Presents nail art

Hi,

Today I'll show you my last Christmas themed manicure this year. As presents are being offered at this time,  I decided to wrap my nails, too. I started with two coats of Illamasqua -Kink and then, using a gold nail polish, I stamped the design from m65 Konad plate. After that, I took a thin brush and created two red lines on each nail. The nail polishes used were Illamasqua -Alarm and Astor -060 Iconic Red. Finally, I applied the Konad -Special Top Coat. What do you think?

 A halogen light lamp was waiting under my Christmas tree, so I finally made my first highlight box. I followed Chalkboard Nails' very easy tutorial and I managed to to this. Hopefully, the quality of my pictures will improve from now on. 

Retrospective: Christmas themed manicures

Hi,

First of all, I'd like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays near the dear

ones! Right now, I'm wearing my Santa's suit manicure and I'd like to know what you are

wearing for Christmas, too. If you still haven't decided upon a themed nail art, now it's not

too late! I created a collage of my holiday inspired manicures, here. The images will zoom
in if you position the mouse on them. 

You can find more details about each, here. 

I'd also like to show you my Christmas tree and some of my favourite ornaments. I initially 

decorated it dark purple and gold and then I decided to also add red ornaments. What do 

you think?

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Christmas Eve, Eve and I was working on my manicure like a good little elf. Hoping with last until Christmas.  Wishing all of you a safe holiday full of friends, family, good times and all you wish for.

Santa: Base Three base coats China Glaze Hey Sailor.  Use of China Glaze White On White, Liquid Leather and Orly Luxe.

Bricks and Stockings: Two base coats China Glaze Classic Camel.  Taped off and a two layers of China Glaze Foxy.  Use of colors China Glaze White On White, Classic Camel, Starboard, City Siren, Hey Sailor, Def Defying, Liquid Leather Ulta Envy, Orly Luxe & Au Champagne, OPI Golden Rules!, Zoya Trixie.  Use of Bundle Monster Plate BM11 with Konad Special Stamping Polish in Apple Green.

Chimney and Rudolph: Two base coats of China Glaze Up All Night.  Use of China Glaze Classic Camel, Foxy, Liquid Leather, Orly Au Champagne, OPI Golden Rules! Topped Rudolph's nose with a gemstone.

Seche Vite was my top coat.

Santa's suit nail art

Hi,

Today I'll show a new Christmas manicure I created: Santa's suit. I started with two coats

of Astor -060 Iconic Red and then, I applied a coat of Illamasqua -Scorch in the middle of 

each nail. Using dotting tools and thin brushes, I added the belt and buttons details. I finished

with a clear top coat. What do you think? What manicure are you going to wear for Christmas?

Here's another manicure I did for a friend of mine. Which one do you like the most?

Holiday Lights

I feel better writing this post.  I always have the best intentions to keep you updated, but then fall woefully behind in posting.  But now I got you six new manicures for the holiday season, and if I'm a really good girl, I'll get my Christmas manicure up and out to you as well (course I have to create it yet, but I have some ideas!)  I love the look of this manicure and was worth using most all of my oblong, colored gems.  The hand painting was a bit tedious, but I'm happy with the results.  I really tried hard to capture the fact that even if these lights don't actually plug in and light up, in the right light, they almost look like they do.

I painted three coats of Zoya Harley and then added the gems.  Once dried, I mixed Zoya Edyta and Yara for the strand.  I used Seche Vite as my top coat.

Winterscape

This manicure is shaping to be one of my favorites this round of holiday nails.  It was very simple, but so whimsical.  Even if snow can complicate our every day lives at times, I'm so glad to live in a place where I get to experience it.  Here's hoping it stays around for a white Christmas!

I painted two coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather.  At the base of the nail, I sponged Orly Au Champagne as my snow.  Atop, I added a layer of Orly Twilight for background sparkle.  I stamped using Bundle Monster plate BM214 BM205 with Konad Special Stamping Polish in White.  My final touch was using the dotting tool to make larger snowflakes with Orly Au Champagne.  One coat of Seche Vite used to shine the final product.

Icing and Sprinkles

Every year I get together with my college friends to bake cookies for the holidays.  I try to use that fun day as inspiration, and once I saw this sparkle polish from China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil, Worlds Away polish line, I had a cookie inspiration.  Layering the polish on underlying color, looked like icing and sprinkles: a perfect cookie topping.

I painted three coats of China Glaze Def Defying, Hanging In The Balance, Creative Fantasy as base colors.  I also painted three coats on my pointer and thumb with three coats of It's A Trap-Eze! and used two coats of the sparkle polish to top the solid colors listed above.  Seche Vite was the top coat.

