Googly Eye Halloween Nail Art Tutorial

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I am SOO excited for Halloween this year! After celebrating at the #AsDarknessFalls Halloween party last week I am in the spooky spirit to do it all over again tonight! Today I created a googly eye nail art inspired by a look I saw over on the WAH nails Instagram page.

Unfortunately I didn't have the right lighting to take step-by-step photos when I did the nail art last night (definitely something I'm adding to my xmas list!). However this look was really easy to create...

Step 1: Begin by painting all nails in black and leave to dry.

Step 2: Next taking the white polish onto a large dotting tool, create different sized circles over the nail, to act as the base of each eye.

Step 3: Next taking your different colours in turn, add smaller dots inside the larger white dots.

Step 4: Taking your black and white polishes onto a small dotting tool, create a further two dots inside the coloured circles.

Step 5: After you have left everything to dry completely, add a top coat to each nail to seal everything into place.

And there you have your googly eye nail art!

I hope you all have an amazing Halloween tonight! Let me know in the comments below what you're doing to celebrate!

Sam x

Pumpkin Halloween Nail Art Tutorial

Im back with another Halloween nail art and today is the turn of the ever famous Halloween Pumpkin! I LOVE pumpkin carving, however uni has taken over a bit this year and I haven't had time to whip up a pumpkin creation. I guess painting a pumpkin nail art is nearly as good! If you want to find out how I created this look keep reading...

All you will need for this look is nail varnish in the shades: orange, yellow, black and gold glitter. It will also be handy if you have a dotting tool and sponge to hand.
I used Illamasqua's 'Boosh' (black) and 'Gamma' (orange); Graffiti Nails 'Mellow' (yellow) and Barry M 'Yellow Topaz Glitter' (golden glitter).

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: To begin paint all nails in a base of orange and leave to dry.

Step 2: Next taking the yellow nail varnish onto a small sponge, create a mottled effect over the nail.

Step 3: Taking your black polish onto a dotting tool create the pumpkin faces.

Step 4: Next, taking the yellow shade on the sponge carefully apply this on top of the black detailing to create some texture.

Step 5: Now its time to top the pumpkin faces with the glitter. I did this using a dotting tool.

Step 6: Finally, once everything is completely dry apply a top coat to each nail.

And there you have your pumpkin nail art!!

What do you think of this nail art look? What are you guys up to this Halloween?

Happy Nail-Arting!
Sam x

Sugar Skull Halloween Nail Art Tutorial

The other day I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Daily Mix #AsDarknessFalls Halloween Party. Along with my makeup being a half sugar skull look, I also did a sugar skull nail art and thought I would share it with you!

Along with some nail art dotting tools and fine brushes, you will also need nail varnish in black, white, pink and a glitter polish. Also to add even more sparkle to the nail art look you will need some small gems. 

The shades I used for this look were Illamasqua 'Boosh', 'Scorch' and 'Obsess' and L.A. Colour 'Jewel Tone'. 

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Begin by painting all nails in a base of white polish.

Step 2: Next taking the black polish onto a large dotting tool, create two eyes on each nail.

Step 3: Next taking a smaller dotting tool and the pink polish, add tiny dots around the edge of each large dot.

Step 4: Then taking your black polish onto a small dotting tool create two adjacent dots for the nose. Next take the black polish again and create a series of black dots in a line. Once dry take your white polish and add a smaller dot to the centre of the black to create the mouth.

Step 5: Taking the black polish add three small lines above the eyes. Also taking the pink and black polish create some small dots to add detailing on the cheek area. By placing a small dot of top coat just above the centre of the eyes, take a small gem and press this on top.

Step 6: Finally once everything is dry, take a top coat and add a layer to each nail.

And there you have your sugar skull nail art!

What do you think of this nail art? Have you created any looks for halloween this year?

Happy Halloween and Happy Nail Art-ing!
Sam xx

FOTD: Glamorous Evening Makeup

Glamorous evening makeup is by far my favourite. Its an excuse for me to go crazy with contouring and smoke out my eyes. I attended an evening event last week, so I thought I would share with you the look I created.

Eyes:

My eyes were all about neutral smokes. I used the Crown Brush '28 Nude Eye Shadow Palette', blending deep brown shades through my crease and under my lower lash line. I added a super dramatic winged liner using my all time love: Maybelline 'Lasting Drama' Gel Liner and finished off with The Body Shop 'Super Volume Mascara' and  '100' lashes from Eyelure. I also used Illamasqua Eyebrow Cake in 'Peek' to define my brows.

Face: 

For my skin, I created a medium coverage base using Illamasqua 'Skin Base' Foundation and covered up problem areas using my Collection 'Lasting Perfection' Concealer. To contour I used Nars 'Laguna' bronzer and created a dewy highlight on my cheek bones using Illamsqua Gleam in 'Aurora'. I finished off my skin by adding a subtle coral blush using the orange shade in the Collection 'Shimmer Shades' blusher palette.

Lips:

I went for a deep raspberry lip using Illamasqua 'Magnetism' which is my go to berry shade. 

What do you think of this evening makeup look? What products do you like to use when you're creating glamorous smokey makeup?

Sam xx

Detailed Floral Nail Art Tutorial

So I've been doing nail art for a while now but to date I have never used acrylic paint on my nails. You may be thinking WHAT!? Acrylic paint as an alternative to nail polish!? Thats exactly what I thought but its fantastic to use, especially with black detailing, in order to prevent the dreaded smudging when you apply a top coat. Therefore I thought I would give it a go!

This detailed floral print was inspired by this amazing design from Lindsey at Wondrously Polished. Although mine are no way as good as Lindsey's at least I gave it a try hey!

All you will need is black acrylic paint (I just picked mine up from Hobby Craft), a pale yellow polish for the base (I used Illamasqua 'Load'), and purple, orange, mint and lime green shades for the flowers (I used Illamasqua 'Harem', Rimmel 'Tangy Tangerine, Graffiti Nails 'Pistachio' and BarryM 'Key Lime' respectively). Its also handy to have a top coat and a selection of fine nail art brushes and dotting tools to hand.

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: To begin I painted all my nails in the pale yellow base shade. I waited for this to dry completely before moving on.

Step 2: Next, taking the black acrylic paint, I created the outline of the floral print on each nail.

Step 3: Taking the various coloured polishes, I added these to the centre of the flowers.

Step 4: Finally once everything was dry I went in with a layer of top coat on each nail. this will help to seal in your design and prevent chipping.

And there you have your super detailed floral print nails!

What do you think of this design? Have you ever created any intricate detailed nail art?

Happy Nail Art-ing!
Sam xx