May the treats be ever in your favor!

I've been swamped with studying, class, internship work and work-work lately, so prepare yourself for a little avalanche of posts here!
This is my most recent one, a Halloween mani that chipped so it had to go.  To be honest, I wanted to do a few, so I wasn't TOO sad to take it off...

*1 coat Yello=Out
*3 coats China Glaze Harvest Moon
*3 coats China Glaze Riveting
*3 coats Sonoma Nail Art Sincerest Pumpkin Patch
*Zoya Yara
*1 coat Out the Door

The China Glaze Capitol Colors were/are phenomenal.  Plain and simple.  Tons of them lend themselves to fall art, and I used two of them for this main.  Harvest Moon is a gorgeous, warm coppery-brown with a sparkling foil finish.  I used this on my thumb, index, and pinkie fingers.

I used Riveting for my pumpkin accent with Harvest Moon for the lines and a little bit of Yara for the grass and stem.  I adore Riveting.  I won't waste your time here, but you can click on the tag to see me sing its praises again and again.  This orange just glows!
Finally, I used Sincerest Pumpkin Patch for a second accent.  I love Sonoma Nail Art polish!  Not only do the polishes come from very near to my hometown, but they are amazing!  They combos are so rad and the polish is wonderful quality.  I haven't used this one in a year and didn't need any thinner like I usually do with indies.  I like it a little better with a base, like Yara, but I didn't think that through before I started painting, so I just layered the beauty on!  I love this polish and the Peanuts--it just makes me smile every time I look at it!

31DC: Recreate your favorite

I've made it to the end! I really did not think that I would make it much past the first week, but now I can say that I have completed the 31 Day Challenge! The final challenge is to recreate your favorite from the month. There are a ton that I loved and am excited to try again or work on. This was a bit tricky because today is Halloween, so I really wanted to choose one that was Halloween-themed. Then I couldn't decide. So, here's my Halloween skittle!

That's the lineup!  I changed up a few polishes from the original designs, but most are the same.

 

 

 

Day 12: Stripes.  My candy corn is a Color Club Almost Famous base, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed and Julep Kate, topped with Out The Door Northern Lights.  It's getting late and I know that this will be coming off tomorrow night, so instead of waiting for the base to dry an use tape, I freehanded the stripes.

 

Day 2: Orange.  For my orange nail, I used Zoya Myrta instead for this nail, which is a bit darker than the previous 2.  It is still shimmery with a great "foil" finish.  This Surf collection is gorgeous and they need no more than 2 coats.  I used Black Cat Lacquer Static Age again over the top.

 

Day 23: Inspired by a movie.  I decided to give Mr. Skellington another try. I couldn't decide between him and spider webs from my black and white mani, but I'm going to see my aunt tomorrow, and I'd love for her to see him!  This is 2 coats of Julep Kate with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out for accents.

Day 29: Inspired by the supernatural.  It's not Halloween without the Great Pumpkin!  I wanted to do the pumpkin that I painted again, but because I was doing this on both hands, I worried I wouldn't be able to pain straight lines.  So, I had to settle for this polish that I love!  Bummer!  This is 2 coats of Zoya Yara under the awesome Sonoma Nail Art Sincerest Pumpkin Patch.

 

Day 11: Polka dots.  Before I began this challenge I really wanted these little spooky eyes to be my Halloween mani.  I used 2 coats of Fantasy Makers Rest In Pieces with Kate and Black Out for the eyes.  I love these little eyes!

So there it is!  This is my Halloween look and a decent round-up of different themes and techniques from this month.  Thank you so much for sticking with me through some of the rougher challenges and letting me get excited about the ones I felt successful about!  I'm a little sad that it's over because it forced me to try new things and to post all the time.  I do have a lot to revisit, though, and try with new insight.  Plus it's fall now, so it's a whole new color palette to play with (not that I really stick to "seasonal" colors).  Have you completed the challenge?  What are your favorite days to do?  What are you wearing for Halloween?  I'd love to hear!

On a side note, on 10/20 I mentioned that it was my 4 month anniversary of starting this blog and I was so excited to have reached 450 page views.  In the past 10 days I have reached over 700!  I am so amazed that there are people out there who are interested in what I am doing and I want to THANK YOU so much for stopping by!  Please feel free to leave me comments and start up a conversation--I can talk about nail polish for days!

31DC: Inspired by the supernatural

I have been so excited about today's post!  I saw this "supernatural" challenge and was really worried about what on earth I could do.  Then inspiration struck!  I was so bummed that it was late in the challenge, but it's kind of perfect because it's a Halloween mani!  I'm also really pleased with how it turned out (which is rare when I attempt nail art).  I have one awesome untried today.  Here it is:

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

Growing up just north of Charles Schultz's hometown, the Peanuts gang was a huge part of my childhood.  My family loves them and no holiday is complete without a Charlie Brown special.  In honor of the mystical Great Pumpkin, here we go!

"I don't understand it. I went trick-or-treating and all I got was a bag full of rocks."  Poor Charlie Brown!  I already recreated his iconic shirt for my yellow post, so this time I recreated his ghost costume (ignore the red around my cuticle from my flag nails--that was NOT coming off!).  Chuck has a little trouble in the scissor department, but don't we all sometimes?  I used 2 coats of Julep Kate and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out for the eye holes.  In real life they look a little cleaner, but I kind of like how they are a bit messy, like the original comics were.

 

"On Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises from his pumpkin patch and flies through the air with his bag of toys to all the children."  Linus, with all of his hope and innocence, waits patiently for the Great Pumpkin to visit his pumpkin patch all night.  No matter what anyone says, his faith endures.  For his shirt, I used 2 coats of OPI Danke-shiny (gorgeous--a post on that later!) and Black Out. 

"There he is! There he is! It's the Great Pumpkin! He's rising out of the pumpkin patch!"  Okay, okay, it's not the real Great Pumpkin, but a really sparkly pumpkin.  Linus took such pride in his patch.  I used 2 coats of China Glaze Riveting, Black Out for the accents, and Zoya Yara for the grass and stem.

 

"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see."  AHHH!  I could NOT wait to get this polish and it just came!  I tried a couple of times to get Sincerest Pumpkin Patch in Sonoma Nail Art's Etsy sales, and I missed out.  I was going to have my mom stop by a boutique that sells them, but I finally scored online!  She makes such gorgeous polishes, most of them tied to our home area, and I just can't get enough!  This polish is a-mazing!  It is thin, as far as the indie glitters I've tried, which makes it really easy to work with.  The green tinted base is full of green glitters in different shapes and sizes, silver glitter that looks green, and orange hexes to look like pumpkins.  I love this!  This is just one coat over 2 coats of Zoya Yara. 

"I had to listen to you, you blockhead. What a fool I was. Trick or treats come only once a year, and I missed it by sitting in a pumpkin patch with a blockhead."  Now, I take issue with Sally in this film.  She is deeply infatuated with Linus, her sweet Baboo, and agrees to watch for the Great Pumpkin with him.  She is head over heels with Linus and follows him, and then turns on him!  Sally, we all learn the harsh lesson not to use our heads instead of our hearts, that they will waste our time, but show a little compassion!  She is usually not this brutal... For her dress, I used 2 coats of Zoya Skylar and Black Out for the polka dots.

So there is my tribute to the Great Pumpkin and the most sincere pumpkin patch around!  I love these nails and am really sad to see them go.  What are you asking the Great Pumpkin for this Halloween?  If it's this gorgeous polish, you can let him know that her Etsy shop will open tomorrow (10/30) at 5pm Pacific!