At first, this design may look like a Christmas tree next to an egg yolk or like a whole bunch of random dots. Haha!
They’re really supposed to be Haunted House Nails – see how the black house has all the lights on? The small yellow ‘light’ can be seen from the windows. And that big ol’ egg yolk? Imagine that it’s a moon in the sky.
In my other photos of it in different lighting, hope you’re able to humour me and see a haunted mansion at night. 🙂
I could see how you could tweak this design for Christmas. Instead of different-sized little dots, add multicoloured little dots for the string of lights.
To create this, I used a combination of nail stamping and freehand painting.
When I visited my mom on Sunday and showed her this, I asked her to guess what they were. “Dots!” She said. Hehe, okay, that’s technically correct. When I asked my boyfriend, he thought they were stylized Christmas trees. 😛
A man in his 50’s actually paused mid-sentence to tell me that he really liked my nails! (That was the first time an older man commented on my nails out of the blue…hehe, and on this Christmas-tree-and-egg-yolk design, too!)
There was also a little girl who kept staring at my nails on the subway. She was soooo cute! Every time I’d look at her, she’d look away and pretend that she wasn’t looking at my nails. Then, when I looked away, I could see her leaning forward to look at my fingers. Maybe she was trying to figure out what eggs had in common with trees. Or why someone had egged the tree. 😛
Haunted House Nail Art Swatches
All swatches have:
- Nubar Foundation Base Coat
- 3 coats of China Glaze Zombie Zest
- Haunted House & Bat (on Thumb Nail) Stamping: Konad Special Nail Polish in Black
- Ground: OPI I Only Date Werewolves (black mini polish from the OPI Spookettes set)
- Moon:
- OPI Mummy Knows Best (white mini polish from the OPI Spookettes set)
- Orly Spark (yellow)
- Windows: Orly Spark (yellow)
- Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Sunlight
Sunlight
Sunlight
Sunlight
Flash
Sunlight
Sunlight
Sunlight
Natural Light
Natural Light
Natural Light
Natural Light
Natural Light
Natural Light
Flash
Flash
Flash
Sunlight – As you can see, I decided to add some bats in the sky since there was more room on my thumb nail.
Natural Light
Flash
*~* Nail Art Tutorial *~*
What I Used:
- Nubar Foundation Base Coat
- Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
- China Glaze Zombie Zest
- Orly Spark
- Konad Special Nail Polish in Black
- OPI I Only Date Werewolves (from the OPI Spookettes set)
- OPI Mummy Knows Best (from the OPI Spookettes set)
- Bundle Monster Image Plate BM 224
- Bundle Monster Image Plate BM 213
- Daniel Stone Art Tool #1
Step 1: Apply a Base Coat
Step 2: Paint Your Nails a Base Colour
I just love sparkly, swampy greens! This is China Glaze Zombie Zest from the Hallowe’en collection from last year.
The colour, although gorgeous, was a tad bit too dark to provide enough contrast between it and the black haunted house. I suggest that if you want to recreate this design that you use a lighter lacquer for the background colour.
Wait until this is completely dry before continuing. If you don’t, when you stamp over it, your polish will smudge and/or dent.
3 coats of China Glaze Zombie Zest
Bite-Sized Quickie China Glaze Zombie Zest Review
I really adored this polish alone because it’s so sparkly and has that swampy thang goin’ on that I love so much. Sometimes it looks golden, and other times it appears greener.
It was a bit sheer and watery, so it required at least 3 coats. Also, I suggest waiting a long time before applying your fast-drying top coat, or you may get more noticeable tip wear. (That’s what happened to me as you can see in the above photo. I actually wore this polish solo and the Haunted House design was an afterthought…a couple of days later!)
Step 3: Stamp on the Haunted Houses
They don’t have to be in the same spot on each nail. Not all houses are built equally. 😉 And, if you have tiny nails like I do, you won’t be able to fit the whole house on your pinkie finger anyway. (I recommend stamping on the house lower so that you still get the steeple.)
If you’re new to the wonderful world of nail stamping, please check out my Konad Tutorial that I published when I first started out. I explain how to do it with step-by-step instructions and visual aids.
And if you’d like to see photos and a review, be sure to check out my Bundle Monster Image Plate post.
Step 4: Let Everyone Know That the Lights Are On (& Somebody’s Home) 😛
Since the contrast between the background polish and the dark haunted house wasn’t big, I wanted to bring some life to it. I decided to use my dotting tool and cover the windows with a bright-yellow polish.
Looking back now, I should’ve used a nail-art brush instead of my dotting tool (so it wouldn’t look so rounded), but that’s okay. I still enjoyed the way it turned out.
Also, you’ll notice that this time, I didn’t use tin foil as my little palette where I’d apply some polish and then dip my dotting tool into it. This time, I applied some polish onto the Bundle Monster image plate, and used it as the palette.
Step 5: Add the Ground
We don’t want our haunted house getting a big head, now, do we? So keep it grounded by adding a quick little swipe of black polish on the tips of your nails kind of like what you would do if you were painting the white tip of a French manicure.
Don’t worry if the polish looks raised compared to the haunted house. Later when you add a top coat, it’ll blend in. 🙂
Step 6: Start the Moon
Since I wanted to ensure that the moon would be bright, I decided to add a white base colour. Really, though, you can just use your yellow and then go over it with a second coat.
I used my dotting tool and dabbed it a few times to create a larger circle since I didn’t have one big enough.
Wait about 10 minutes to allow the moon to dry a bit before proceeding to the next step.
