My Halloween 2014 Manicure (So Easy, Even I Can Do It!)

At the start of each holiday season, I always have these grandiose plans to recreate really cute holiday-themed manicures that I see from my fellow bloggers. I have nothing but the best intentions, and for this Halloween I even chose a design that I felt pretty confident about recreating (oh how I love that patchwork/color-block manicure!).

But that's when reality steps in, slaps me (gently) in the face and says: "G., you know you don't have time for that, right? And if you try to do it quickly, you'll mess it up...like you always do."

Yes, reality, I know. This time of year is always hectic and my poor digits don't get the time they deserve.

But I still need a cute manicure for Halloween.

What to do? What to do?

Jelly sandwich to the rescue!

NOTE: If you're new to the wonderful world of nail polish and you're not sure what a jelly nail polish is, I highly recommend clicking here for my explanation before reading the rest of this blog post!

Jelly sandwich manicures are my default for cuteness in a hurry. You need zero special skills, and jelly sandwich manicures take just minutes to execute.

Here's what I used for my Halloween 2014 manicure:

• Wet n Wild Cursed (this is a limited edition shade from the Spring 2014 Street Art Collection; if you don't have this shade, any orange polish with a jelly finish will do. Revlon Colorstay Starburst is also great and since that line was discontinued, you can find it on clearance and at places like Big Lots for around $1 or so). 

• Sinful Colors Galax-Sea (this is a limited edition Holiday 2014 shade which you can find at Walgreens and Rite Aid right now; you could also use any green glitter nail polish, as long as the base color is clear).

• Top Coat (essential for any jelly sandwich mani; I'm using my holy grail top coat, NYC Grand Central Station but any nice, thick, quick-dry top coat will do).

Step one:

Apply one coat of orange jelly nail polish to bare nails (base coat optional; I did not use base coat in these photos) and allow to dry. This should take a minute or two, tops.

Step two:

Apply one coat of green glitter nail polish. Depending on the glitter polish you use, you may need to dab the glitter on with your brush and move it around a bit for better placement, so be sure your base color is completely dry before applying the glitter, or you might eat away at your base color when you're dabbing on the glitter. Allow to dry for a minute or two.

Step three:

Apply one more coat of orange jelly polish. This is the "sandwiching" step, meaning this is where the magic happens. Allow to dry for a minute or so.

Step four:

Apply quick-dry top coat. Aaaaaad, you're done!

Of course I'm just estimating that the entire process will take you ten minutes (to apply, that is). It will take a bit more time for the completed manicure to dry. But what I'm trying to get across here is that, in the grand scheme of things, this is a very quick manicure to execute since you're literally just applying four coats of polish...and that's it. 

Here's a photo taken in brighter light, at a different angle, so you can see that the orange square glitters also sparkle a bit when the light catches them. I love that the glitter really does look like it's suspended in jelly here--it's much prettier in person and I love that this manicure is ridiculously easy to do.

I hope this helps any of you who need a Halloween-manicure-in-a-hurry! If you have other ideas that require little to no skills and take just minutes to execute, I would LOVE to hear from you!