What's That Say? I Can't Read!

Greetings Children of the Night! Well here is my first post in a series all about food! OK, I admit it, I'm *obsessed* with food. Well, maybe not obsessed. It's more of a love/hate relationship really. However, I'm not about to get into my food issues here and now. On the up side though there is one food I will always love, bacon.

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 This is my homage to bacon. Please tell me *someone* else actually sees the bacon in this? I'll be honest, this mani was a total pain in my @$$! I didn't have a brown red so I mixed one drop of Sally Hansen Cherry Charisma with two drops of Finger Paints Sketchy Character (the bottle in the picture). In the light, it came out a smidge too red for me. The lighter meat color was an ancient bottle of Cutex Beige and the white "fatty" base color is Sinful Colors Snow Me White. So it's one coat of Nail Life Gripper, two coats of Snow Me White, and then the stripes.

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 For those of you who don't get the title of this post, here is a little reminder of the Beggin' Strips ad.

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Hope y'all enjoyed my bacon. I'm going to try water marbling again for an event this weekend, then food number two! Thanks for reading.

Ruffian? What is this?

Greetings Children of the Night and Happy Hump Day.

Hope y'all have had an exciting, or at least  productive week thus far. The Vuppy, (vampire puppy. It's the nickname I've given to the teething chihuahua puppy) The Boy, and I are all awaiting the newest episode of Monster Man tonight. While I miss my Face Off, this show rocks! If you haven't seen it check it out tonight. It's in the Face Off time slot (10pm) on SyFy.

Gratuitous Vuppy Picture

Anyway, in my journey to find a new project I ran across many pictures of what is being called the Ruffian manicure. I know for many nail bloggers this is old news as it first appeared on the runway for Fall 2010, but seeing as how I'm new to the nail world, I had never seen this before. In fact, the idea of watching fashion shows for the latest nail craze and the fact that polish companies like China Glaze and O.P.I have seasons is all news to me. Shoot, I just discovered companies like Butter LONDON and Deborah Lippmann!

I figured while I was giving the water marbling a break I would try this. Now keep in mind I *bite* at doing a free hand french tip so I was very very tempted to break out the guides and not attempt to do this free hand. However Laquerized provided an amazing how to so I figured I would give her directions a go and*voila* perfect (well nearly perfect) Ruffian.

I'm also calling this the coffee mani. I did one coat of Nail Life Gripper, one thick coat of Sally Hansen Mochachino, then two thin coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Expresso. While staring at my nails I was moved to add a little something more... SPOTS!

Using Sally Hansen Hard as Diamonds Amethyst Diamond I put random shaped blobs of color and partially outlined them with my Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen. A final layer of Sally Hansen Super Shiny and I am more than happy with the results.

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I was very sad to find out that Mochachino (the bottle in the pictures) is a discontinued color. I love the shimmer, almost metallic, quality of this polish. I also love how close Amethyst Diamond and Expresso are in shade. The spots just take on a shimmery quality without actually changing the color. At this angle I think you get a really good view of the contrast.

So how many of you follow the latest nail trends? Anything y'all would like to see me attempt from this year's spring collections?

Pretty in Pink

Greetings Children of the Night!

I've been crazy busy since Friday night. I am now the volunteer coordinator for this year's Party Like A Pinup event at the Cuban Club, Ybor City, Florida. All the proceeds will benefit Pinups for Pitbulls. We're being hosted by Little Pet Project as well as Pit Stop Bully Rescue. If you live in the Tampa, Florida area please come and join the party! If not, Pinups for Pitbulls does take donations. *wink wink*

Anyway on to polish! Here is the color I chose to wear for our event Friday night. It's a lovely rosy pink, berry-ish color by Mary Kay called (funny enough) Roseberry. I have no idea how long I've even owned this color and I almost never wear it. I'm not a huge fan of pinks. This color went amazing with my dress for the event though. So 40s and retro.

Here it is with one coat of Nail Life Gripper, two coats of Roseberry, and one coat of Sally Hanson Super Shiny. I'm not impressed with the wear on this one. I did my nails Friday and I already had tip wear by Saturday morning. In these pictures you can actually see some chipping.

It was a really cloudy day so my pictures didn't come out nearly as good as I'm used to. *harrumph*

Today I have another meeting with the PLAP crew and Saturday night we have an event with Gaspar's Grotto in Ybor.

Have a Morbid Monday and thank you for reading.

Ren Faire stripes

Hello Children of the Night. It's been awhile since I did a nail post and this one (again) is not one of my best. I got really sloppy with the striping and you can see some serious bleeding around the tape lines. Next time I'll make sure not to rush it. 

