Mani-Monday: Sugar Skull

Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought I would create something for it. I was inspired by the Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos), which is a holiday that focuses on remembering the friends and family members who have passes on. For this nail design I wanted to create a Sugar Skull, which is used in honoring the deceased. There are so many beautiful interpretations and creation of the Sugar Skull, but my main inspiration for my nail design this week was a picture by Misscarissrose on Instagram (http://instagram.com/p/dQ-EtTOMXD/). I had a lot of fun creating this nail look and loved the way it turned out! To get this look:

You will need:

Base coat

White nail polish

Blue-green nail polish

Red nail polish

Black nail polish

Yellow nail polish

Green nail polish

Orange nail polish

Top coat

Makeup Sponge

Toothpick

Dotting tool

 

Step 1: First, apply your base coat. Then apply two coats of your white polish. I used ‘Porcelain Party’ by Maybelline. Let it dry for a few minutes before you do the sponging.

 

Step 2: Next, using your makeup sponge, dip it into your blue-green nail polish, and dab it on a napkin or paper once or twice. Then dab the sponge at the tip of your nail just at the top (like in the picture above). Do this on all of your fingers except on your ring finger. On your ring finger, dab the sponge with the blue-green polish around the border of your whole nail. (I didn’t have a blue-green color that I really liked or thought fit with the design, so I mixed together ‘picnic in the park’ by Sephora, ‘Havana Dreams’ by Sephora by OPI, and ‘Porcelain Party’ by Maybelline to create the color that I liked).

 

Step 3: On all your nails, except the ring finger, you are going to create flowers on the corners of your nails near your cuticles. Using dotting tool dip it into your orange polish, I used ‘Caliente Coral’ by Sephora by OPI, and create five dots to create a flower. Do this same step with your green polish; I used ‘It’s Totally Karma’ by Sephora by OPI. You can try to overlap the flowers. Then dip your dotting tool into your black polish, I used ‘Onyx Rush’ by Maybelline, create a small dot in the center of each flower. 

 

Step 4: Now the tricky part is creating the sugar skull on your ring finger. Dip your dotting tool into your black polish and create two dots for the eyes. Then draw an upside down heart for the nose. I used a toothpick because it gave me more control for the shape. Then, using your toothpick, dip it into your black polish and draw upside down U shapes for the top row of the teeth and then U shapes for the bottom row of teeth. Then, dip your toothpick into your yellow polish and fill in the teeth. Next, dip your toothpick into your red polish, I used ‘Aperitif’ by Essie, and dot around the eyes and nose to create the scallops. Create small dots in between the eyes and around the bottom of the teeth. Then still using the toothpick and the red polish, create lines around the eyes and above the eyes. Wait for your nails to dry for about 10 minutes before applying your top coat.

 

Step 5: Lastly, apply a top coat and you’re done! You can get creative and create any design.