Christmas nail art #1 & #2

10 days until . . . December!!!  Sorry, but I'm getting on the Christmas nail art bandwagon early so I can show you some styles to try for yourself before the big day.


First up - Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree . . .

I used Essence - Flame Fatal as the red background, Sally Hansen - Emerald City as the tree colour and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in silver for the tree baubles.


Next, Mr Snowman . . .

 

 

I used Essence - I Love Bad Boys as the blue background, and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in White, Black and Red for the details. I then thought that there was something missing and added . . .

 

 

 

. . . a scarf!  Okay, I probably could have also given my snowmen hats, but my nails are super short at the moment due to nail polish crimes, so there wasn't any room for the hats.

 

 

NN

Mauve and Mint Gradient

Finally, after much deliberation, I attempted a gradient mani using the easiest method of painting the colours onto a make-up wedge and sponging these directly onto the nails.  Here are the results:


Without flash

With flash

I used:  Savvy - Grapetini and Mint Julep for the two colours, because I love purple and green together.


I then used Savvy - White Russian as the topcoat, as it has pearl-like reflective elements of both colours of those colours.  It really helped to complete the gradient mani.


I admit, I was apprehensive about doing this mani, but it's a heap easier to do than say, a marble mani, and I think the first time results aren't too bad at all.


NN

A leopard doesn't change its spots

A bit of fun nail art to bring out your animal instincts . . . leopard spots!


With flash:

Natural light:

Using this tutorial from The Beauty Department, I was able to create these wicked nails using Essence - Grey-t to be here as the base colour, Revlon - Gold Coin as the middle spots and Essence - Black is Back as the outline of the gold spots.


When I initially tried this one, I used a beige base colour thinking it would look more natural, but it just didn't work very well, and so I switched to the grey which seems to help the gold spots stand out more.


Work appropriate?  A big, fat NO.  But they're so cool that I may not be able to resist . . .


NN