Step 7: Finish the Moon
I went over the white circles with yellow. As you can see, I didn’t fully cover the white. Hehe, I thought I did, because to the naked eye, it looks all yellow. When it’s blown up larger than life, well, not so much. 😛
Make sure you wait 15 minutes or longer after all this. The moon especially needs time to dry because the polish is thicker there. If you rush to the next step, you’ll get a lot of smearing.
Step 8: Add a Top Coat
Do you enjoy being scared? Are you a fan of haunted houses? Do you go all out with the decorations at Hallowe’en?
Very nice! The bats on the thumb are a nice touch. I also like how you turned an existing mani into a work of art. 😉
Ahhhh, Zombie Zest. The flakies make it so awesome but I’m disappointed to find out that it takes 3 coats to full opacity.
I’m starting to wish I got the black Konad polish. You’ve made it look so versatile that I’m regretting not getting it. Hahaha, me and my stance to find cheaper alternatives. 😉
Carmela recently posted: Truckload Tuesdays: Winning at Winners
Hey Carmela!
Thank you! I thought about stamping the bats so they overlapped the moon, but then it would mean I’d have to wait for that thick puddle of polish to dry first…and that was too much to ask. 😛
I was surprised that it took 3 coats and was really watery. But the colour’s still beautiful!
Oh yeah, the black Konad stamping polish is hella versatile. It’s the one I reach for nearly every single time I Konad even though I do have a few other colours. I just like how it’s pigmented and always stamps well. The time I lost it (hehe, for just a short time), I tried some other black polishes I had and they didn’t work at all. Although, people say that the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and Wet & Wild creme black work extremely well and for so much less…but I don’t have them. Konad and I have an unhealthy relationship – I rely on it too much. 😉
I really like this 🙂 I didnt see a christmas tree untill you said it though. Now you have an easy nail tutorial for winter time! Speaking of that I cant wait to see what you come up with this winter.
Amber recently posted: NOTD: Orly Rock Solid
Hey Amber!
Haha, yeah, just stamp it on with green polish instead. 😛 I definitely want to do a Christmas tree nail-art design in November or December. Or maybe a string of lights would be really fun and festive.
Lovely nails! I think they look like haunted houses. It was the first thing I thought of. That little girl is probably on her way to a good ol’ nail polish addiction because of you.
Did you try adding the light first before you stamped the house?
Hey Vivian!
Thanks for the reassurance! 😀
Oh yes! That little girl on the subway might very well be…either that, or she started to crave breakfast and miss Christmas.
No, I didn’t try adding the light first. That’s a good idea so instead of dots, the shape of the windows would still come through. Good point!
Oh my gosh I LOVE it. The bats! Just delightful. I might have to try something similar using a shimmery evening-sky blue violet for the background. And now I really want Zombie Zest… even though I’ve already got Orly’s “It’s Not Rocket Science” which is pretty similar, I guess? EGGS AND TREES, Y’ALL.
Hey collier!
I’m so glad to hear that! 😀 Oooohhh…your idea for a background colour sounds beautiful! I’d love to see a photo of it if you take any photos.
You’re right – it is very similar to It’s Not Rocket Science, but I think my bottle of China Glaze was a touch more watery than the Orly.
This is so cute! I really like the bats on the thumb, and I think you did a great job with the stylized mansion – it is hard to fit that on finger nails. Again, it reminds me of a comic book illustration. Perhaps that is a new job waiting to happen, comic book illustrator! 🙂
mellinail recently posted: My Animal Jewelry
Hey mellinail!
Thanks! 😀 Haha, yeah, my baby fingers are really small, so I was surprised that quite a bit of the house fit on them.
These look great! I did something similar on my blog not to long ago! I loved them! I love the base color and the moon! Nice details!
imfeelingnail-venturous recently posted: Congrats to the winner of my giveaway!
Hey imfeelingnail-venturous!
Thank you! Oh, now I’ll have to go check out the design you did to see what it looks like. 🙂 I’m sure it’s amazing. Can’t go wrong with spoooooky haunted houses, right? 😉
lol… EGGING the tree…
Mary, You know I love your design and I like what you created here… because it is such a spooktakularly dark night the hounted house is barely visible… I may have walked right past it without seeing, but thankfully the lights were on 😉
I like the photos taken with the “flash” because that is when the nailart is most visible… maybe if the hounted mansion had square windows/light rather than round ones ;)… buuuut, I totally didn’t think to use this stamp as a christmas tree… hmmm.
I’m still a fan, and love the idea of spooky nails… and would have stared and admired just like that little girl 😀
Marta recently posted: Hypnotize me SKY
Hey Marta!
Thank you so much for leaving me another comment! 🙂
Next time if I use the haunted house stamp, I’ll need to use a lighter background colour and also put some yellow under the black house like Vivian suggested. I prefer the square windows over the round ones, too. Makes it look more spooky and less O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! 😛
GREAT design, Mary!! I can’t get over how amazing each and every one of your nail art designs are!!! 😀 Lol it’s hilarious/awesome when random people comment on your nails! This middle-aged biker guy once stopped me in front of a store and told me that he liked the color I had on my toes; specifically, that it was “cute and really flatters your skin tone.” That just made my whole day better :P.
Hey Ruthe!
Awww….*blush*…thankkkk youuu so much! 😀 This was one of my favourite designs to wear. I was really sad to remove it.
Hahaha, that is really funny how a biker dude (of all people) said that to you about the polish on your toenails. Now, I must ask: what colour were you sporting? I need to know just what colour is so incredible! 😀
And it’s cool how he knew what flatters your skin tone, too! Heck, I have trouble figuring out what flatters ME…let alone what flatters other people! Kudos to him!
So creative! The details were so perfect. Looks like a real haunted house. You’re such a great artist!
Hey there!
Thank you! I’m not a professional nail artist, so your comment makes me feel great!