Costumes and Cuisine!

Press Sample

Stephanie of Allthingsbeautifulxo.com as a mermaid, and me as a flapper! :)

Halloween is over, but I keep thinking back to the recent blogger get-together at a relatively new restaurant in downtown Las Vegas called 7th and Carson. Costume? Check. My girls? Check. Delicious brunch menu? Check. Hand-crafter cocktails? Check. Handsome chef? Double check. Read on to hear all about the amazing brunch menu at this cool new restaurant and about our skincare event sponsors!

HalloWEDNESDAY Post! - Mummy Dearest

WOO! Tropical Cyclone (hurricane) Nilam decided to let up a bit here in Chennai, and my power is back on. I posted earlier on Twitter that there might not be a HalloWEDNESDAY post because of that...but there is! I have power! :D (Unfortunately, this also means that I have no excuse to eat all the ice cream in the freezer now. :D) 

Halloween has ALWAYS been one of my favorite holidays, I remember my mom always made our costumes, and after I got to certain age, I started making my own. One year I transformed a box that my (disassembled) desk came packaged in into a stick of Juicy Fruit costume. I got lots of candy (and dimes) that year. I tend to go all out with my costumes, and have won a fair amount of the contests I've entered- one time I even won a trip for two to fabulous Las Vegas!! (before I lived there, of course :D) 

Today is the last design in the 2011 HalloWEDNESDAY series, and I wanted it to be a fun but fast one, since today actually IS Halloween! I used masking tape and a cosmetic sponge to get this effect, I originally tried it with a tea-stained teabag, but I couldn't get the effect I was looking for. I saw the masking tape in my Helmer drawer and figured, "Why not?" and it worked! :D

What do you think... was this a good way to 'wrap up' the 2012 HalloWEDNESDAY series? Tell me in the comments below! :D

I used: 

Masking Tape

Cosmetic Sponge

Barielle Aura Angora

Barielle Coco Bar

Moonicure Monday - Something to 'Phone Home' About?

Moonicure Monday is late. I'm sorry. My sister is here in India visiting, and though it was painted, I am just now getting to post it! Lucky for her, She decides to come to India when Tropical Cyclone (what we call a Hurricane in the US) Nilam decides to show up! Lots of crazy wind right now and trees down all over. Anyway, this 'episode' of Moonicure Monday is another Halloween-themed one–and one from our pop-culture past, at that! I sure hope you recognize that lovable extra-terrestrial creature best known as ET flying across my half-moon on the bike with Elliot! OK, now I just need some Reese's Pieces!

I also got the chance to use one of the new American Apparel Glow in the Dark polishes I ordered, and I love them! (I got all three, and they actually glow different colors!)

I used:

Off-White: Illamasqua Load (hee hee)
Glow: American Apparel Moon (Glow in the Dark)
Dark Blue: American Apparel Passport Blue

HalloWEDNESDAY! I Broke the Mold

Have you noticed that all my Halloween posts have been grotesque or creepy? Today is no different, I've got moldy, mossy, nasty nail art for you today! Only one more HalloWEDNESDAY left, and that will be Halloween, so I have to think of something extra wicked. (In more ways than one!) What do you guys think of the creepy nail art? Are you more of a creepy/gross nail art fan or do you prefer the cutesy/fun kind? 

The design I came up with for today utilizes flocking powder, and actually benefits from the staining on my nails. (YES, I use basecoat EVERY time I paint my nails, not sure why they stain so badly!) They were most recently stained by Zoya Kimber, which I used in my BCA design. That polish is actually pretty gorgeous, but man did it stain! (worth it!!)

Would you wear this design? Tell me why or why not in the comments!

Tutorial to come! :)

I used: 

Olive Green: Zoya Dree

Dark Green: Zoya Envy

Green flocking powder

Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On

Check out this cool moth that was hangin' out by the fluorescent light outside!

Moonicure Monday - What a Slimeball!

Ever have one of those days? I did today. lol

Today I had to go to the FRRO (Foreign Resident Registration Office) here in Chennai to apply for my visa extension. Sweet holy hell, whoever thought that place up is a sadist. You go from sitting in a row of chairs (then everyone stands up and moves to the next chair when someone gets to go to the next room), to a room where you do the chair thing again. A lady (or man) looks at your papers, writes some stuff, sends you to another room where you AGAIN do the chair thing. When you get to the front of that queue, that person looks at your papers, writes some more stuff, sends you back to the first room (again doing the chair thing). That person looks at your same papers once more, gives you a token, where you go back to the other room again and wait for your number to be called. Heaven forbid you have some odd piece of paperwork missing that the people in legal didn't give you (because they didn't know you needed it- I swear the process changes daily). What? Someone from the office brought you the paperwork within 45 minutes? You want to hand it over now? Nope, sorry. Your new appointment is in 3 days. Come back then. *SCREAM*. After about 6.5 hours of that, I got to go to the office. :D

That was my day. When I got home, I literally tried 6 different designs for Moonicure Monday, which all failed. (Even the simplest one ever- newsprint transfer!) Now, I've been wanting to use this Cult Nails Deal With It polish for ages. (On my fingernails - it's been on my toes for weeks!!) This is a super awesome and fairly unique polish that is a perfect color for slime. I figured- Halloween? Slime? Yep, I'm in. :) Not my best attempt, but I still love the slime part! lol I hope Coco approves of my use of her polish creation! :-P

What do you think?

