Frosty Tips

Hey nail people! More wintery nail art to share today for today's Glam Nails Challenge prompt which is frost. I started with a sheer pink base, then a few layers of sheer shimmery blue/purple (colours listed below pictures). Once dry I added a layer of Platinum Diamond magnetic topper and hover the magnet over each nail for 30 seconds. I repeated this with another layer to add a touch more sparkle. Following that I used Mo You London's Festive 02 and Noel 07 stamping plates and white stamping plates to add the snowflakes and frosty branches.

I saw this nail polish combination on ken.nails Instagram and loved it so much that I bought the shimmery blue/purple so I could recreate it! I don't think I added enough layers as hers looked better, but I do still love this - very frosty! I'm pleased with my choice of frosty images too. It is a shame I missed Wednesday's prompt of 'ugly sweater' but I'm just a little too busy at the moment. It's been a great month of themes!

Colours used: Butterfly - Fun Lacquer, Platinum Diamond - Fun Lacqufuner, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Northern Polar Bear Lights!

Hi there! Another Glam Nails Challenge prompt today, this time it's polar bears. This cute little polar bear in a jumper image sprung to mind and I thought that would work well with a Northern Lights look. I was super excited to try out Cirque Colors Mood Ring for this look and I absolutely LOVE it! The shimmer and shift especially under bright lights is incredible! I didn't get quite as clean lines as I intended but I think it still works well.

I started with a layer of magnetic polish, followed by another which I used the magnet on to get the shifty effect. I then created a little polar bear decal on my Uber Mat, you can see how here. Whilst this dried I used star and moon images from Mo You London's Noel 06 stamping plate to create a night sky look. The polar bear is from their Noel 03 stamping plate. I finished the look with a glossy quick dry top coat.

So I love this one! I adore the base polish, and I think the simplicity of the look works well. It has depth from the magnetic polish and the little polar bear and stars make it a whole scene. I love Northern Lights things and cute things and wintery things - so this is a winner for me!

Colours used: Mood Ring - Cirque Colors, Foil Effects in Silver - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Acai Smoothie - Barry M, Cream Soda - Barry M, Bronze Bae - Barry M

Winter Wonderland

Trying SO hard not to end up with Christmas songs in my head again as I write this! Maybe it's not so bad... it is winter after all! Today's Glam Nails Challenge prompt is winter wonderland, which I think can be interpreted in many ways. I went for a snowy village with deer wandering around and a big friendly snowman!

I started with a base of pale blue and while this was drying I used my Uber Mat to make decals (see how here) for all but my little fingernail. I used Mo You London's Noel 01 plate for all images except the deer on my little finger and the white snowflakes, these were both from their Noel 06 stamping plate. For the snow on the decals I used a shimmery topper and white polish. Sadly you can't really see it very well in the pictures but it's lovely under bright lights! On my thumb and little fingernails I added a blue gradient followed by white snowflakes, before applying the deer and snowman images.

I like these as I adore the cosy house images and wintery scenes in general. I wonder if it needed a little more colour though. Alternatively it has made me think it would be good to try as a fully monochrome or greyscale look!

Colours used: Borrowed & Blue - Essie, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Good Vibes Only - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Cyan - Barry M

A chill in the air

Hi everyone! I'm back so soon as I have more Glam Nails Challenge nail art to share. Today's prompt is icicles. This was a tricky one as there is one very obvious look (which I've chosen to do) but any more interesting ones I could think of seemed to difficult! I liked the idea of having icicles on the side of a house but wasn't sure how to portray that on my nails, especially with freehand not being my strongest technique.

I started with a peel off base coat followed by one layer of reflective gel polish (colours listed below the pictures). I was pleased to find it was a one coater! I'm not entirely keen on the texture of gel polish I usually end up with so after wiping off the tacky layer I added a regular topcoat which seemed to work fine. This kept it how I liked it till the next morning when I added the nail art. I used white polish and a striping brush to add the icicles and a little white polish at the base of my nails. Once dry I added another regular topcoat. 

This was a pretty straightforward look to create and although it could have been neater I like it! Sometimes the simple looks can be quite striking I think. Also loving the reflective sparkle of this polish! It was a Christmas present I was trying out for the first time.

