Little Animals Christmas

Merry Christmas again! It feels strange to be sharing two blog posts in one day but I'm playing catch up and I did have both looks on for Christmas day (and still do) - one on each hand. This was another stamping plate I bought just after Christmas last year in the sales and was glad to finally use it! Some of the images remind me of Wind in the Willows Mole's Christmas which we always watch at this time of year so I was keen to use them for a Christmas Day look.

I started with a peel off base coat and then a layer of nude followed by a layer of blue. Meanwhile I had decals drying on my Uber Mat. All images are from Mo You London's Noel 19 stamping plate. They took me absolutely ages to make as there are so many fiddly details - but I like to think it was worth it! After applying the decals and trimming them down/tidying the edges I applied a glossy top coat and  left to dry. I was tempted to try matte but there are some shiny baubles and I wanted them to show up.

I am again really pleased with these, my favourite nails being the snow and deer and the mouse and tree. I do think they can be a little dark but in good lighting all the details are visible. I like how they remind me and my sisters of Mole's Christmas!

Colours used: Soft Focus - Polished for Days, Can't Find My Czechbook - OPI, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Cappuccino - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Watermelon - Barry M,  Cocoa - Barry M, My Car Hs Navy-gation - OPI, White Moonstone - Barry M, Little Bo Beep - Rimmel, Gold Digger - Barry M, Ruby - Barry M, Amethyst - Barry M, Charlotte Street -  Nails Inc

Gifts and Gold

Merry Christmas space turtles! Today I'm sharing some nail art I had on for Christmas Day which fits one of the December Glam Nails Challenge prompts which was Gifts. I wanted to do something quite snazzy and sparkly for Christmas so went for a reflective glitter and a stamping plate I was excited to use more of.

I started with a peel off base coat and then a few layers of reflective gold glitter followed by a layer of gold holographic glitter. While all of this was drying I was creating decals on my Uber Mat using Mo You London's Noel 15 stamping plate. I chose all gift themed images and was pleased to try these vintage looking images, particularly the dog and the lady with the big skirt. After I'd applied the decals I added a glossy topcoat and job done! Definitely wasn't as quick as I've just made it sound though :D

I really like these though the only downside is that the images are quite dark so if lighting isn't great the colours and intricate details of the design don't always show up. Pictures below with and without flash so you can see them in natural light and with reflective glitter activated.

Colours used: Flash Platinum Gold - Fun Lacquer, Million Dollar Dream - Fyn Lacquer, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Cream Soda - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI, My Car Has Navy-gation - OPI, Watermelon - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M, Charlotte Street - Nails Inc

Little Pockets of Christmas

Hey Christmassy space turtles!  Today I'm sharing some nail art for the Glam Nails Challenge theme of 'decorations'. I have some lovely Christmas nail wraps from Charlie's nail art supplies and decided to use them for this prompt as the Christmas trees are very well decorated.

I started with a peel of base coat and then one layer of nude polish as a base/background in case the wraps were thin - turned out they were nice and thick so no visible nail lines in sight. After carefully applying each wrap and neatening the edges I used a nail art brush to add bronze outlines. I think this rounds of the look nicely and makes them look like little hung pictures of little pockets of Christmas! After I applied a glossy top coat a bubble did appear on one and I made the mistake of trying to push it down and it came off, so you may notice a little gap on one of them! Overall though I really like this detailed festive look.

Colours used: Soft Focus - Polished for Days, Nail Wraps - Charlie's Nail Art Supplies, Bronze Bae - Barry M

A Candy Cane Deer?

Hey space turtles! More Christmas nail art after a bit of a gap due to a wonderful pre-Christmas trip to Norway. I've wanted to use this little cartoon deer for a while and thought it would go well with festive red and a candy cane image. The candy cane stripes didn't really come out how I wanted but as a whole I like the look.

I started with a peel of base coat and then a couple of layers of cream polish on one nail and red on the others. I added a layer of red glitter over the red nails. For the deer and bells I created decals on my Uber Mat using Mo You London's Noel 15 stamping plate. For the candy cane nail I used their Holy Shapes 19 stamping plate and added the lines one by one. This was a bit fiddly and I didn't manage to get it very neat and even. I finished the look with a shiny top coat. I like this look though  I wish the candy cane part had come out better and I'd added more glitter!

Colours used: Dead Heat - Barry M, Kiss Me - Fun Lacquer, Cream Soda - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Cocoa - Barry M

Gingerbread Time

Hey space turtles! Coming at you with more Christmas nail art today, this one is for the Gingerbread Glam Nails Challenge prompt. It feels very fitting that depending how these last I may be wearing them on a trip to a gingerbread town! This is an idea I've had in my mind for a while but haven't ended up going for as they're not typically something I associate with Christmas - but glad to finally be getting round to it!

I started with two layers of shimmery white nail polish while my gingerbread man decals dried, You can tell which ones are the decals by how much darker they are. The polish is the same as the house and the other gingerbread man but due to the thickness and the black outlines they look quite a bit darker. The gingerbread man decals are from Uber Chic's Holiday Spirit stamping plate, and the hot chocolate and other gingerbread images and from their Happy Christmas plate. I enjoyed the layering options for the images on my index and ring fingernails as it's such a simple way to get a good look.

