belated halloween post

Hey everyone, tgif! Today I'll be showing you the nails I wore for Halloween (and still have on...). I'm dying to paint my nails, it feels like it's been forever since I last painted them. I got some Sally Hansen Nail Strips at Ocean State Job Lot for half price in February. They were leftover Halloween strips from last year. For only $3, I couldn't help but pick them up. I saved them in my bathroom cabinet for this Halloween, just  hoping I wouldn't forget about them. I'm happy to report that I didn't. Here they are:

I'm sure you saw these around a lot last year around this time. This was a pretty popular style. I got a lot of compliments on them- it's an easy way to have a fabulous manicure. These ones are called Ghoulie Girl (topped with a coat of Seche Vite). I'm sure they're almost impossible to find in stores now, simply because Sally Hansen comes out with a new collection of manicure/pedicure strips pretty much every season.

I'm always surprised at how easy it is to put these on. I was apprehensive the first time I used them, but my fears were distilled because they're so easy! I personally don't think they're worth the price tag of around $10. I can justify a bottle of polish for that price, simply because you can reuse it many times. These strips are only a one-time deal. Maybe for a vacation or wedding/big event they'd be worth it, because I find that they chip far less than regular polish.

Some tips:

1. Don't use a base coat: put them on completely clean, dry nails.
2. Make sure you clean your nails with acetone right before putting the strips on.
3. Use the mini file that comes with the package: this file is your friend! You can use it to buff your nails prior to application, and also to file off extra ends of the nail strips.
4. If you find that strips are too big for your nails, use scissors to cut off the extra portion. The strips are very easy to work with in this way.
5. As you apply the strips, pull them up towards the tip of your nail so they go on completely flat and evenly on the nail.

What do you think? Have you tried these strips yet? Are they worth the money?

black and orange

I can't sleep.  I don't like using this as a place to air my dirty laundry so I won't go into details as to why I can't sleep, but I can't. And I'm absolutely miserable because of it. I want to scream my head off but I can't. A. NNOY. ING. I guess the silver lining to this is that there isn't all that much to do at 4am so I wound up on my laptop... and on Blogger. I'm usually reaaaally lazy about blogging (at least, as of late) but I legitimately have nothing else to do right now so I figured I'll share my Halloween manicure with you all. 

PS: If anyone happens to be awake at this ridiculous time, too (and wouldn't mind hearing me complain my head off), please feel free to let me know! I could use somebody (Kings of Leon, anybody?)!

Let's get this show on the road. Here is my current mani, and the first EVER Halloween manicure I'm sporting, at least I think. Last year I didn't do any fun Halloween manicures because we got smashed with a storm so early in the season. Actually, hilariously enough, last year around this time I did a snowy skittle manicure. Ha ha ha, bipolar New England weather, you are so funny! As I'm sure a lot of you ladies are as well, we're bracing for Hurricane Sandy. Kinda crazy and a little bit nerve wracking, but I'm excited. I love extreme weather conditions, even though they do pose so many risks. Maybe that's the part that's exciting? Who knows. We'll see what happens tomorrow. As for now...

 

My base coat is two coats of Fingerpaints Original Orange. I stamped with two different bundle monster plates (not sure which ones off the top of my head- google "bundle monster lightning bolts" or "bundle monster pumpkin" if you're dying to know) and Fingerpaints Black Expressionism, of which I'm almost out of! When it runs out, I'd like to try Cult Nails Nevermore as my go to black stamping polish.

Original Orange applied very nicely. It suited its purpose as your average orange. I actually put a coat of China Glaze Ghoulish Glow over this manicure before I Seche-d it... it smudged the stamping a bit. Boo. I'll have to try and get a picture of the glow in the dark-ness tomorrow (well... technically today -___-). I completely forgot to do that today.

What do you think? What are you sporting for halloween?