52 Days - Bloody French Tips

I feel the need to listen to Final Countdown, maybe even belt it out with my fake mic in hand. In case your needs match my own, the link above will help out with half of it.
Back to work...
Klaire de Lys posted this Halloween Vampire Nails tutorial way back in September of 2009, but I only discovered it last year. It's one of my favorites and definitely one of the easiest tutorials out there. It is also one of the more authentic-looking ones.
When she did this, she had long nails. I keep mine short because otherwise my kids get gouged and it is not pretty. So, here is my experience with Bloody French Tips, as I like to call them.

What you'll need:

• Red polish - I used L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer in Really Red (It's actually really pink, but it was 88cents at my local dollar store, so I'm not going to really complain.)
• Black polish - L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer in Black Velvet (It too was 88cents.)
• Clear top coat
• Regular makeup sponge
• Paper - just something to put down that you won't mind putting polish on.
• Q-tips
• Polish remover

Start by putting a few drops of the red on the paper. Using the sponge, dab it on to the ends of your nails. Try to keep most of it on the ends and let it fade as you move down. It's okay if you get messy. I figured I'd just use the q-tips and polish remover to clean up my fingertips when I was finished, but I kind of liked the end result. And besides, pulling a person's heart out of their chest isn't exactly a clean ordeal.

 After you get the red on, it's time for the black. The black will stay strictly on the ends of your nails, and you will use much less. This is just to make the "blood" look a little darker and thicker. Think coagulation.

You'll do one last coat of the red, again keeping it thicker on the ends and fading. After that last clear coat, you're all finished, unless you want to clean up. If you're going to be using your fingers for eating, I'd suggest getting it off of your skin.

Because it was so pink, mine looked more like I had binged on a raspberry bush and less like I had slaughtered a group of drunk teens. In a remote cabin. On Fish Lake* mountain. But I like it anyway.


If you want to make it look like your nails are bleeding and about to fall off, using the same techniques, put the polish all around your nail against the cuticle. (Similar to a changing Wikus.) If you try this either way, send me some pictures. I'd love to see!

*Random fact: Fishlake is located 15 minutes away from my hometown. I worked there one summer as a waitress at Bowery Haven. If you ever get the chance to go, do! It's fabulous!