Inktober 2023 - Day 31: "Fire"

Inktober is officially over! 31 days of nail art, all done in gel, all hand painted by me! 

To round it all off, here's "fire" for our last day.

Which day was your favorite?

Inktober 2023 - Day 27: "Beast"

Sorry for the late post...there was a beast scratching up my nails all day! 

Luckily I was able to gather photographic evidence to put it to rest.

Inktober 2023 - Day 21: "Chains"

A LONG time ago now, I did a tutorial to create chain nail art, which you can revisit here.

I've definitely honed my skills since then, and so for today's "chains" prompt, I did tinier chains using an excellent chrome silver gel polish.

Inktober 2023 - Day 19: "Plump"

I've heard of vampire facials really giving your skin that glow that many of us seek out, but did you know that vampires also have the plumpest lips due to all the blood they drink too? Here's a look at the results a vampire lip plumping session can get you too!

Disclaimer: There has never been confirmation that vampire lip injections are real. 

I got these cute lips from this digital asset on Etsy by user ulookingforhere.

Inktober 2023 - Day 17: "Demon"

I think one of the scariest thoughts is sleep paralysis. The thought of having no control to wake up from an actual nightmare sends shivers through my whole body. I imagine horrible visions...something like this demon I found on Creative Market here.

Sleep well!

Inktober 2023 - Day 13: "Rise"

It's Friday the 13th! So you KNOW I had to do a creepy look for today's prompt, which is "rise". 

A bit stumped, I just literally typed "rise" into Google Images, and after a little scrolling, came across this creepy cover for an "Evil Dead Rise" soundtrack, and knew it would be perfect for today!

Ready?

I LOVE the creepy eyeball SO SO much. I didn't even want to do the other nails because this needed to stand out on its own. 

Maybe my favorite so far...I dunno!

Inktober 2023 - Day 9: "Bounce"

Ready for some slightly inappropriate spooky boobs? I got this idea from an Instagram ad I was served up from an underwear company called Shinesty Threads. 

Side note: I giggled like a 10 year old the whole time I painted these.

Inktober 2023 - Day 7: "Drip"

Let's get back to some creepy stuff for day 7 of Inktober. How could I not with a prompt like "drip"?

 Super effective and super easy to create! I used nail inks to get this look, but if you wanted to DIY this for yourself for Halloween, you could just use a dark red sharpie. Just draw a messy line at the free edge of your nail, then with a little rubbing alcohol on a brush, let the color "drip" and "bleed" over a white nail. 

Inktober 2023 - Day 2: "Spiders"

The prompt for Inktober Day 2 is "spiders" and I literally had nightmares about spiders crawling on my face in bed after I created this set. Just something about the shiny body and extra pointy legs sent my sleeping subconscious into terror mode. 

 The tattered web I really like too. I got some great chrome gel to create extra shiny silver details with and it's perfect here over the matte top coat on the base colors. 

Sleep well! >:)

Inktober Day 31: Crawl

Happy Halloween everyone, and I hope you enjoyed Inktober! I had a blast doing it this year...probably the best year so far! I'm so happy to have shared it with you all, and I hope you like the last entry of this year with these creepy cute little crawling spiders.

The base color is Sandy from Zoya, and everything is hand painted as usual!

Inktober Day 28: Float

 It was pretty obvious with it being spooky season, and with a prompt like "float", that I was going to do an homage to "It"...the origin story for all creepy clowns. 

The colors I used were Licorice (essie), White Porcelain (INM), and Having a Big Head Day and It's a Piazza Cake (both from OPI). 

I also apologize for the late post. I was fully engulfed in a new (to me) docuseries called "The Vow,"

Inktober Day 26: Hide

If anyone has a cat, you're familiar with their antics. One of the cutest is when they're "hidden" but their tail or ears are poking out, but you pretend they're actually hidden, just like when a child plays hide and seek. So sebrodrick's Ghost Cat Collection was the perfect inspiration for today's prompt.

The background yellow is The "It" Color from OPI...one of my personal favorites.

Inktober Day 15: Outpost

I literally had to sleep on this prompt because "outpost" didn't scream innovation to me. Then I thought about what it might be like to be stationed at an outpost, and how the isolation might start to drive you crazy. And that led to something even crazier than isolation...zombies! So here's my zombies breaking over the walls of an outpost.

I used all LVX polishes for this zombie takeover:

• Jade
• Aria
• Serene
• Anthracite

Inktober Day 9: Throw

Today's Inktober prompt is "throw." I couldn't get "throw a dog a bone" out of my head, so I decided to just do a bunch of bones, in the spirit of Halloween and all. 

Color Club inspired this look today with Look, Don't Tusk and What a Shock!

Inktober Day 8: Teeth

Last night, I posted a poll on my Instagram to see if you all wanted to see teeth for today's prompt as "scary" or "cute", and by a vote of 67% to 33%, the winner was scary!

So here's some bleeding gums for day 8 of Inktober. 

I used only Zoya polishes for these freehanded chompers, including:

• Chyna
• Ruthie
• Janel
• Chantal
• Willa
• Claire
• Jacqueline

Inktober Day 6: Rodent

Mickey Mouse counts as a "rodent" right? I know that word has a bad ring to it, but it's not such a bad thing to be a rodent, especially in Mickey's case.

The hand painted Mickey is over a dotticure of two Zoya oranges: Paz and Cora. 

Inktober Day 5: Blade

I got a little spooky with today's Inktober prompt. After all, you need a "blade" to carve Jack O' Lanterns! 

The colors I used for this look were:

• China Glaze: Sun Worshipper
• Jessica Cosmetics: Sharktooth
• INM: Black Hole 

I also used a matte topcoat because I'm just kind of into that lately. Thanks Zoe! I honestly meant to make the pumpkins glow by adding a glow in the dark topcoat too, but I forgot to do that before I did their little eyes and mouths. So just image how cool that would look. 

Inktober Day 29: Injured

It was a long day at work, and unfortunately I didn't come out unscathed. The weather was so cold that my cuticles basically just shredded and I think I got an infection?

So I'm sorry for the horrible picture for day 29, but I'm pretty badly "injured".

Inktober Day 29 - Injured

Don't worry, none of this is real. It's all polish!

I used the OPI peel off base coat and some colors to get the infection look (Never a Dulles Moment and and I'm Sooo Swamped!), plus Courtney from Zoya for the blood. I had to gross you out a little for Halloween!

Inktober Day 26: Dark

I've really been on a gradient kick with this Inktober! So here's a simple dark one for day 26. I blended Zoya colors Courtney and Willa together, then added L.A. Girl's Uninhibited on top for this look. It's so dark it almost doesn't even look like an ombre!

Inktober Day 26 - Dark

Inktober Day 22: Ghost

Do you believe in ghosts?

If you do, do you think all ghosts are haunting for bad reasons, or do you believe that some are there for other reasons? If so, what are those reasons?

Do you think all ghosts are see-through? Could they be different colors? Is there any visibility to them at all?

The world may never know. Even with all those legitimate ghost hunters out there. We can only keep searching...and watching scary movies. Until then, here are my ghosts.

Inktober Day 22 - Ghost

I used this design as a template for the faces, and a variety of colors including Neon Green (American Apparel), as well as Look, Don't Tusk, Almost Famous, and 2 unnamed colors (purple and orange) from Color Club.