Challenge # 6 - Gifts

Gifts!
I found this hard to think of something 'different' to do so I settled for something simple. I painted my nails with A England's Holy Grail, set up some striping tape across my nail and then painted it over with Orly's Torrid. I topped it with Essie Lux Effect for a bit of a shimmer and there - gift wrapped nails!

I was going to try to make a bow but thought I'd save that little disaster for the wreath!!

 

5th Challenge - Holiday Movie

So this is the holiday movie challenge! The first movie that came to mind was National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (one of my families favourites chrismassy films) and the image I had of my nails was lights! Lots and lots of lights!!

I used A England's Holy Grail as a base and dotted on Serum No 5 Day Glo for the lights. In the dark they look pretty awesome though hard to photograph!

Challenge #4 Snowmen.

Argh, so I'm a little late getting this in as I've not been feeling so great. I even had to drag myself into work this morning with no nail varnish on at all :O So as I really didn't want to spend too long doing my nails as still feeling kinda bleugh I went with the snowmen stamping. They're not perfect as I didn't take time to correct them but they still look kind of cute. I used A-England Lady of Shallott for the base, and an old Rimmel silver for stamping. I layered over a sparkle from Nina Ultra Pro (I forget its exact name though it's the white holo one) to give it a bit of oomph and to cover up a little bit of creasing where I stamped too quickly. Today was my first go and using Sally Hanson's insta-dri and whilst I love that it has a very similar finish to Seche-Vite it wasn't quite as solid in as quick a time. Though I did try and work quickly so the fault could be mine! Anyways, here's my snowmen, and although I haven't commented much on the snowmen out there this time, they all look great! Puts my little stamps to shame :)

 

Will try and get some better pictures up too!

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12 days of Christmas Challenge - Day 3

So it is Candy Cane day! I didn't have much time and wanted to go for something simple so painted my nails red with Orly 'Torrid' and then used striping tape to make lines across the nail. Initially I was going to use a white base and use the striping tape to make lines which I would tape over and remove (which I really should have done!) but I had a lovely silver striping tape so decided to keep the tape on the nail and finish with top coat.

Although I really like the look of the nail, it took way longer than I was expecting. It was time consuming arranging the tape and making sure it was at the edge of the nail to try and avoid bits hanging over. Furthermore this didn't even work! The very next morning one of the strips was starting to peel its way back until I finally gave in to the irritation and pulled it from my nail! This happened several times over the day and by the evening there were only a few stripes left! I was going to paint in lines with a silver polish but by the time  I removed the rest of the tape my nails were a bit battered looking so I removed the whole thing.

 So although I think it was the best looking of my challenges so far it was on the least amount of time! Not sure if I am going to go simple or complicated with my snowmen yet. I have a couple of snowmen stamps to try, but I also want to have a go at painting one on freehand. We will see!!

12 Days of Christmas Challenge - Day 2

So I'm a little upset as I had written this whole blog post on my phone and it seems to have got stuck or deleted.. basically it will not post, so here it goes take two!

The main song that inspired my manicure for this challenge was 'When Santa got stuck up the chimney'. It is the song we are doing for our preschool concert so I thought it would be a fun thing to show the children as they love looking at my nail art! But then I figuired I may aswell throw in 'Rudolph the red nosed reindeer' and to top it all I 'Let it snow'.



It's a little (OK a lot!) rough but I'm reasonably pleased with how it turned out! I think the background colour I used is a little dark as you can barely see Santas boots in normal light but the reindeer stamps are pretty cute and I will be using those again.


So the reindeer stamps are from Bundle Monster plate 214. I did stamp in a sleigh but it didn't show up too well so I ended up painting the whole thing in by hand with a small brush. Everything else was done by a small paintbrush or a dotting tool.




The background colour I used is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue It. I love this colour it is so rich and deep! The black I used is of the same brand titled 'Black Out' and one of my favourite blacks as it goes on the nail so well. I used Red Konad Stamping Polish for the edge of Santas suit, for the sleigh I used Barry M's 'Red Glitter' Polish. The roof and chimney is in Sephora's 'Milk Chocolate Chunk' and the reindeer are Rimmel Lycra Wear 'Posh Trash'. For the snow I again used A England's 'Merlin' as I am addicted to that sparkle!

Christmas trees!

So it is day 1 of the 12 days of christmas challenge and the theme is chistmas trees! So here are mine!

I tried to stamp them with a Bundle Monster plate but all my green polishes failed at stamping so I free handed them with a toothpick! At first they looked a little messy but with a few lights I think they look recognisable and I am reasonably happy with them!
The silver on the tips is A England's Merlin, it is the first time I've used it and I am amazed at how sparkly it is. My nails are catching the light all the time and you can even see the sparkle in the picture. Nice!

Not sure what I am going to do the next one.. will have to listen to more christmas songs to get inspired!
I cannot wait to see everyones trees :D

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12 Days of Christmas Challenge

So I just signed up to do the 12 days of christmas challenge. I've been tempted by the monthly challenges for a while but not sure I'd have the time to keep up so this one seems a good one to start with. AND it's with CHRISTMAS nails :D