloween looks.

Here's one that is my favorite for this season...

 

 Check out Icing's 'Witch's Brew.' That is some concoction!!

'Witch's Brew' is Icing's 2011 Halloween collection. Out of an jelly orange glitter and a jelly purple with purple glitter, this one out of the bunch is my total, total favorite.

I'm intoxicated by 'Witch's Brew.' If I were not a nail blogger, I would wear this shade all month. It's a black jelly and has dark turquoise micro glitter in it.

I used Seche Vite as the top coat and you'd swear that you are looking up into a midnight sky. I used three coats of polish then one coat of Seche for this mani.

Have you seen this shade before? You probably have. 'Witch's Brew' is a near dupe to a couple of other polishes available...

On the left is Icing's 'Witch's Brew', in the middle Sinful Color's 'What's Your Name?, and last is Cult Nails' 'Living Water.' Can you see how 'What's Your Name' is more of a blue glitter?

And take a closer look at Cult Nails' 'Living Water.' This polish has something the other two do not: luminosity. 'Living Water' has turquoise glitter that looks like it is lit up. Hands down, the best looking of the three. I did a post on 'Living Water.'

It probably goes without saying that I'm a total sucker for clever names and 'Witch's Brew' is one of them.

Next is a couple of random sharings.

Every time I am at a mall that has a Forever 21, I stop by. I'm compelled to! This is what I scored last week...

When I was in high school, there was this saying 'I wouldn't kick that out of bed for eating crackers in it.' How horrible, blech! But that stupid saying came to mind when I photo'd these at the sunny window. I'm saving these for Christmas manis.

And lastly, last week my brother, sister-in-law and niece vacationed at the happiest place on earth, Disney World. I got to hang out with them a few days. I, too, am 12 years old when I'm with my 12 year old niece. It's grand to have someone to play with. :)

This is Karlie...

Phantom Frights Starry Nights

Can you tell I had a fun time playing with this mani?

This is a polish by Nail Deco and it is called 'Phantom Frights.' I have had this for an undetermined amount of time. I, sometimes, will use the time line of my marriage to figure out how long I have held on to something. Did I get it before or after marriage? Since we will be celebrating our 9th anniversary on 11/1, and it is before then, that's a long time to have nail polish.

This polish is in a clear base with iridescent, micro and quarter moon glitter. There are black stars floating in there as well.

It wasn't clear in my head what would be the best base polish to use to truly highlight 'Phantom Frights.' Since I was probably only going to use this polish just one time this holiday for it, I wanted to make is special.

I'm too fickle to land on just one...

I gathered polishes that I thought would play well with 'Phantom Frights.' So, this is what I got:
Thumb-Cosmetic Arts unnamed Turquoise; Index-Ulta 'Not From Concentrate'; Middle-Urban Outfitters-'Ashtray'; Ring-Color Club random bright green; Pinky-Finger Paints-'To-Teally Chic'.

I played A LOT...

Thumb-Cosmetic Arts unnamed Turquoise;Cosmetic Arts unnamed Baby Blue; Ring-Ulta's 'Something Blue'-Pinky-Sally Hansen's Complete Manicure-'Dive Deeper'.

I did my thumbs both with Cosmetic Arts Turquoise because that is the base shade I liked best.

All base coats, as well as glitter polish, are 2 coats. I didn't put on a top coat as I knew I was only going to have it on a couple of days. And yes, that glitter was a pain to remove. But I got a couple of comments from strangers that they thought it looked fun. These two people were quite amused when I explained the concept of manicure 'Skittles.'

Which one do you like best?

Orly's Rococoa A Go-Go and a Vampire's Coffin

What have we here? Duochrome? Hotness? Word!!

This is Orly's 'Rococoa A Go-Go'. Orly had this mad collection called Mineral FX that was released last year, I believe. If you yell out 'Sparkly Duochrome,' I'm going to do my best to bunch push everyone else out of the way to get mine. :)

Something about this shade is spooky or alien. That's how it gets into the Halloween Vanity Hall of Fame. Maybe it's a shade of a coffin's lining!

Don't let the mani scare you though. I didn't 'wrap' the polish around the tips. I find that this is more noticeable the longer my nails get, for some reason.

There is not one thing 'flat' about 'Rococoa A Go-Go.' It's bold and flashy and wants to be admired...

 I have on 2 coats of polish with a top coat of Lumos. Lumos is touted as the replacement to Seche Vite. As soon as I get more information on this wonderful top coat, I'll share it. However, it has a helluva shine.

I got something funky going on with my middle nail with this mani. I think this is when I failed to fix a broken (coffin??) nail. I did cut it down, sadly, after this mani. But that cliche of 'oh, I broke a nail' doesn't even sit well with me at the pink vanity.

As much as this flashes as a duochrome in the bottle, it wouldn't do that on my nails. Rats! However, that deep burgundy is the same color of the lining of a vampire's coffin.

Have you seen a vampire's coffin? Which would freak you out more, to find it occupied or....empty????

China Glaze's Crimson and Long Riding Coats of Velvet

OOOHHHH, so much to share before Halloween!!!! I'm scared!!!

My new Canon camera takes wicked, detailed photos. I'm scared to use that too. It will surely make anyone who reads this blog sceert too; cuticle blech!  (That's China Glaze's 'City Siren;)

Yet, I'm not afraid of any of these 'gore'-geous Halloween polishes we got flooded with this year. I mean, seriously...

This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. China Glaze sucker-punched my eyes with this shade called 'Crimson.' This vampest of vamps is from China Glaze's Haunting collection. And, I think you will be haunted by this one, if you like it and don't get it.

 

Crimson is a red shade, isn't it? But, that's what China Glaze is calling this one. I'm seeing a blackened plum color, myself. And it can't help but beam, even if it is a dark color. Like, look at the sun's reflection on the thumb!

This creme was really easy to apply. I have on 3 coats and you can see how smooth it is. So smooth that you can see the texture of the sky's clouds. 'Crimson' got a bit of it's gloss with a top coat by Lumos.

 Wicked, purple black!

Can you see yourself wearing a long riding coat made of crushed velvet in the color of 'Crimson'? I can and what a wicked look that would be. Like this...

 Lorenna McKennitt is one of my favorite musical artist. I think there are a few of my dear readers who enjoy her music as well. :)