I really like these though I would perhaps change the outlines of some of the gingerbread men to white if doing this again as they look a tad burnt! Otherwise pleased with the colour choices though and the final look :)

Colours used: White Moonstone - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Cappuccino - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Love & Liberty - Painted Polish

Falalallama

Hey space turtles! I have had a wonderful wintery day! After many busy weekends I've really enjoyed this one being a bit quieter. I've got things done (Christmas cards etc) and been for wintery walks (we're having a cold snap here in the UK at the moment) where everything was so frosty and beautiful. I also went for a very frosty lake swim which was an invigorating and sociable way to start the day. Yesterday I enjoyed taking the time to do some more Christmas nail art, the first of which I'm sharing today.

I have a cute Christmas puns stamping plate from Mo You London called Noel 10 which has lots of  cute animal images. One of the ones I haven't used yet is the llama one so I decided to base a look on that this year, accompanied with Christmas jumper prints which feels appropriate given llama's are a bit woolly. The jumper prints are from another MYL plate, Festive 04. I created a decal on my Uber Mat for the llama - it gives me Christmas party vibes! While this dried I painted by base layers of polish (ILNP's Christmas Cookie is the perfect Christmas nail art base in my opinion). I also added the wording, and the jumper prints which I stamped directly onto my nails. I then applied the llama decal and added a quick dry top coat - voila!

I love how these came out with the exception of the thumbnail which is a bit messy and the colours don't stand out very well. I'm enjoying the silliness of this look and the festive colours!

Colours used: Christmas Cookie - ILNP, Emerald Green - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Red Velvet - Mark (Avon), Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M

Winter Animals Feeling Festive

Hey space turtles! More Christmas nail art to share today, as will be the case for the next few weeks. I have too many ideas and not enough time! As I will be moving onto more classic Christmassy colours I wanted to do a lighter look before that. I love the cute little animals on Mo You London's Noel 09 plate so they are the focal point of this look.

I started with two coats of blue with gold shimmer, and then added some star, snowflake and plant images from the same stamping plate in silver. For the animal images I created decals on my Uber Mat which I then applied to my nails. I like how these turned out. They don't look massively Christmassy I don't think but they do feel festive and of course cute!

Colours used: Fool's Gold - Picture Polish, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Cream Soda - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M, Ruby - Barry M, Amethyst - Barry M, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M

Ho Ho How About Some Nail Art

Hi Space turtles! My first proper Christmas nail art of the year is here! I decided I'd try and combine the first two Glam Nails Challenge (Instagram nail art challenge) prompts for this look. The prompts were Santa and Christmas Plaid. 

For the Santa nails I made decals on my Uber mat using images from Mo You London's Noel 01 stamping plate. For the other nails I used Mo You London's Holy Shapes 19 stamping plate which has a range of different lines and patterned lines you can put together to create tartan looks. I went for a classic green and red colour scheme to feel Christmassy! I'm pleased with the look and think it's a good start to my Christmas looks for the year.

Colours used: British Racing Green - Butter London, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Dazzle - Orly, Cream Soda - Barry M, Cocoa - Barry M, Emerald - Barry M

A Snowflake Nail Fail!

Hey space turtles! I'm feeling a bit ill today and I have a nail fail to share - so not my brightest day! After my success with the chrome powder stamping I decided I wanted to try the same with glitter. I started with two coats of black polish and then a matte top coat. Once fully dry I used sticking stamping polish to add some snowflakes from Mo You London's Noel 08 stamping plate, and then dipped each nail in glitter before brushing off the excess and rubbing in those particles that stuck to the polish.

As you can see there are some sort of snowflake-ish shapes but some stuck a lot better than others (it stuck a little too well on my little fingernail!). Unfortunately I couldn't get any more to stick. I wonder if I should have done them one at a time rather than stamping all of them and then adding the glitter, but I expected it to stick to the sticky polish. I also wonder if the glitter particles were too big and I need thinner glitter. Will just have to try again sometime I guess!

Colours used: Lady In Black - OPI, Matte Taco - Holo Taco, Black Sticky Stamping - Dance Legend, Silver Glitter (Holocopter) - Twinkled T

Cosy at Home

Hey space turtles! So my last post was cosy in chrome and this one is cosy at home... I wanted to do something that captured my enjoyment of home in the colder weather and use the lovely Cosy At Home plate from Uber Chic Beauty.

I started with two layers of frosty blue polish which is actually a thermal although the thermal colour change effect isn't very strong now. I made decals for four of my nails on my Uber Mat and while these tried I added the welcome winter wording and a couple of hearts. I then added the decals to my nails and finished with a glossy top coat. I'm pleased with how they came out and am looking forward to getting into my Christmas nail art looks :)

Colours used: Glacier Blue - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Red Hot Rio - OPI, White Moonstone - Barry M, Taupe Temptation - Painted Polish, Yellow - Barry M

Cosy Chrome Powder Nail Art

Hey space turtles! I was inspired by some nail art by two.peas.and.polish who used a matte background and added some leafy images in bronze. I don't have a bronze nail polish that stamps well so I decided to try out chrome powder nail art again. Previously I've tried it but the powder has stuck to the whole nail to some extent and not just the image.

I started with two layers of grey polish and then used black sticky stamping polish to add images from Mo You London's Fall In Love 08 stamping plate which I absolutely love for this time of year, and any time to be fair - it has some great images. I then used an eye shadow applicator to rub some gold chrome powder into my nails, and brushed of the excess with a soft brush. I was so pleased with how well it stuck to the images! I love the super shiny effect it gives and how being on a dark background made it a rich dark gold. It didn't last longer than a couple of days as I added no top coat but a great look for a night our or something like that where it doesn't need to last long.

Colours used: Grey - Barry M, Sticky Stamping Black - Dance Legend, Gold Chrome Powder