Merry Christmas!

Today I have created a skittle manicure with lots of little Christmas friends, that you would normally see this time of year. I really love this manicure and I think it my favourite Christmas nail art I have done so far. Then again, I say that every time I write a blog post.

 

 

 

Let me introduce you all to them....

 

The Thumb: Christmas Tree

 

 

 

What is Christmas without a Christmas tree? I love putting up the tree, decorating it so it looks really pretty and it makes the home feel so festive. The house always looks so empty once we have to take it down. I created this look by painting my base colour with a no named green polish from Nails Supreme. I then used a dotting tool to create a zig-zag line using MUA's 'All Nude'. I created little baubles using different sized dotting tools, using the following polishes; 'Boudir' by Ciate, 'Vivid Lime' by Barry M and 'Sunshine' by Rimmel. All is topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

 

The Index finger: Santa Claus

 

 

 

Father Christmas tends to be the main man of Christmas in the modern world, and a little visit from him will tell you if you have been naughty or nice this past year. This little dude, is so easy to recreate. I first used two coats of 'Boudoir' by Ciate as my base and allowed to dry. Using a large dotting tool I placed blobs of Barry M's 'Matte White' to create the fur trim on his jacket. I then sketched out a yellow square, using 'Sunshine' by Rimmel using a small dotting tool. To finish off the belt and buttons using the same small dotting tool and Nails Inc 'Black Taxi' I placed dots for buttons and added the belt detail. Of course it was finished off with a coat of SV.

 

The middle finger: Elf

 

 

 

Everyone needs a little help at Christmas, even Santa. To create this little helper I applied three coats of Barry M's 'Vivid Lime', its a neon polish so it either needs lots of coats or you can make life easier and apply a white base before the green. I then marked off some lines with stripping tape and applied the same green polish I used for the Christmas tree. Once dry I used a dotting tool to create the collar using 'Boudoir' by Ciate and 'Sunshine' by Rimmel for the bells. I used some black rhinestones for button details, and topped it all off with a coat of SV.

 

The ring finger: Rudolf

 

 

 

This is probably my favourite nail. I just love him, and I think you'll agree he is everyone's favourite reindeer. I used two coat of Barry M's 'Matte White' as my base. I then used a dotting tool to create the shape of him using 'Mushroom' by Barry M and outlined it with 'Black Taxi' by Nails Inc. For his nose I used a blob of 'Boudoir' by Ciate. Finished it all off with SV.

 

The pinky finger: Snowman

 

 

 

Everyone dreams of a white Christmas, right? Or is that just me? No Christmas manicure would be complete without a little bit of snow. I've gathered all that up and made myself a little snowman. I used two coats of 'Matte White' by Barry M and allowed to dry. I painted on a scarf using Ciate's 'Boudoir' and added the strip detail using the green polish by Nails Supreme. I added buttons using 'Black Taxi' by Nails Inc. Then added my final layer of Seche Vite.

 

There you have it, a lovely skittle manicure in time for Christmas. I think they look quite nice this way, but would also look quite nice having your nails all the same and more uniform, so you could technically create five different manicures from this look.

 

 

 

I'm not too sure I will get time to do another nail art post before Christmas as I want to wear these for a few days as I worked so hard on them. I really love them too, so I may keep them on for my Christmas day Manicure. I shall be applying my top coat like a mad woman.

 

 

 

If I don't post again before Christmas, can I take this opportunity to wish all my lovely followers a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a lovely time and enjoy the festivities.

 

 

 

What do you think of my Christmas Nail art? Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments box below.

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

Its getting quite close to Christmas day, and I am now half through my lovely nail polish Advent calendar. I'm sure many UK residents are wondering if we'll be having a white Christmas this year. I live in London and the likelihood of having a snowy Christmas is very slim, but every year I always hope. A few years back it did snow a few days before Christmas, and it was looking likely to have a Christmas card type scene of Christmas morning, but it warmed up and the snowman I built had melted away, leaving a lovely puddle and carrot of its mere existence.

Tomorrow I am going to Bath (and English City) to get in the festive spirit, to visit a Christmas market with my Sister and my Mum. In the UK it is 'Wear your Christmas Jumper Day' so that is what I will wearing, and where I gained my inspiration from for this Christmas nail art post.