Colours used: A Chill In The Air - UberChic Beauty, Neon Activator - Nails Inc

Fool's penguin!

Hello nail people! Some more winter nail art to share with you today. This is a delayed one for Wednesday's Glam Nails Challenge prompt which was penguins. The base colour is one that's been on my radar for a long time and received for Christmas, so am enjoying trying it out. Penguins are such a classic and cute winter nail art theme which I have a few stamping plate options for, so I did go back and forth s bit on what to do.

I started with a blue shimmery base and then added white snowflakes from Mo You London's Festive 02 stamping plate. Next I used their Noel 11 plate for the penguins. No decals required here, just a variety of shapes to layer up to create the penguins. I didn't add all of them as I thought adding the little hats and things would make it a bit too Christmassy. They look like cute tubby little penguins I think! I did realise once I got the second plate out that it also has snowflakes so I could have used those, but never mind.

I'm pleased with these, I like the fun base colour and what's not to like about penguin nails?! Only thing I'd change is maybe adding more to the scarf so you can tell that's what it is. Oh and the strange title of this post is from the nail polish name - as you may have guessed from the pictures!

Colours used: Fool's Gold - Picture Polish, Grey - Barry M, Watermelon - Barry M, Plum - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Beach Hut - Models Own

Angling for a new year!

Hi all! In my family we like to use the phrase 'angling for' as in 'she was angling for some chocolate!' so I decided to name my blog post that way as it features an angler fish, I might be reaching a bit... So when deciding what to do for this nail art I suggested underwater theme and my partner suggested an angler fish. I didn't have any stamping plates for that but liked the idea so went ahead anyway! The nail art is extra new year nail art for the latest Holo Taco competition on Instagram which closes today.

I started with a peel off base followed by two generous coats of Holo Taco's Black Holo Wish from their latest Christmas collection. Got to have glitter for new year nails! Meanwhile, I created decals on my Uber Mat for the number and fish nails. I painted each one using a small brush onto some clear polish and then added more clear polish over the top, peeling off to stick on my nails once dry. Fiddly but easier than painting directly onto my nails! While creating them I had the idea to add some lights as well as I was already going for a glowing theme. I added light images from Uber Chic's Happy Christmas plate. I then added a quick dry topcoat, and once dry I added the colours using an assortment of Sharpies.

I do quite like these, they are so weird and random and sparkly! I like to think it's an angler fish in the darkest sparkly depths of the ocean hanging up some lights for new year - perhaps it can light them with it's own light? Pictures came out a bit mixed but I enjoyed a couple of new hand poses!

Colours used: Black Holo Wish - Holo Taco, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Sharpies

Snowy Snowy Snow Globe

Hey everyone! Back with some wintery nail art which feels appropriate in this frosty weather! I've had a really lovely weekend, with a lovely walk and nut roast yesterday and getting a good run in this morning before lunch with friends. It has however been pretty cold and frosty, but it's to be expected in January I suppose! So today's nail art is for the first two prompts for this months Glam Nails Challenge which has lots of lovely winter themes. It was a busy first week back at work so I didn't get round the the first theme which was snow globes, but it goes pretty well with today's theme (snowflakes) so all is well!

I started with a base of sheer blue polish (in various shades) on three of my nails and a couple of layers of pale pink on the other two. For the blue nails I added a snowflake between each next layer of sheer blue, with different numbers of layers depending how dark the polishes were. The stamping plate used was Mo You London's Noel 08. For my thumb and ring fingernail I made decals using my Uber Mat and Uber Chic's Happy Christmas stamping plate, you can see how here. Given the background is so pale I wonder if I should have done them in black, but never mind! 

Overall I'm not crazy about these, the snowflake nails are fun but the snow globes don't stand out that well. They're OK though, and I am enjoying the wintery vibes!
Colours used: Vintage Tee - Nails Inc, Cobalt Jelly - Cirque Colors, Indigo Jelly - Cirque Colors, Light Blue Jelly - Cirque Colors, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Cocoa - Barry M, Indigo - Barry M, Playing Koi - Essie, Diamond Glitter - Barry M