Freaky Friday #3- How To Nail Halloween

Hey readers, happy Halloween! For my final edition of Freaky Friday, I thought I'd give you all some ideas of what to do with your nails this Halloween. I'll admit, this is a bit late as Halloween is today, but it can give you some inspiration for next year. (Or for any time in the year if you're the type that likes all things spooky every day!)

Before I begin, I'd like to say that I'm not an advocator of any particular brand of nail polish. I'm going to give tips on colours & styles, so feel free to use whichever brand you please! Now that I've established that, let's move on to the actual post:

Those of you that know me in real life will know that I love doing my nails! I'm no pro, & I'm not a fan of having them too long either, but I love having them painted &, when I get time, doing snazzy designs. I think it's great when people have nice nails & it is an art form I admire, & in the past few years I've become rather fond of regularly painting my nails & getting creative with them.

Halloween really is the perfect opportunity to have some fun with your nails, as it's a time of year where it's likely you'll be dressing up or, if you choose not to don a full costume, you can show your spooky spirit in your nail art! Now I know not everyone is a fan of having the more artistic designs on their nails & that some people may not have the time to do or feel as though they can't do such things, so I plan to start from the basics & work up.

Basics

For those of you out there who like to keep it simple & stick to just painted nails, then I suggest sticking to dark tones for this occasion. You can't go wrong with black- if anything it's the colour of the season, plus it has an air of sophistication, for those of you out there that are a bit more classy. Colour wise, stick to jewel tones- dark reds, purples, dark greens, dark blues. Silver could work as well, although that would be better teamed with black. In fact, any of the colours teamed with black would look great, if you do want to mix it up a bit. Try the current nail trend of having something different on the ring finger- this finger could be a colour & paint the rest of the nails black- this is an easy way to make your nails stand out!

Examples of dark tones, perfect for keeping it simple!

Have included white here as this would also work well.

Simple Method, Snazzy Nails

Just because it's Halloween, doesn't mean you have to have dark nails! In fact, brighter shades could work really well- just think of all the different Halloween advertising you see! Bright orange, green, vibrant red, yellow, even pink! However, I'll admit, these colours will work best alongside black. Now you can do the method I mentioned above with the ring finger, or alternate, but a really simple way to get awesome looking nails is to use crackle polish. This stuff is amazing! I love it! You could do a really bright colour (or even a dark colour or white) & paint over it with black crackle for an instant nail makeover! Trust me, people are always impressed with this stuff. Plus, with some brands, you can get coloured crackles, which means you could do this in reverse if you wanted!

Sparkles or glitter would also work well to give nails a little something. Again, the ring finger technique could be used with this style of polish, but could also be done across all nails. A simple technique just to give nails a little more oomph!

Examples of bright colours- these would look great under a black crackle!

I would seriously recommend getting some of this stuff, especially the black. Again, brand is up to you, but this style of nail varnish is amazing- & not just for Halloween!

Brighter crackles for a reverse effect.

Example of black crackle on colour- I did this over the summer (which is why it's quite bright), but using colours similar to those shown above would look great for Halloween!

Example of reverse crackle, which were my nails for last week.

Stepping Up Your Nail Game

For those of you that are looking for something more creative, this is where I move onto the more arty-farty nail designs. For these, you don't need any specialist tools- a thin paintbrush will work fine & either a cocktail stick or bobby pin will work as a dotting tool. Sharpie & gel pens also work well. Now, just because I'm mentioning brushes doesn't mean I'm instantly going into the more intricate stuff. You can do really simple things with these tools. Brushes can be used to make stripes, either fully across the nail or a simple line.

My sister did this design using two tones & a cocktail stick. I think it looks great!

Tape is your friend when it comes to making 'perfect' lines. I use that term loosely as it's likely the lines won't be 100% spot on. With tape, you can create checkered nails, duo tone nails, triangles- you name it, you can probably do it! You can also use tape (or even plasters or special strips) to do french manicures. You could have the tip black, or do a reverse french with black & white.

Combining the ring finger trend with checkered nails- I used masking tape to help get more even lines. 

Hogwarts nails, did these a while back. I used tape to get the two different colours on my nails & a brush to paint the Deathly Hallows symbol. This is a great idea for anyone doing anything Potter themed this Halloween!

Reverse french. Another classy yet effective look this Halloween!

Another really cool thing is ombre nails. I only tried the technique yesterday, but again, it's a very simple process to instantly have more interesting nails! Just pop a couple of colours onto a sponge & dab them on your nail, but make sure you use a white colour as a base first, as this will enable the colours to stand out!

Was feeling the black & orange theme, but any colour can be used!

Tools used. I used a scourer sponge for the dabbing, although a flatter sponge would create a smoother gradient.

Remember, Nails Are Tiny Canvasses

This is the section for those of you out there that a feeling a little more creative. As I said earlier, this is the perfect occasion to have some fun with your nails, whether it's part of a costume or just to pay homage to this frightful occasion. Halloween brings about a range of imagery that can easily be put onto nails- pumpkins, ghosts, cats, skulls, zombies, spiders- I could go on but instead I'll just say, if it fits with Halloween, put it on your nails! You can choose to paint it on, but decals also work amazingly & can be easily sealed in place with a top coat. 

Try anything! You could have the same design across all nails, or have different characters on each nail! The best part is to have fun & not to worry too much if it isn't perfect- at the end of the day, if you've done it, regardless of any little mistakes, people will still be impressed with your artistic skills! Techniques mentioned before can be used, such as the ring finger, or you could combine arty designs with crackles- whatever you choose! Here are a couple of my own designs:

Skull face nails. Decided to combine with the ring finger trend to give it a more minimal feel.

Tools used for the above design.

Zombie nails! My favourite design to date!

Tools used to create the zombie nails, used a white gel pen for the teeth as these were very small- it worked amazingly!

And there we have it, some tips for your talons! Whether you want to keep it simple or go all out- I hope you've found yourself some inspiration this Halloween! Remember though, these tips aren't just for today, they can be applied any time of year & to any occasion!

And that's all for today. Once again, happy Halloween! Hope the nail art goes well, & if you do wish to share with my any designs you do, feel free to post in the comments section below! :D