I prepped my nails with OPI's  base coat, allowed to dry and applied three coats of MUA's 'All Nude'. I wouldn't recommend this polish, its very streaky, watery and it didn't apply well for me. I wont be repurchasing this polish again. I applied a coat of SV to aid drying time.

Once this was all dry, I grabbed a toothpick and Barry M's 'Gold Foil' and got to work with painting on my snowflakes. I did try to attempt to stamp them on using Bundle Monster's stamping plates, but that was one bit fail.

I added one-two snowflakes per nail, To fill in a bigger spaces on the nails, as my nails are quite long at the moment, I placed some gold dots using a small dotting tool. To make it that extra bit sparkly I placed a rhinestone in the centre of each snowflake and sealed it on using a coat of SV.

Above is a picture of my Christmas jumper I shall be sporting this year.

What do you think? How are your Christmas nails coming along? Let me know in the comments box below.

Until next time...

Laura-Jane

It's CHRISTMAS.........! Part Deux

Its getting closer to Christmas, so today I have brought you my second nail art attempt for the holiday season. My boyfriend and I put up our tree yesterday, so our home is feeling very festive. To mark the occasion on my nails, I have added festive decorations and Christmas baubles to my nails.  I love the purple and gold combo, so that was my colours of choice this time around.

I prepped my nails with OPI's based coat and allowed to dry. I then used two coats of Barry M's 'Vivid Purple.' This polish is part of the Barry M's Gelly High-Shine collection and is supper glossy without a top coat. However I did add a coat of SV to help aide drying time, to seal the polish and added that extra bit of gloss.

Once the polish was dry, I prepped the water decals I had planned to use which I purchased from Sparkly Nails by cutting them to size. Once ready I placed the decals into a bowl of water for approx. 30 seconds, then applied them to my nails.

I used five different decals for each nail in gold. The decals are really easy to apply and I had no problem with them at all. I then sealed the decals on with another coat of Seche Vite.

There you go, a very easy Christmas manicure that looks really festive yet subtle.

 

What do you think? Do you have any special nail art planned for the holiday season?

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane

On the first day of Christmas Nail Art

So I am kicking the first day of Advent off with a Christmas manicure. Its not overly Christmassy, as I still think it is a little bit too early to pull out all the stops, as much as I love Christmas. This is my first post of my Christmas Nail Art Challenge I created on my Google+ page. I am going to try to create 12 different Christmas themed manicures before Christmas day. This is going to be quite hard for me as I do like to wear my little art designs for some days before I take them off. If you would like to join in, you can post your photo's or blog posts here. I would love to see them.

 

 

 

For the first manicure of the challenge I decided to create a little wonderland on my nails, with a little snow storm, and two little friendly characters that you would normally associate with such adverse weather conditions.

 

 

 

To create the little snow storm nails you can see on my thumb, index and pinky finger, I first applied two coats of Rimmel London's 'Sweet as Sugar' with a dollop of Seche Vite to help aide drying time. Using a make-up sponge I dabbed on some of Barry M's 'Matte White' to the tips and applied the same polish with a dotting tool to create the falling snow. Again I used another coat of SV to merge the gradient effect together.

 

 

 

The penguin:

 

I first applied two coats of Barry M's 'Matte White' and allowed to dry with the help of a single coat of SV. Once dry I applied Nails Inc 'Black Taxi' with a toothpick to draw on the black outline of the penguin. I used the same polish with a tiny dotting tool for the eyes. I used the same dotting tool for the beak, feet and scarf using Barry M's 'Satsuma' and Nails Inc 'Denim'.

 

Mr Snowman:

 

I used two coats of Barry M's 'Matte White' for the base and allowed to dry with some SV. I used a small dotting tool to create the eyes, mouth and buttons using Nails Inc 'Black Taxi' The carrot/nose was created using a tiny dotting tool and Barry M's 'Satsuma' and the scarf is Nails Inc 'Rosary Gardens.' 

 

 

 

To make both these characters extra glossy I used a layering of SV to finalise my manicure.

 

On other news I got a lovely surprise from The Boyfriend this morning. He gave me an Advent calendar. Not any old Advent Calendar! A Ciate  mini nail polish one. I absolutely adore it and the bottles of polish are super cute. I am sure I will be able to create lots of lovely manicures with my newly acquired nail polish collection. He knows me SO well!

 

 

 

 

 

What do you thing of my manicure? Will you be recreating it or attempting your own Christmas manicures? Let me know in the comments box below.

 

Until next time...

 

Laura-Jane