It is Bay Area Renaissance Faire time here in Florida or BARF as we call it.  Here is a link if you're a local. Make sure to come out and see it. My ren costume (yes I'm one of THOSE people) has a green striped underskirt. I figured I'd do my nails to match. I didn't actually end up going, funny enough. The weekend I do go though I'm going to repeat this mani but much more carefully. It's two coats of Nail Life Gripper, two coasts of Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and the tape stripes were done with scotch tape and two coats of Finger Paints, one coat of Sally Hanson top coat.

My cuticles finally look good *grin*

Ignore the chip in the pinky

Here is the skirt I used as inspiration.

Ren skirt with overskirt

Ren Skirt without

So here is the picture I promised of my V-Day mani. It was taken on my phone so not the best but you get the idea.

I'm going to be doing some work for Party Like a Pin-up (here's their link) so I'm going back to my red nails for awhile.

Face Off- Episode 206

Well day late but here it is, the Face Off Episode from Wednesday night; Triple Threat.

Here we see the end of the cliffhanger from last week. The foundation challenge started right away. There seem to be a lot of challenges this episode dealing with exhaustion and sleep deprivation. As the artists enter the stage again a series of runway models come out. Their challenge is a 'make under.' Turn these models into Plain Janes. Kim Greene (Scream 4, Terminator Salvation) is the guest judge. Rayce and his librarian win the challenge and immunity.


The spotlight challenge is old age make-up. Each team of three is given a set of twins to do an age progression. One is to be aged to 75, the other to 100. Greg Cannom, Oscar winning make-up artist (for Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is the guest judge. McKenzie then returns to inform the contestants that they are not actually twins, but sets of triplets and the third sibling joins to be aged to 50 years. 


Beki, RJ, and Heather: Their concept was that as their model ages she becomes more gaunt so they start with a really overweight 50 year old (Beki). RJ does the 75 year old and when application time hits, RJ's model has a major allergic reaction to her makeups. Is it just me or does it seem like they're intentionally putting in models with allergic reactions just to see how the artists react? They substitute in another model but this model is significantly smaller, with a more delicate bone structure. RJ must "cut and dart the appliance like clothing." Heather has the 100 year old and hers has significant anatomy issues and looks more like a "melting zombie."

Beki (50)

RJ (75)

Heather (100)

Matt (50 year old), Tara (75 year old) and Sue (100 year old): This group did not work well together at all and I'm going to blame it on Sue's nasty attitude. She can't seem to work well with anyone. Their concept was an aging mobster and instead...well... no. Matt's creation was described at a 'were-chia' with it's puffy head and bad hair. Tara's make up was lovely but the shoulder length hair Ve found "distracting." The judges found Sue's make-up amazing. I don't think she took it far enough, I didn't think he looked old enough. 

Matt (50)

Tara (75)

Sue (100)

The final group was Rayce, Ian, and Jerry. They did and aging hippie. This one was my favorite. The judges felt that Rayce's 50 year old was far too subtle and she had diseased looking skin. Ian's 75 year old was also too subtle and his coloring was off. Jerry saved the group even if his was generic. 

Rayce (50)

Ian (75)

Jerry (100)

The top three were RJ, Jerry, and Sue, with Sue winning the challenge. They sent Heather home. 


Next week they will be creating aliens with Star Trek's Levar Burton as the guest judge. A sneak peak can be found here.










images source

Birthday Mani

Freaky Friday my Children of the Night!

As you may remember Wednesday was The Boy's birthday. He turned 30 this year *eek!* and he's not too happy about it. I just refer to him as 29.99 with shipping and handling. Well when I asked him what mani he'd like to see for our dinner out this is what he asked for. I really had a hard time getting this color to photograph right. It's Sinful Colors 24/7 and I have since found out that it actually has a China Glaze dupe (Shocking Pink). It's an insanely shocking neon pink. One of these day's I'll swatch it on it's own. I love pink but this is a holy cow, day glow pink. Not anything I think I would ever wear on it's own.

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As you can see some of the pictures give it a slightly purple cast in the shade that his color does *not* have. There is nothing purple at all about this color. The third picture is the most accurate. The formula is kinda streaky. It took three coats and the brush is terrible but for a $2 polish I am *not* going to complain. It's not bad enough I'm going to go out and buy the China Glaze dupe. I think the Sally Hanson Ink Splatter over it makes the pink do-able without being "holy cow look at that woman's nails! She looks like she belongs in an 80s movie!"

We didn't actually end up going out for his birthday. Instead we opted for dinner tonight and tickets to The Woman in Black. I'm hoping it's as good as the early reviews are saying. It's Daniel Radcliffe's first attempt as an 'adult' actor and I wish his career all the best.

