Christmas 2015: Gingerbread Man and His House

Welcome back!

Another new design that I never did anything like last year was a gingerbread man. I saw so many different designs on Instagram and Pinterest, I was inspired to do more than just the single cooke man on a nail or two. The gingerbread man face and body nails were inspired by @cutepolish on Instagram and YouTube. I got the idea to do the house by @gabbysnailart.

Brown: OPI Going My Way or Norway?
White: Salon Perfect Sugar Cube
Black: Salon Perfect Oil Slick
Red: Pure Ice Lady Liberty
Green: Pure Ice Free Spirit

Nail Vinyls: Snail Vinyls
Matte Top Coat: NYC Matte Me Crazy

I liked the way these turned out for the most part. I wasn't going to wear them for long, so I didn't want to spend too much time on them. Because of that, I left out teeny tiny details, which I was torn about how I felt about them. I liked the simplicity of the details, because I had so many different designs, anyway. But, when I saw other people's gingerbread designs on Pinterest, I felt like I saw more details which made it look more put together.

I think the matte top coat definitely helped make the manicure, though, and I'm really happy I added that last minute!

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Santa's Suit

Welcome back!

A couple of years ago, I did an accent nail on my sister of Santa's face (unfortunately, I don't have a picture for that…) Then, last year, I did a Santa face with his suit on the rest of my nails. This year, I wanted to do something different, and add a new design in the mix. I settled on his suit, hat, and face!

Nude: Essie Brides to Be
Red: OPI What's Your Point-setta?

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Black: OPI Black Onyx

Gold: OPI 50 Years of Style

Pink: Orly Color Blast Winter Blush

Underneath the hat, I used the base polish color of the nude, just to make my "naked nail" look better than it actually did. Plus, I'm not one for negative space, so I had to make it look perfect enough it couldn't actually be negative, or naked.

These were really fun and easy to do, and they don't require any top coat layers (which means more time to dry) so even though they are detailed, you can take some time with it! I liked the way they turned out a lot, and I think I'll do them similar next year, too! I also think I want to do the elf the same way, and incorporate his hat into it in a similar style.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Nativity Scene

Welcome back!

These are the nails that I wore on Christmas Day, because they are very important to me. I loved this design when I saw it last year, and knew I wanted to do it this year. I was inspired by @nailstorming on Instagram.

Light Blue: Essie Mint Candy Apple

Medium Blue: Essie I'm Addicted

Dark Blue: Essie Hide & Go Chic

White: Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party

Black: Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush

These were fun to do, and I loved doing the gradient for the background of it.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: French Tip + Glitter

Welcome back!

Every year on Christmas Eve, we go out to church, and have a nice dinner and exchange presents with my brother and his family. We always dress up for Christmas Eve, so I wanted something that looked nice and formal, so I thought a nice French manicure with an accent glitter nail would be perfect!

Nude: Essie Brides to Be

White: Essence Colour & Go Wild White Ways

Glitter: Sinful Holiday Rebel

I sponged on the glitter, and used French tip guides from Essence to create the look!

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Dangling Ornaments

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Last year when I got done with Christmas designs, I thought of a couple of things I never did. Ornaments was one of them! I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do them, but then I got my vinyls in the mail, and there were ornaments in the holiday pack I ordered! This design was inspired by @DripDropNails on Instagram.

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Red: OPI Cinnamon Sweet

Green: OPI Christmas Gone Plaid

Gold: OPI 50 Years of Style

Black: OPI Black Onyx

Ornament Vinyls: Snail Vinyls

These turned out pretty cute, and I wish I could have worn them longer! I got sick, though, and had to take them off quickly to get more looks in before Christmas.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Stockings Hung by the Chimney (with care)

Welcome back!

I wanted to do something different than I had been doing. So for these nails, I made it look a little more like a picture than nail art, which is something I used to do a lot more of.

Gray: Essie Cocktail Bling

Brown: OPI Going My Way Or Norway?

Black: Essence Colour & Go Black is Back

Green: OPI Christmas Gone Plaid

Yellow: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard Hat

Orange: Nicole by OPI Fresh Squeezed

White: Essence Color & Go Wild White Ways
Glitter: China Glaze Loco-motive

Charm: Cina
Stocking Vinyls: Snail Vinyls

I didn't leave these on for very long, and I'm okay with that. I wasn't crazy about these for long term nail art, but they still look pretty fun!

Thanks for reading <3

November Favorites

Welcome back!

I am getting these up earlier than last time, because I need to be ready for December and year-end favorites!

Manicure Favorites

Stamped Leaves and Trees: Unfortunately, this post was supposed to be my first entry in the Themed Thursday November. However, I never finished any other days, because November was so crazy busy for me. Oh well! Maybe I'll finish them before the end of the year and we can all laugh about it and it can be better late than never. Regardless, I loved how these turned out, and they were so much fun to do. I'm also proud because it was my most successful stamping ever (by far)!

Fall Dotticure: I loved these nails so much! I loved the color combination the most, I think. Between that, and the fact that they were fun and festive, but still totally wearable for pretty much anyway made them perfect.

Other Favorites

• Dotticures. I always use dots as my go-to when I don't know how else to accent a manicure. But out of the only five manicures I did in November, three of them had dots in them! Apparently it was a good month for my dotting tools….when they got used.
• Fall. One thing that all of my manicures had in common was that they were all fall related. Either the polishes came from a fall collection, or they were directly fall related (leaves, turkeys, and pilgrims). It makes sense, because I spend all of October on Halloween, so I need to catch up on my fall nails in November!

New Tries in November

• Watermarble with painting on top. Does this count? I've done water marbles before, but I never added things on top. I just let the water marble sort of "speak for itself" and let it be the accent. But this time, it was the background for the turkeys!

Okay, so I didn't do so good with nail art this month. I was bad about about painting my nails in general, but on top of that I didn't do anything exciting or new, really. December will be better, though, and I will have a TON of Christmas designs!

Thanks for reading <3