Saturday, October 13, 2012

Spooky Splatter Nails (+ Tutorial)

It's Saturday evening and what am I doing? Writing a blog post of course! I just saw Looper -- not too shabby, in my opinion! Anyway, despite the hour, I thought it would be cool to post my first Halloween nail art look.


If you've never done a splatter before, they are actually pretty easy and just take a small amount of practice to get right. Here's how I do mine!

You'll need a drinking straw cut in half, a few colors of polish, tape, and wax paper.
  1. Start by painting your nails a base color.
  2. Cover your workspace with wax paper to protect from flying polish. Cover more space than you think you need to... better to be safe than sorry.
  3. Tape off your fingers (if you are unfamiliar with how to do this there's a great tutorial here).
  4. Dip the half straw right into the bottle of polish. You can wipe a bit off the sides when removing it from the bottle but try not to disturb the polish inside the straw.
  5. Hold the end of the straw about six inches from your nail. Shoot a quick and strong puff of air through the straw to propel the polish onto your nail. Repeat on all fingers.
  6. Remove the tape from your fingers and begin cleanup. I use a cotton swab dipped in remover on the larger areas of my finger and a cheap makeup brush dipped in acetone to clean up around my cuticles.
  7. Let your splatters set, and finish with topcoat.
It is messy, so don't think you'll just get to spray on polish and be done. Cleanup is an important part of this technique and can take quite some time. I love splatters though and think the time investment is worth it!


If you've been following me for a long time, you may recall that I did a Halloween splatter last year, too! It was actually written as a guest post, and when I went to check it, the post didn't appear to be live anymore. However, I've added the rest of my photos to the post so you can at least check them out on my page!

This year's splatter is a little simpler. I had been wearing OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear? for a day and when I got home I decided to make it a bit more festive for the season. I grabbed OPI Black Onyx and added on a single layer of black splatter. My splatters are usually really busy and complex so it was kind of cool for me to keep this one minimal.


What do you guys think? Have you done a splatter manicure before, and did you like it? Is it worth the mess?


Thanks for reading, and look out for some more Halloween nail art soon!
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43 comments

  1. Love it! Looks like black silhouettes of branches against an orange sky. Very Halloween-appropriate. ;D

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    1. I completely agree with the branch look. That's what I thought it was too. Fantastic!

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    2. I was just going to comment that it looked like branches! Awesome manicure!

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    3. Haha! my thoughts exactly!! This is just awesome! Lovely mani!

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  2. Nice. I used this technique last time and loved it. I used a brush once. It was cute but this was easier.

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  3. I love it! Reminds me of yucky spiderwebs :)

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  4. I tried my first splatter manicure just a few days ago. I think it looks fantastic (as does yours), but yes, clean up takes awhile. I didn't tape things off on my left hand and was very regretful lol I love this look!

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  5. Great splatter! I'm looking forward to seeing "Looper," admittedly because I just want to stare at Joseph Gordon-Levitt. :)

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  6. This is gorgeous! The one splatter I've done was with acrylic paint and tapping on the end of a paint brush. I'm excited to try this technique as well!

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  7. Ahhh... I love splatters and I love this!!

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  8. I'm not a huge orange nail polish fan, but I want my nails to look like yours as soon as possible! LOve it

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  9. This is so cool! I have got to try this!

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  10. I did a splatter at the beginning of the month with a nude base and red splatter; looked like a blood splatter at a crime scene. :3 It was perfect for Halloween!

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  11. I love this, it's simple but so perfect for Halloween :)

    Thanks for the tape tutorial link. I did a red splatter before but didn't use tape and it got all over. It was worth it though, my nails looked nice and I got a cool before-cleanup Instagram pic haha.

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  12. wooooooooow, so amazing! *_*


    • ♥♥♥ •

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  13. It looks very nice but still I haven't tried it yet but will do it soon :D

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  14. I'm really going to have to try splatter nails, I'm just afraid of the mess lol!

    Jazz x

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  15. Looks amazing! I think i'll have to give it a go!

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  16. Would you recommend using lip balm or Vaseline on your fingers instead of tape for easier clean-up?

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  17. I need to try this technique for one of my Halloween designs. It looks great!

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  18. I love this color combo for the splatter! I will have to try this- thanks for the inspiration!

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  19. Wow! This looks fantastic!

    I've tried the splatter manicure once and it was an epic failure but I keep meaning to try again!

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  20. I think I'm going to copy this for my next manicure! Absolutely beautiful!

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  21. This is so pretty! I love splatters ;-)

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  22. Those are really nice. I like them.

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  23. You always have the best splatters!

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  24. They're so cool, I love them! :)

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  25. I never really tried it myself but it always looks so pretty!

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  26. I just tried it about an hour ago. It ended horribly. Yours look so pretty, though!

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  27. It kinda looks like silhouetted birds sitting in a tree, in a cool abstract way. Very neat look!

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  28. I have not tried this yet. I love how this looks and maybe i'll be doing this tonight to blog about. How excited! I absolutely love it!!! I'm hoping this doesn't come out horrible for me!

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  29. I've done a splatter mani a few times and definitely think it's worth the effort, despite being super messy. I love the simplicity of your splatter, very moody and Halloween-feeling. :)

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  30. I wonder if a coffee stir stick would work as well....

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  31. This is so cool I finally understand it now I think!

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  32. Just came across this, and your splatter looks great. With these colors, it's perfect for Halloween, and I'd like to try it, with hopes of it turning out this well. I have done a splatter before, it was a sort of "Dexter" themed one with a white background and red 'blood spatter.' I really liked it. It was very messy, but yes, worth the mess.

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  33. Ah that's neat! I love the bloody splatter looks :)

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  34. Wonderful, I will be trying this

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