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Hello to my Children of the Night!

Went out shopping yesterday with a friend and found a set of L.A.Colors polishes, 5 for $5. I picked this one over some of the neons due to the pretty teal color in this set.

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I have no idea what the names are. I'll have to do a little research and find out. There are some fun colors here but they're looking like they're all going to be very sheer shimmers.

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 Here you can get a better idea of the colors. From left to right are: black glitter shimmer, blue shimmer, teal shimmer (reason I bought it), lime green shimmer, orange shimmer, magenta shimmer, purple shimmer. I think a magenta is supposed to be a red but it's *far* to pink for me to call a red. It also seems to be the sheerest  color in the bunch. Can't wait to swatch these colors.

This weekend went out and bought Paranormal Activity 3 and I"m very pleased to say that the small screen does not lessen the impact of the movie. It was a really great buy. For my whole review of the movie, click here. Tomorrow is the Boy's 30th birthday and he has a mani request for me, that should be different.

Have a bloody good day!

I Heart Zombies

Greetings and Happy Freaky Friday!

I guess I finally got my creative mojo back. For about tow days I've been dragging around with bare nails *gasp* at a total loss as to what to do with them. Today I reached into a drawer and pulled out one of my favorite shirts. The Boy got it for it. It's a lime green shirt that simply says across the front I <3 Zombies. Then inspiration struck! The color of the shirt is almost identical to my Sally Hanson Lickity-Split Lime and (the swatch is here) away I went.

Here is my Happy Zombie Shirt!

I deceided that I was going to create the phrase across the three center nails and this is what I came up with.

Yes they're upside-down but you can read it that way!

As you can see it is "eye", a stamped hart, and a zombie (kinda). The pinky has his brains showing but alas the thumb is not pictured because it is blank! I simply ran out of ideas. Maybe y'all can help me out and give me a suggestion for the thumb?

If y'all are interested I can do a tutorial on how to recreate this look. Honestly, it was surprisingly simple for a free-hand design. The hardest part was the "brain". It's a combination of beige and a little Sinful Colors 24/7.

Hope y'all have an amazing weekend. I applied for a part time job as a information desk clerk (so I have money for goodies) and am really hoping it works out!

Vampire Mani

Hello to my Children of the Night!

I am  very glad to hear that the blackout protesting SOPA/PIPA was so successful. Today I added a little something to my http://originalzombiemadam.blogspot.com/2012/01/oh-black-polish-youre-still-my-favorite.html mani.

I love... no I ADORE vampires. Everything about them. The myth and legacy, the movies and books, after all who wouldn't want to live forever? I will put the note here that I am a fan of the Anne Rice style Southern Gothic vamp. This also includes your True Blood vampires as well.  *ahem* Vampires do NOT sparkle!

I originally saw this concept as a tribute to True Blood and I really can't remember where (I mean no disrespect) and knew I just had to try it. The lips should have been a true red but instead I went a little brighter with a mini of Lancome Vernis Absolu in Extrovert. The teeth were done with a Sally Hanson nail art pen in white. I am very proud of this one. 

I went to dinner with a girlfriend that night who had to have a picture of it. She asked my why I don't work in a nail salon *blushes*. Honestly folks I've been doing the nail art thing for about 6 months. I highly doubt too, I could find myself a salon where I wouldn't have to paint pretty little flowers and I don't do (as of yet) pretty little flowers.

I probably won't post again until next week so y'all have an amazing weekend and I'll see you again on Morbid Monday.

Zombie Mani part Deux

Greetings to my Children of the Night! I hope y'all had a good and week and are enjoying your Sinister Saturday. Admittedly this week was a long one for me and I'm not exactly sad to see the rear end of it. I spent most of Thursday in a total haze after Wednesday night. Friday, while it was the 13th and obviously MY favorite day, it was a bit cold for me. I've really been enjoying our 80 degree weather in January.

This is part two of that fabulous Lickity-Split Lime mani I did earlier in the week. I'm actually a huge fan of the crackle coat trend. Crackle coat hides a multitude of sins and I just really like the effect it gives. So far I only own two but I will definitely be buying more. Today I used my Sally Hanson Ink Splatter. My bottle has gotten a little thick and hard to work with but I love it and am willing to work with it.

This effect to me is to dye for. It looks like that rotting zombie radioactive flesh busting through the black. I even put three coats of a WnW glow-in-the-dark over the green so my green shards glow in the dark. It's very Incredible Hulk.

I hope y'all have a marvelous weekend. Get out and do something exciting and leave me a comment telling me all about it.

Zombie Green is for Me!

