week 12: Inspired by Song (Oh Christmas Tree!)

Happy Holidays everyone! It’s week 12 of the 52 week challenge and the theme is Inspired by a song. I ingeniously used “Oh Christmas Tree” so I could do some cute Xmas nails! Here are my Oh Christmas Trees including a step by step.

FYI all the polishes are from the OPI Skyfall Collection that my wonderful boyfriend got me for Christmas :) (even the 18k gold flake one!).

Step 1: paint all the nails red! This is The Spy Who Loved Me.

Step 2: tape triangles on a few nails. I did the ring and index finger with the tree facing away from me and the thumb finger with the tree facing towards me. Its just easier to display that way.

Step 3: Paint the green trees and remove tape quickly! This green is Live and Let Die.

Step 4: Golden accents! This gold is Goldeneye I used my mini dotter tool to make a star and a few ornaments. The star at the top was really not as complicated as I thought it was going to be. I just started with a large dot of gold polish in the center of the tree tip, then dragged it straight up. Then I did that 4 more times for the other points of the star. When you drag the polish, do this lightly to avoid digging into the existing polish.

 

Step 5: Purple and red ornaments! The purple is Tomorrow Never Dies and the red is The Spy Who Love Me again (base coat polish).

 

Step 6: Then, to add some extra fancy flare, I painted on some 18k gold flakes on my non Christmas tree nails! This is The Man With the Golden Gun.

 

So, there you have it. Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas tree, how cute are you on my nails!?!

Combo: Fall Flecks

So the whole point of this blog is that the nails *should* be easy enough for you to try yourself. I'm all about struggling through a manicure and then posting my tips/techniques/critiques so my readers don't have to suffer with what doesn't work like I did. However, sometimes I just find a nice combination of polishes that look good together that I want to share and then I think "wait a minute, that isn't a tip, technique or critique....so I can't post it"

Therefore, I decided to add a new type of post... From now on, "combo"s will be posts that are simple and to the point with what polish colors I found look good together. Or maybe it will be an old technique I've already posted about with a new combo of colors. So here is the first COMBO post!!
  
I did this combo because I thought it looked very Halloweeny! I love Halloween and October in general so why not start with the Halloween nails a little early. Besides it's not like I'm painting a pumpkin on my thumb nail. Pretty fall flecks:
  

I have used this glitter polish before in this technique. It's funny how flakie polishes look completely different depending on what sort of base coat you use. On the technique linked above, the flakie glitter I used (Luxe and Lush) looks more diamondy and blueish silver. On the black I used in this combo it looks orange and green... Almost like copper metal flakes embedded in clear polish. Perfect for pumpkins! And on top of the black polish I think the glitter stands out more. Very Halloweeny/Fall like.

I hardly ever wear black polish so the base coat I used is just the solid black I've had for years. It's Beguiling Black by Maybelline Express Finish. Still worked pretty good though!

This is another polish that looks like orange glitter flecks when you paint it on a dark color. I know the polish looks pink but the glitter looks orange and green.

Technique: Glitter Layered Gradient

I am getting so excited for the Hunger Games movie to come out this weekend! I was so excited I had to buy another Hunger games polish. I think this is my new favorite. . . Luxe and Lush by China Glaze! It’s the glitter polish in the above pic. It looks kind of like broken crystal or quartz. Very Hunger games Capitol style. I just |love it.

 

For the base I used a very pale pink. This one is Step Right Up! By OPI. I used 3 coats because I didn’t want it to be transparent.

Below is only one coat. As you can see the glitter to polish ratio is quite small. So I decided to do a layered gradient!

Below left is the second coat of glitter polish. I started about a third up the nail and did an even layer. Below right is the third coat of glitter polish about two thirds up on my nail.

To apply this glitter polish thicker you have to dab it more than swipe it.  If you swipe to fiercely the glitter comes right off with the brush. If you dab with the brush, the glitter pieces stick to the nail better.

Add a top coat and there you have it! A glittered layered gradient. Only downside it is quite a few coats of polish. Next time I will probably only do 2 coats for the base.

Happy Polishing!

|La