Halloween is my favourite holiday hands down...pun intended. It's a shame that it's not really celebrated in Australia but I think each year I see more and more Halloween items in stores. It seems to bring out the creativity in people and takes them out of their comfort zone if only for one night.
I'm a little old for trick or treating but I celebrate it every year and this years theme is skulls. So I hope you enjoy my tutorial for glow in the dark Halloween skull nails. ☠
Products I used to create these nails:
☠ Sally Hansen Miracle Cure Strengthener
☠ L.A. Colors Art Deco Nail Art Laquer - Silver
(Purchased from Cherry Culture here use code JITH20 and get 20% off the already marked down price of these and everything in the store from 24/29th of October 2013)
☠ L.A Colors Art Deco Nail Art Laquer - Black
☠ L.A Colors Art Deco Nail Art Laquer - White
☠ Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen - S
☠ BYS Glow In The Dark Top Coat
☠ (Optional) Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
☠ Patience, a steady hand and a large lung capacity from holding your breath from all the fumes and the fine detail work. (Does anyone else find themselves holding their breath when doing fine work?)
☠ Time - It took me about 2 hours to complete!
I recommend drawing designs for nails before doing them, I find that you can see what the nail polish looks once dry and how the end result will look. I also wanted to test the best way of getting the fine detail of the skull and for me this was with the fine tip pen. The Art Deco brushes weren't fine enough and I didn't have any nail art brushes fine enough.
I also did a test to see how the shading would work with the silver instead of gray, how many coats to make the BYS glow and if the pen would run with the application of the top coat. I was happy with the result and I think my nails turned out pretty similar to this, so let me show you how I achieved it.
Step 1: Apply your preferred base coat, allow to dry and apply a white polish. I didn't have a pure white polish! I had french white, sparkly white, off white etc etc. I ended up using the L.A. Colors, poured it onto paper and used my french white brush to apply it. This polish really isn't the best for a whole nail colour and was a bit streaky but you couldn't see it once finished.
Step 2: Once the white polish is dry, grab your fine felt tip pen and outline the details of the skull. I had printed off and shrunk (shrunken head hee hee) an image from Google images here. I found it easier for me to reference rather than a large image. You can do as little detail as you like here and if you make a mistake it can be removed with rubbing alcohol.
Step 3: Apply your shading colour, I chose silver just for a little metallic sheen, but you could use grey, red, green or whatever colour takes your pants by fancy. I'd suggest a drawing first to see how the colours would work. You don't have to use nail art polishes, you could use a toothpick or fine nail art brush with a normal polish. The shading doesn't have to be exact, mine certainly wasn't! Using the nail art polish or Sharpie if you prefer, add the black to the eyes/nose and any areas around the skull, like the jawline and any areas you may have gone over with the shading. Make sure you keep a lot of the white showing as that is the colour that will glow the most. Just remember to breathe with all this fine detail work! I don't want you passing out on me...you'd ruin your nails! ;)
Step 4: Clean any excess polish from around your nails, I used a cotton tip soaked in nail polish. Apply the glow in the dark topcoat with caution! Because I used a felt tip pen, the ink can run with the application of the topcoat. Try not to run the topcoat down the nail, rather dot globs (charming I know) of the top coat over the nail. Once the first coat was dry I applied a second coat and this time I didn't have to be so precious with it as the ink was covered. I found that two coats worked well and I was happy with the amount of glow. To check this I held my nails under a desk lamp for about 2 minutes and it worked really well. (The bottle actually started to glow after working on my nails from being under the desk lamp).
Step 5: Apply your favourite top coat, mine is Seche Vite as it last long and makes my nails lovely and shiny. I also run the top coat sideways across the end/tip of the nail to help seal it in and help prevent chipping.
Step 6: Once your top coat has dried, stare at your nails and congratulate yourself for doing a brilliant job and having a go! Oh and freak some people out with your brand new nails especially in the dark! ;) I freaked myself out when I went to bed last night as I didn't specifically hold them under lights so I wasn't expecting them to glow!
What do you love about Halloween? Please show me your Halloween nails, I'd love to see them!
☠HAPPY HALLOWEEN☠
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