Halloween Bloody Nails Design

Halloween is fast approaching and the costume question is ultimately accompanied by the nails question: what nails to sport on the scariest night of the year? I came up with this very simple nail design: a red and green colour motive imitating blood. If you would like to have bleeding nails for All Hallow's Eve, then read on for the step by step tutorial. I wish you a scary Halloween!

Here's what you will need for the design: base colour (e.g. Emerald Green), red glitter, red sequins, cover coat.

Step 1: Base Colour Emerald Green

After applying a clear coat of UV-Gel (or regular nail polish), put on your base coat colour. I chose to go with this Emerald Green coloured UV-Gel, which is one of my favourite colours, since it shimmers gold, green and blue depending on the lighting. This design will of course work with any other base colour of your choice, but I just felt the red and green contrast, the forbidden colour combination, worked well and it will go well with my hypothetical costume of Elphie from Wicked - if I manage to find the items I need. I could also see black working well or even a very innocent pastell blue. 

Step 2: Red Glitter Dust Coat

For the basic bloody nail tips use the red glitter. You can get it to stick on your fingertips by spreading a thin sheet of UV-Gel (I have read this should work with simple nail polish, too) and then dipping your nail into the glitter pot. After drying, use a (paint) brush to brush off excess glitter. If my description is too confusing, here is a really helpful tutorial.

Step 3: Creating Blood Drops

To make the red tips of your nails look like actual blood you need the larger red sequins. Use some more UV-Gel (NP) and paint a thin strip the way you want the blood to run. Dip the sticky brush into the sequins and arrange them to look like dripping blood. After this has dried add another protective layer of clear UV-Gel or polish and you are done. if you are using gel, another layer of clear nail polish really lets it shine. 

Nail Polish vs. UV-Gel

If you want your design to really last and be robust - maybe not a bad idea for a Halloween Party - using the UV-gel is the better idea, since it is (almost) indestructible. It also means that with the top coat you are really sealing in the glitter and those sequins, so the chance of them dropping off or sticking out are minimal. However, using UV does mean you need the UV lamp first of all. And it tends to end up a lot thicker than with nail polish, especially if you want the surface to be smooth. Using nail polish, getting a smooth nail with all of that glitter is almost impossible. I cannot live without gel nails anymore, but if its just for Halloween, using polish is maybe the better option.

Check out this page for some UV-Gel enthusiasm. Happy Glittery Halloween!