Deck The Halls With Double Balls

Ok.  Terrible title of the manicure, but "Double Dots" didn't seem very festive.  I was inspired by some nail appliques I saw at a store for this idea.  Figured it would be easy enough for me to do myself.  It was!

I painted a base two coats of China Glaze Cast A Spell.  Dots were made with the following: China Glaze Hey Sailor, Def Defying, Starboard, Zoya Reva, Trixie, Orly Au Champagne, Ulta Jaded.  Seche Vite was my top coat.

Nude Snowflakes

Minnesota hadn't gotten a big snowfall before this manicure.  It was my way of calling it to us, because soon after we had a crazy snowfall!  It was amazing and aggravating at the same time.  For whatever reason, nude is tricky to capture on camera.  Plus, my sparkles were so subtle, I also had difficulty capturing it.  Oh well, on with the snowflakes!

I painted three coats of China Glaze Knotty and added LA Splash Cosmetics Nail Glitter in Golden Egg.  Using Bundle Monster plates BM03, BM14, BM202, BM204 with Konad Special Stamping Polish in White.  One coat Seche Vite to finish.

Snowy Trees

This manicure was inspire by a very heavy snow we had here in Minnesota.  The best part about snow is the way the trees look afterwards.  It's so magical.  My manicure doesn't live up to nature's beauty, but I tried.

I painted a base of three coats of China Glaze Winter Holly and then for the design I added branches, snow and contrast with Zoya Paris, Edyta and Orly Au Champagne.  I used two coats of Seche Vite for the top coat.

Reindeer nail art

Hi,

Today I'll show you my new Christmas themed nail art: reindeer. I'm so excited about this, 

as I've never done something similar and I think the final result was a pretty good one. For 

this design, I only used Illamasqua nail polishes. I started with two coats of Scorch, and 

then, using a thin brush, I applied Taint to create the reindeer's head. Using dotting tools, 

I created the eyes and the nose and then outlined the the design using Scorn. I took my 

thin brush again and created the horns. For the red nose I used Alarm nail varnish. I 

finished with a clear top coat. What do you think?

And now, I want to show you my Christmas themed cake, too. Enjoy!

Christmas lights nail art

Hi,

Today I'll show you my holiday lights manicure.My inspiration for this was 

Pushing Polish. I started with a base coat and then, using a sponge, I applied

white nail polish on the tips of the nails. Then, I created a black curved line

on each nail, using a thin brush. I randomly applied colourful rhinestones and

finished with a clear top coat. What do you think?

Christmas nail art

Hi,

Today I'll show you another Christmas nail art I created. I started with

two coats of Illamasqua -Scorch on all nails except my thumb and ring finger,

where I applied Sinful Colors -Ruby Ruby. The image plates used for each 

finger are, from left to right: m12, m59, m14 Konad plates and an Essence

plate for my pinkie. I used Illamasqua -Allarm for the designs stamped with

red and Konad Special White. I finished with a clear top coat.

What do you think?

Winter nail arts + How to create an outlined design

Hi,

This is going to be an unusually long post, including a lot of pictures. Here, in 

Romania, it has been snowing incredibly beautiful for the past 24 hours. That 

inspired me to create a snowmen nail art. 

I started with two coats of Flormar #431. Then, I applied a layer of a white 

crackling nail polish from Born Pretty in order to create the snow effect.

I used m12 Konad plate for the snowmen. The stamping technique is shown 

in the bellow picture. Firstly, I stamped the design using Special White. Then,

I filled in the design using a white nail polish. Lastly, I restamped the snowmen

design using Special Black, to create an outline effect. This is not as difficult

as it seems, and don't worry if you don't manage to stamp the design exactly

on the line of the previous one. Fill in the comforter with two different colours.

I used orange and green and applied them using a small dotting tool. 

This is the final result. I finished with a clear top coat. What do you think about

my snowmen nail art?

I also wanted to include some pictures of the beautiful scenery I see

from my windows. I really love snow! 

Here's a snowflake design I created for my best friend the day before. You

might have seen it on my Facebook page, as I already posted it. For this, I 

started with a sponged white layer on the tips and then I stamped the snowflakes 

from m59 Konad plate using black, pink and blue. Do you like them?

Candy canes -Christmas manicure

Hi,

Today I'll show you another Christmas themed nail art: Candy canes swirls. For this 

manicure, I firstly applied two coats of Illamasqua -Scorch (about  which I wrote a 

review here) and then I started creating the swirls using thin brushes.The nail polishes 

used were Illamasqua -Allarm (red), Oriflame -Silver lining and Sinful Colors -Last 

Chance (green). I finished with a clear top coat and then went outside to take some

 pictures in the snow! The lightning wasn't exactly the best possible, but I hope 

you'll like what you'll see. What do you think about it?