I used:

Light Grey: Nubar Marble Tower
Black: Cult Nails Nevermore
Green: Cult Nails Deal With It
Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat:  Seche Vite + Cult Nails Wicked Fast

Beauty Blog Coalition Halloween Sweepstakes - Win a $500 Gift Card!

The ladies of the Beauty Blog Coalition have teamed up once again to host another sweepstakes for our dear readers!  The Beauty Blog Coalition Halloween Sweepstakes begins today, 17 October, and will end on 1 November 2012.  One winner will receive a $500 USD Visa Gift Card!  All terms and conditions may be found at the bottom of the Rafflecopter widget.  Please allow the widget to load in full.  You may enter on any of the participating blogs below - Rafflecopter will not allow you to enter twice.  You may tweet about the giveaway (the last option in the Rafflecopter) every day for extra entries!    Beauty and Fashion Tech   Beauty Info Zone  Beauty Thesis  Blushing BasicsBlushing Noir
Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom
Cosmetics Aficionado
Emily Hudspeth, Bringing the Beauty to You!
FutureDerm
Lawless Lacquer
Madame B Fatale
Making Up the Midwest
Midnight Manicures
Moxie Reviews
My Highest Self
My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog
Peek & Ponder   Perilously Pale
Phyrra
Polarbelle
polish fixation
polish insomniac
PolishGalore
Prime Beauty
Stephanie Louise- All Things Beautiful
The Daily Nail Blog
The Plastic Diaries
TheFabZilla   a Rafflecopter giveaway      

HalloWEDNESDAY! I'm So Ogre This.

So you may be thinking to yourself, hmmmm, it's been a few weeks since the last HalloWEDNESDAY manicure...and you'd be right. I seriously tried what I wanted to do for last week's manicure 4 separate times. Photographed them 4 separate times. Failed. Four. Separate. Times. I'm human, I gave up...until today. After a few tweaks and some magical matte topcoat, I'm reasonably content with the design. Finally. :)  This design could be interpreted several ways- it could be a witch's warts, Ogre bumps, toad warts, or several other things, depending on the colors you use! Look for the tutorial in the next couple of days! :)

I used:

American Apparel MacArthur Park
Zoya Dree
Priti Weeping Birch
MAC Rich, Dark, Delicious
Born Pretty Store Pearls

Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat:  Seche Vite + Cult Nails Wicked Fast + Essie Matte About You

Moonicure Monday — It's Got Bite!

Hey there, and welcome to Moonicure Monday, where I take the half-moon manicure and add my twist! This week is Halloween-inspired—zombie bite marks with the VIRUS creeping up the veins and the infection spreading. It's a bruised and bloody mess! Hope you like it–if not, you're the first I'm coming after when this virus spreads from my nails to my brrrraaaaaaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnnnnsssssssss! (so beware!)

I used:

Zoya Avery
Zoya Avery + CND Bloodline
American Apparel Manila
American Apparel Imperial Purple
American Apparel Downtown LA + Barielle Unravelled Rust
American Apparel Downtown LA + American Apparel Imperial Purple
Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat:  Seche Vite

Mmmmm... Braaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnsssssssssss!!!!

HalloWEDNESDAY Tutorial - I'm Going to Let it Slide.

Wow! I am shocked (and flattered!!) by all the awesome comments on this design!! (and to think I even debated posting it, thinking you guys wouldn't like it!) I'm really glad to be able to offer you a tutorial for the look! OK, I'll ease off the exclamation points, lest I come off like a crazy person. :-P 

I hope that your friends and family recoil in terror when they see these gruesome nails on you!! (apparently my promise to lay off the exclamation points didn't last long)  I'd love to see what you all come up with. :D If you email me pictures to thedailynail@gmail.com, I'll include them at the end of this post. :)


Happy painting. :D

Hallo-WEDNESDAY! - I'm Going to Let it Slide

Welcome to the spooky, the creepy, the gory and terrifying Hallo-Wednesday!

Every Wednesday from now until Halloween (which is on a Wednesday!!) I'll be posting a Halloween-themed nail design. A tutorial will follow the design, but will generally be on Thursday or Friday of the same week. :D

First up is EVERY nail maven's horror- smudged nails!?  Ok, so these are 'smudged' on purpose!

The inspiration for this design actually happened by accident! I hastily painted my nails (neglecting to allow proper drying time between coats) and then slapping on fast-drying top coat. This made my top coat of polish dry fast, but the others underneath were still wet, and thus very smudgeable! Well, I went to touch one lightly to test it for dryness, it smudged, and the sliding/melting skin technique was born. :D

Hope you guys like it! :D

I used:

Blood:

American Apparel Downtown LA
Barielle Unravelled Rust
American Apparel Hassid

Flesh:

Zoya Avery
Zoya Flowie


Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat:  Seche Vite

It puts the lotion on the skin...