My Christmas Day Nails- Snowflakes and Santas

Stamps and freehand!  I haven't done either in a long, long time.  I loved these for Christmas, and my family loved them too!  I got an entire set of dotting tools today, so expect some polka dot manis in the future!

Santas!

Bonus Phone Pic:

Products Used:

China Glaze Electric Beat

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep

Essie Pure Pearlfection

BM 14

SH 17

Zoya America

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Petal Pusher

China Glaze Dance Baby

Wet n Wild 449C

Green and Gold Winter Holiday Mani

Simple, subtle, lovely!  Like gold decorations on a Christmas tree.  I needed something quick that I could wear to work, and this was it!  I'm loving this deep green- I used a brand I've never used before- something cheap from Target because I was in a hurry.  And I was pleasantly surprised!  The perfect green for what I wanted.

Products Used:

Sonia Kashuk Emerald City

Essie As Gold As It Gets

NOT a Gradient! Wow! Glitter instead

A break from gradients for me.  This one was especially difficult to capture on camera.  I used two red glitters- one micro and one chunky- and the microglitter just did not want to capture on my camera!  Trust me though, it was very lovely and I got compliments at work.  The different size/shape glitters gave it interest and depth without being too much.  Sometimes I feel juvenile in glitter manis- which is fine most of the time!  But this one seemed work appropriate, and definitely appropriate for the Holiday season!

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Red Carpet

Priti Polish in Union Jack

Candy Stripes

The kids really loved this one!  It didn't come out exactly as I had planned (I was hoping for more, thinner stripes) because of the thickness of the brushes, but I still think it came out really well!  One of the kiddos smelled my nails (and probably would have tried licking them a second later) so I guess I will take that as a success!

P.S. Yup- Another gradient!

Products Used:

Zoya America

Wet n Wild 449C (note to self- unpack the rest of your nailpolishes, it has been 6 months since the move!)

Christmas Sweater Nails

Here's my take on the Ugly Christmas Sweater manis that have been floating around.  I had to work with only the handful of polishes I brought home with me, so it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, but I still like it!

Products Used
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in In The Red Creme
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On
Konad Plate m57
Bundle Monster Plates BM14 and BM214
Shany Plate SH17

Quickie Holiday Mani

This was one of those times where I needed to do something with my nails, but I didn't have a lot of time to spend on them.  So I grabbed a couple glitters and my go-to white base, and boom.  Quick and easy holiday mani!  I used a new green glitter that I picked up from the store the other day, and the red glitter I got from Priti NYC back in August (and was all excited to use for Christmas even back then!)

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On

LA Girl Glitter Addict in Purge

Priti Polish in Union Jack

Winter Design- Red Flowers!

Inspired by the poinsettias I've been seeing around, I thought I'd try some pretty red flowers on top of the greenish-teal base of School of Hard Rocks.  I think it came out lovely!

Products Used:
Essie School of Hard Rocks
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in In The Red Creme
Sally Hansen Chrome in Tourmaline Chrome
Love & Beauty Clear/Silver

Priti NYC- Union Jack

Union Jack is one of the five nail polishes I received in my Priti NYC haul.

Union Jack, second from right

Union Jack is an amazing red glitter, micro and hexagonal, set in a clear base.  It is absolutely stunning, looks fantastic with just one coat, and will be fabulous for Christmas.  Here it is on black (pointer), white (middle), two coats (ring), and one coat (pinky), and in the following photos, Rabbit Tracks.

Indoors, with flash

On Rabbit Tracks, inside with flash

On Rabbit Tracks, inside, no flash

Looking Back

I went through my files and pulled out some of my favorite nail polishes/designs from the past year.

This "major award" inspired fishnet french was from January 2011. 

December 2010 I tried these Christmas lights (everyone say hi to my dog, Abby, in the background)

This purple zebra mani is from September 2010 when I got my first knonad plates!

In August 2010 I tried water marbling with the primary colors.

So there was a quickie run-through of some of the designs I've tried in the past.  I was going to do a plain old french mani tonight since I have and interview for internship this week (yikes!) and I want it to more professional than.. say... purple zebra stripes... But I've been battling a migraine for 9 hours today and I'm really not feeling the nail polish fumes right not.  So instead I'm going to slap on a clear coat and cross my fingers that I don't gnaw off what little "white bits" I've got left tomorrow.  If the french doesn't work out I'm just going to go with a pale pink or neutrally taupe.  I never ever do plain pink by itself so that will be.. interesting?  We'll see!