Vamptober: Matte and Flames

Vamptober continues! I've started to get fond of flame nail art, and as a result, I've been trying all manner of experimentation with them. This round, I used Julep Lacey, a shimmery, rich midnight blue, ad my base. Lacey's pretty on its own, but nothing special. But you throw a matte topcoat on it...

With NYC Matte Topcoat

And Lacey becomes a vamp. The shimmer in this polish mattifies to a satiny finish with tons of depth. I added on silver flames with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Pumping Iron with a little Glitter Gal Turbulence for sparkle. I thought about warming up the bottom with a little bit of blue gradient, but I decided that the monotone flames were more sophisticated. Interestingly, this is my dominant hand. I almost always photograph my left hand, but this time, my right hand came out much better.


Since I mentioned flames, here's a look at another flame look I did recently. This one was all about sparkle, using colors from the NYC Fashion Queen collection. The base was Rule The City with Ruby Queen, and my flame accents were Ruby Queen with a little Julep Love, a gold with fuchsia glitter. Since Love and Rule The City both have red toned glitters, they gave a great crackling fire effect.


Thanks to my Julep Maven box, which showed up today loaded with Vamptober essentials, and a great suggestion from the comments (thanks Tiffany!), I'm feeling inspired. Yay October!