Fun and Easy Halloween Nails!

Hiya,
So, I love nail art, and I love any event or season that gives me an excuse to think up some new ideas for my nails! So, naturally, I couldn't wait for halloween to come round so that I could design some spooky nails, and I thought that I would try and do a tutorial on them. So, here goes...

First of all, you'll need to dig through your nail varnish collection for a suitably gothic colour, or colours, but make sure that your design will show up on this colour! So I chose to alternate a vampy red and deep violet. Remember to use a base coat to protect your nails though if you can!
I decided to do quite a few different designs instead of just the one, but one design would look really good too.

Don't worry about owning nail pens or any posh nail tools to be able to create nail designs, for all of my designs I use cocktail sticks, just cheap old wooden cocktail sticks which you can buy from the supermarket! That's all you need!

So, the first design, which I did on both thumbnails, is a simple bat design - this is easy! All you have to do is draw a straight line with a little dip in the middle, then underneath the straight line, draw a zigzag one, and fill in the gaps. Either use a cocktail stick (or a thin brush if you have one) to do this Then, repeat this as many times as you like over the nail, or keep it simple and just do one big one, and your done! Easy as!

Next, a spiderweb design. I did this on both of my little finger nails. It is quite fiddly, but still relatively simple as long as your not too heavy handed. all you have to do is draw a trapeze like shape in the middle or corner of your nail, then draw lines from the middle of this shape, through the corners, and out. Then draw links across these lines, and you have a spider web! If it does go slightly wobbly or blobby, don't worry, it's Halloween so everything's pretty wobbly and weird anyways!



Okay, so now a little more fun and colourful! Last year I decided to draw pumpkins on all my nails, and I loved them so much I decided to do some again this year! So, these are also really easy, all you need to do is dip a cocktail stick into some orange nail polish (the brighter, the better) and draw a circle on the nail. Then, wait for this to dry fully (otherwise you will end up in a right mess - trust me, I learnt the hard way!).

Then, once its dried, dip the opposite end of the cocktail stick into a black nail varnish, and using this, we are going to create the face on the pumpkin. So, two dots (or diamonds) for eyes, a little dot for a nose, then a straight line for the mouth (or, if you want to be a little more creative, add fangs!), and finally a little line coming from the top of the pumpkin for the stalk, and your pumpkin is complete! Be creative as you like with the face of your little nail pumpkin, just like you would with your actual pumpkin!

Another, fruit (or veg - I'm not entirely sure what a pumpkin is exactly) design now - apples! So, this is dead simple again,  and quite similar to the pumpkin. Start by dipping a cocktail stick into some red nail polish, and dot a circle on you nail, with a little dip in the bottom, and top, like an apple. Again, wait for this to dry fully, before adding a black stalk at the top, a little green leaf, and a little white bit along the side to make the apple look really shiny! You can use a cocktail stick to add in all these features, or alternatively, get even more creative and make it a toffee apple with multi coloured sprinkles, whatever you want!

So, next, I decided to try a ghost, and it was actually, again, really simple! Again, take a cocktail stick and dip it into some white nail varnish. Then use this to create a ghost shape on your nail. Wait for it to dry, before using a cocktail stick to add three little black dots for eyes and a mouth. Done!

The next design I decided to try was a black cat, as suggested to me by my sister. I decided to do a face, which isn't quite as easy as the other designs, but it's still worth a try, or maybe try a side view instead. Anyways, first of all, you need to create the face shape using a cocktail stick dipped in black nail varnish. Make sure you include ears! Then, once this has dried, use a pale pink to draw little triangles or dots in the ears, in the middle of the face for a nose, and in a line underneath the nose as a mouth. Then, I used a neon yellow/green to draw two little dots for the eyes, before adding little black dots in them, to create some extra spooky cat eyes!

And, finally, my final design idea was a skull, which I have to say I was quite doubtful about what the outcome of this would be, as I really can't draw skulls, but it actually turned out really well! So, first of all take a cocktail stick and dip it into some white nail varnish, the draw a big circle at the top of the nail, then add a little rectangle type shape at the bottom of this, to create a skull like shape. Wait for this to dry, then take a cocktail stick, dip it into some black nail polish, and create to black dots for eye sockets, a triangle for the nose, and then some little black rectangles half on, half off the bottom to create like rotting teeth! Add some contour like marks along the cheeks if you want, for some extra detail, and you have a skull design!

Once you have created your spooky designs, make sure to seal them all and to protect them, by adding a clear top coat. This will also add lots of shine!

This was my first tutorial, so I hope it's okay, and I hope you enjoy and that it gives you lots of inspiration to get creative with your nails!!

x x x