I think one of the things I do that's sort of really weird in terms of how I think about nail art is to sort of related it to other, completely unrelated things. An example of that would be when I compare a nail art design to wallpaper, which I do kind of a lot, or in the case of today's Halloween mani - pajamas. I don't even know what it is about this type of design that makes me think of cute seasonal pajama bottoms, but I absolutely do. Maybe it's the repeating pattern that makes me think of textiles and the cuteness makes me think of PJs. Whatever it is, I like to think of this as my pajama mani of the season and that, my friends, is a peek into how my brain works. You're welcome?

Let's just get to the nails, yeah?

When I was swatching the Bio Sculpture Pride Of Nature Collection*, I had the very distinct desire to use a few of the shades in a cool toned smoosh and that sort of smoky blue vibe just felt really right to me for a Halloween design. I ended up using the teal, grey and off white shades from this collection and then I brought in a deeper cool grey also from Bio Sculpture that was already in my collection as a sort of spooky assist.

For step on in creating the smoosh, I started by applying one coat of the lighter grey shade to all of my nails and then applying a latex cuticle barrier as well while that was drying. The base polish is really to give your smoosh something to stick to as well as provide some sneaky coverage just in case your smoosh doesn't get quite opaque. And the cuticle barrier is, in my opinion, a must for making the clean up from this messy technique a lot easier.

Now, for the actual smoosh, I grabbed the stamper that I've sort of designated as my smoosh stamper and applied dots of the four polishes that I was using directly onto the head in a sort of random way, though I do tailor the amount of each color to get the final results that I'm looking for. This is definitely more of a matter of experience and trial and error than something that I can explain, so I definitely recommend playing around. Next, I just pounce the stamper onto the nail until I get the blend that I'm looking for. I also like to go in with my clean up brush at this point and remove any pools of polish around my nail bed. It isn't a complete clean up, but it definitely makes the final clean up easier.

Next, for the stamping, I grabbed for the Whats Up Nails B036 Eeks & Screams Stamping Plate, which has some great full coverage repeating pattern images with some solid spook factor. For my pinkie and thumb I used a mixed image with cats and bats and candy corn and stuff in it. For my ring finger, I used an image with reapers and crosses. For middle finger, black cats. And finally, for my first finger I picked the flying witches. I applied all of the images in black stamping polish and just kept it really simple. 

Once I was happy with the design, I removed the cuticle barrier and did a full clean up of my edges before sealing in the design with a nail art top coat. Finally, I finished with a layer of matte top coat to bring down the shine and give a smooth, uniform matte finish. And voila!

So, is it just me or does anyone else see the pajamaness of it all when it comes to this design? I really like how it turned out. I love these repeating patterns and I love that I could create a whole cohesive mani using this one plate - that isn't always the case when you want to find multiple full coverage images for one design. 

Have you followed me over at @pblnails on Instagram yet? Head over there for video tutorials for all of the nail art I post here on the blog and to keep up with new Halloween themed nail art designs every day in October!

asfjkah