I have to say, I'm just so completely in love with all of the mani's I've put together for #12NailsOfHalloween, but today's mani has a bit of a special place for me. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but there are a few polishes in my collection that I absolutely love but really only bring out for special occasions. Sometimes they're polishes that were limited edition or have been discontinued that I want to have around for as long as possible, and other times they're polishes that are just so specifically perfect for a certain time of year that I don't even think to use them any other time. The base for today's mani actually falls into both of those categories and I just love to bring it out every Halloween for some grungy nail art. 

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I think I've owned Illamasqua Freckle for about five years now and it's an absolutely stunning polish that just absolutely screams Halloween nail art to me. The polish is a thin crelly formula in a sort of greyed out khaki base with strong yellow undertones and a mixture of tiny square as well as larger hex black matte glitters. This is the perfect grungy Halloween polish to me and literally the only time I pull it out is when the spooky season rolls around.

I started with three thin coats of Freckle (it's a pretty sheer polish, but I feel like that really allows the glitters to show through and add dimension) and let them dry down completely (which took a while - polish formulas have definitely improved over the past five years). Next, I went in with Maniology Straight Up Black Stamping Polish and my BornPrettyStore Clear Stamper to apply this skull image from the Nicole Diary-L12 Stamping Plate to all of my nails, shifting and repositioning the image on each nail to add dimension.

To finish, I added a generous coat of Sinful Colors Matte Top Coat and voila! Simple and easy to do, but super impactful, in my opinion. 

All Products Used

Illamasqua Freckle

Maniology Straight Up Black Stamping Polish

Sinful Colors Matte Top Coat

Nicole Diary L12 Stamping Plate

BornPrettyStore Clear Stamper

elf Concealer Brush for Clean Up

I have to say, functionally this is a really simple mani, but it's actually one of my absolute favorites that I've done throughout this whole 12 Days Of Halloween because I just feel like... it's SO COOL! I mean, the speckled base polish really doesn't hurt, but I really think it paired great with these grungy skulls as well. (Why, yes, I am patting myself on the back for this one! No shame whatsoever, because I just love it!)

Be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof, See The World In PINK, and Tea & Nail Polish today to check out more Halloween Nail Art for today's #CBBxManiMonday!

Thanks for reading!