Literary Nails: The Book of Shadows from Charmed!

We're getting a little witchy in today's bookish nail art which was inspired by an actual (fictional) book! The Book of Shadows from the TV show Charmed!



Is that cheating, since these posts are dedicated to nail art inspired by, well, books I read? No, not really 😉 I mean, there are Charmed books (novelizations I believe is the term. Lol). I've read one and I have another that I haven't read yet.

Anyway, I LOVE Charmed! It's one of my favorite TV shows and I re-watch it ALL the time! And if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! Especially for this time of year, and especially if you're not into horror. There's a lot of magic and girl power and it's just so much fun!

I used the following image as inspiration...



And this is what I came up with:



This design was actually very easy to do. I tend to do a lot of complicated nail art, so this was a nice change. Lol. And I love how it turned out! I did a glossy version and then afterward I added a matte top coat because I thought that would mach better with the book. But I much prefer the glossy version though! What do you think?

I actually did a lot of swatches and testing before I did the final thing—I just wanted to make sure the colors would go together okay. And this is what I ended up using:



Base coat: Revlon - Quick Dry Base Coat (Can be found at any drug store)
Dark green base color: Hunter's Helper - Fan Fiction Green (Limited Edition polish 😩)
Light green shimmer: SinfulColors - Happy Ending (Can be found at any drug store)
Red stamping polish: Hunter's Helper - Don't Forget the Pie (Also a limited Edition polish 😩)
Shimmery red stamping polish: Hunter's Helper - Demon Blood (Also a limited Edition polish 😩)
No-smudge top coat: Bundle Monster - Smudge Free Top Coat (so the stamping doesn't smear)
Regular top coat: Superchic Lacquer - Marvel Liquid Macro Top Coat
Matte top coat: OPI - Matte Top Coat (Can be found at any drug store)

Image from MouYou London

Yes, that is a lot of stuff. I am super high maintenance when it comes to nails 😅 lol. And I love that stamping plate! It has some stuff from my other favorite TV show, Supernatural, plus the triquetra I used for this design!

Here is a little bit about how I achieved these nails:



I started off with my base coat and base color then I added the lighter green color with gold shimmer for some dimension, and I did this by using a piece of scrunched up saran wrap! I really like this trick because it gives it almost a marbled-type look.



Then I just did some double stamping, which basically mean I stamped the same design on my nail twice with two different colors. Yep. High maintenance. Lol. Then I just added the top coats and done!



It took me so long to get some good pictures of this mani! But that's just what happens when you stamp a dark color over another dark color 😐 lol. Anyway, here is a close up:



Please excuse my dry cuticles 😅 I forgot to moisturize after using acetone. Lol.

And on my other hand I did something a little different just because I was curious and wanted to play with some colors that weren't accurate with the Book of Shadows.



Over the same green base, I added some holo top coat using the same technique with the saran wrap then I used a gold stamping polish. I really like this one! Especially because the gold really pops over the dark green. Lol.

And there you have it! Book of Shadows nails! Did you guys ever watch the show? Are you planning on watching the Charmed reboot? I'm gonna be honest, I'm not excited about it, but I think I am gonna watch at least the pilot out of curiosity. Lol.

So, what do you think? Did I nail it? 😜