Beauty Geek: How to create 'Doctor Who' nail art

When Katy Perry performed at the annual Night of Too Many Stars benefit (airing tonight at 8pm EST on Comedy Central), she sported a Halloween-themed manicure with images of candy corn, ghosts and spiders. The pop star's nail art was spooky-cute (see it here), but us Beauty Geeks are more into the kind of mani that will scare the pants off of people. So we called on nail artist Kayleigh O'Connor to come up with a bone-chilling look especially for EW.

Keep reading to get step-by-step instructions for creating O'Connor's Doctor Who-themed manicure.

O'Connor's past pop culture-inspired nail art includes everything from the Harry Potter sorting hat to the crystal meth cooked up by Walt on Breaking Bad, but she created this look based on the Silence aliens because they "have been [some] of the creepiest Doctor Who villains yet."

Scroll down to see O'Connor's by-the-numbers instructions for creating a simpler version of the Silence mani seen above.

What you'll need:

4 shades of nail polish (black, brown, white and cream)
a thin paintbrush or toothpick
a nail file

On your thumb:

1. File your thumbnail into a rounded edge, paint it with the cream color and wait for it to dry.

2. Using the brush that comes with the nail polish, use the brown shade to paint two curved slashes on either side of the tip of the nail.

3. Use the same brown polish to paint two circles for the eyes. You can use a thinner paintbrush, a large 'dotting tool' or a toothpick if you want to be more precise. Wait for the polish to dry.

4. Paint two smaller, black circles inside the brown circles.

5. Using the same brown shade, paint four vertical lines to create the mouth. It's best to use a thin paintbrush or a toothpick for this step as it is delicate work.

On your ring finger:

6. Use the white shade to paint your whole nail and wait for it to dry.

7. Switch to the black shade and paint a small triangle in the center of the tip of the nail to create the knot of the tie.

8. To finish the tie, paint a line from the middle of the triangle straight down (towards your cuticle) to the bottom of the nail.

9. Starting from the middle of the tie, paint a diagonal line to the upper corner of the nail and fill in to create one side of the suit.

10. Repeat step 9 on the other side. (It should now it should look like your nail is wearing a suit and tie.)

Finishing touches:

"Your thumb and ring finger should match up to create the full villain," says O'Connor. "I painted the rest of my nails black, but any color would look cute. Once your nails are completely dry, apply a clear top coat to help keep the design from chipping."

Check out more of Kayleigh O'Connor's cool nail art on Tumblr.

'Argo': John Goodman channels Hollywood makeup legend John Chambers

Fragrance Ad Face-Off: Britney Spears vs. Rihanna — POLL