Christmas-y Glitter Gradient 🎄❄️

Hello lovelies & happy Tuesday! I know, I’m switching this thing up by posting on a Tuesday. I decided this week that I’m doing to (try) & post a Christmas design every day leading up to Christmas Eve! I just have so many design ideas I want to share!

Today is a simple but effect look — a glitter gradient. Glitter gradients are definitely one of the best I-have-no-time-to-do-nail-art-but-I-want-fancy-nails designs but they take virtually not extra time to do. This one especially doesn’t require any tools at all—I just dabbed the glitter on using the nail polish bottle brush.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Glossy Top Coat
  • Icing Emerald City
  • Icing Santa Baby

How cute is that glitter on top of the green of Icing Emerald City? This is one of my favourite Christmas glitters of all time (I shared swatches of it last year), & I’ve done some version of this glitter gradient every year, with different base colours, because it works so well.

Also the polish is scented like candy canes when dry, even 5 years after I bought it, which I think is so much fun! The glitter also has a variety of different shaped glitters, which I really like, because it gives good dimension to the gradient so that it pops on the nail! In fact, I had a lot of people comment on my nails at work, which always brings a smile to my face!

What do you think of this glitter gradient? Are you a fan of this type of easy nail art design? What holiday design/polish are you currently wearing? I’d love to know, so please share down in the comments below!

#GlamNailsChallengeDec— Santa’s Sleigh

Hello lovelies & happy Monday! Hopefully you’re week is off to a lovely start. After a busy weekend—that’s Christmas in retail for you—I’m excited for a day off filled with peppermint mocha cold brew, cleaning & hopefully some nail polish fun.

But first I have another prompt for #GlamNailsChallengeDec to share with you! Prompt #2 is Santa’s Sleigh, which I’ll admit I was super nervous about because I wasn’t 100% sure if my freehand skills were up to par.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Essie Under The Twilight
  • Essie Starry Starry Night
  • Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Azure
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)
  • Latex free make up sponge

For this look, I decided that I wanted to create the silhouette of Santa’s sleigh against the moon, with a pretty night sky base. I sponged on a few beautiful blues as my base, & then painted a big moon on my nail. Once that was dry, I used my black acrylic paint to attempt to draw Santa’s sleigh with a few (barely visible) reindeer pulling it.

These definitely aren’t perfect, but you know what, I’m super proud of how they turned out. It’s not your traditional Santa design, but that is what makes it kind of fun.

What do you think about this design?

I’m super pumped for this month’s challenge, & can’t wait for all the prompts to come! You should definitely check out all the other beautiful designs for this month’s challenge!

#GlamNailsChallengeDec — Candy Canes

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! & happy December!

We’re officially in the end zone of 2020 now, & the count down to Christmas is officially on. I thought it would be fun to finish off this year with another round of #GlamNailsChallenge! Christmas manicures are one of my favourites to do, so I thought this would be a really fun month to participate.

Our first prompt of the month? Candy Canes!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Starrily Diamond Rain
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Warm Regards
  • NailStuff.ca 4mm Micro Detail Brush (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

I thought about going the traditional candy candy stripe route, but I was really feeling some mini candy canes! These were actually super easy to do, just takes a little patience (& a teeny nail art brush certainly helps!) I actually painted these while drinking my morning coffee, in about 20 minutes, so that’s always a plus. &

they’re just oh so festive to boot!

I wore this look to work, & I got so many compliments on my nails. I mean, who doesn’t love Christmas nail art? Especially something cute & dainty.

What do you think about this nail art look? Would you wear these candy cane nails? Have you started your Christmas nail art looks?

Let me know what nail art you can’t wait to wear this holiday season!

Dainty Snowflakes

Hello lovelies! & happy Monday. It’s beginning to look a lot like… December. & a green one at that. But I really, really wanted some snowflakes on my nails — even if the weather feels more like October than a month before Christmas, that doesn’t me I can’t pretend!

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Quo by Orly The Boulevard
  • OPI Pirouette My Whistle
  • China Glaze ChillinWith My Snow-mies
  • Essie Bobbing for Baubles
  • Born Pretty Store Stamping plate BP-L032 (item #23268)
  • NailStuff.ca Clear Stamper (COFFEE10 saves you 10%!)

First up, I created a jelly sandwich for my base using Quo by Orly The Boulevard, OPI Pirouette My Whistle & China Glaze Chillin’ With My Snow-mies. I thought it was the perfect dainty base for some snowflakes overtop. Also, I so rarely pull out Chillin’ With My Snow-mies, & it’s kind of sad. It was one of those polishes I bought simply because the name made me laugh, but I should definitely pull it out more.

I was also super, super happy with how my snowflakes stamped. They turned out so opaque, it made me so happy. Nothing worse than going to stamp an image, & it barely picked up, or the polish is just too thin & it looks like a shadow.

What do you think about these snowflake nails? Do you have snow where you are? Let me know in the comments below!

Matte Knit Pattern (inspired by xglitzandpolishx)

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday! We are quickly approaching the end of November, if you can believe it — Christmas is officially one month away!

Today I’m sharing another nail art look inspired by one of my favourites on Instagram — @xglitzandpolishx! I was inspired by one of her old designs, & decided it was perfect for this time of year. & it would look amazing over my base of Zoya Ray from Sunday’s Swatch Sunday post.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat
  • Zoya Ray
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • NailStuff.ca Mermaid Tail Nail Brush Trio — I used the 9mm size. (COFFEE10 saves 10%)

This design took a bit of patience, but was actually super easy to paint! It kind of reminded me of a doing a dotticure, but instead of polka dots, you’re doing dashes instead. The end result just looks like knit, & I’m totally obsessed with it. I’ve actually been meaning to recreate this look for a long time, so I’m glad that I finally did! & I’m totally going to do it again with some more colour combinations.

What do you think about this look? Would you wear this knit pattern on your nails? Was nail art look have you been meaning to recreate lately? Let me know in the comments below!