Hello Everyone and Happy Wicked Wednesday!

Admittedly I'm not a green person. I look good in green but lime green nail polish is simply not my cup of tea. I didn't even buy this polish, the Boy did. However, I'm glad he did. He bought it to pay homage to my favorite shoes. Iron Fist Zombie Stompers. Yes those are MY feet in the most amazing shoes on the planet!

To me Sally Hanson's Lickity-Split Lime is the best shade of zombie green ever. It's a creme green with a grey tinge to it. It's not quite what I would call neon, it's simply not that day-glow green I would expect of a neon. It's more of a grey (rotting flesh) green.

The formula on the first coat was really streaky. This is a two (or even three) coater.  I love the brush in these insta-dri polishes. It is an amazingly wide flat brush that covers my nail in those three perfect swipes. I have been known to put a coat (or 5) of a glow in the dark polish over it to create a radioactive mani! These pictures are without the glow-in-the-dark coat (or even a top coat). Again I know...cuticles = hot mess! I'm at least improving.

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For Christmas the Boy's mom gave me the best pair of pedicure sandals EVER!!! You have no idea how much I am in love with these shoes. They look really cute too. Yes, I know, only my big toe is painted. The rest ended up Sinful Colors Black on Black and I put the Ink Splatter Sally Hanson Crackle over the green. I find crackle doesn't work well on my little toes. I guess not enough room, so I just paint them black. I pretty much end up with the same effect.

Hope everyone has a fabulous day. I'm going to finish up my house chores for the day because tomorrow night I sadly have a memorial to attend and won't be home. :-/

Corset Nail Art

Happy Terrible Tuesday!

We can now be found on Blog Lovin! Make sure to follow us there as well as Facebook.

When I saw this post by Nail Nerd I got giddy!!! It was the first time in awhile I showed the Boy nail art and he didn't snort in derision.  This meant I had to give it a try.

As you can see my attempt was less than stellar. I used two coats of Nail Life Gripper base coat, then followed with two coats of Sally Hanson's Save The Date. The Corset stripes (done in OPI Lincoln Park After Dark) are actually done in a 'V' shape from the middle of my cuticle.

I then used a silver Sally Hanson Nail Art Pen (these things are AH-MAZ-ING! I'll be doing a full review soon) to dot the 'grommets' up the sides of the 'corset'. I actually managed to fit five up each side. Then with a dotting tool I put a dot of save the date in the middle of each silver dot to create a ring of silver. I then 'laced' the corset with the black Sally Hanson Nail Art Pen. Two coats of a top coat (I'm not going to tell you which one. I'm in the market for a new one) and I was good to go. The colors are very dark so it doesn't photograph well. I'm hoping my next attempt will come out better.

This week starts both Face/Off on Sy-Fy and Larry the Cable Guy's Only In America.  I haven't been this excited about TV since American Horror Story's season ended. I promise not to subject y'all to my love of Larry but Face/Off is an ENTIRELY different story.

First Mani

Happy Morbid Monday!
Did y'all have any good pans this weekend? Tonight the Boy is taking me to see The Devil Inside. He's been waiting since October (we saw the trailer during Paranormal Activity 3) to see this film, and I'll be completely honest with you guys the trailer freaks me out!!! I'm not a big gore or splatter porn fan but I do love a good exorcist film. I'm a bit shaky because this film seems to contain both. I've been teasing him for months now that I'm not going to be able to handle his film and get told every time "too bad you're going anyway." He knows how I love a good scare and won't let me wimp out (even if it does mean I keep him up for the next week.) I'll fill y'all in on what I think. Now onto the glitter, or at least shiny.

This is my first attempt to blog a mani. I've been a follower of many amazing nail blogs like Nail Stories, The Polishaholic, and Polish Galore (I suggest you do too) and it inspired me to my own. This is my first swatch EVER so please be kind. Admittedly, my camera isn't the best, and I know my cuticles are a hot mess, but hey a girl has to start somewhere. At a distance, I promise, they look amazing.

My first attempt is with Sally Hanson's Save The Date. It was in impulse buy at my local Wally World. I was there for something ENTIRELY different and saw this color in an end aisle display and decided I simply must have it. It's this beautiful deep vampy wine color with a purple tinge. It's got a lovely shimmer to it that just deepens the color. The formula is great and was almost opaque in a single coat. I paid around $3 US for this bottle and I am MORE than pleased with it. I'll definitely be buying more colors in this line.

Not that you can really tell but my ring finger has some lovely corseting on it done in OPI Lincoln Park After Dark. LPAD is one of my all time favorite colors and when I saw it on sale at Target of all places I pounced! My next post is all about that lovely corset work.