Christmas Sweater Skittle

Hi, all! So, I finally felt inspired to do a Christmas manicure. For this one I started with a regular base coat over a school glue base. I thank all the ladies who shared the glue tip with me...I've been wearing glitter nearly every day since! Here's what I came up with.

The main polish for this mani is from a new-to-me brand called Glitz 'n Glimmer Polish. This brand boasts a 5-free base, and I stumbled upon it in a Facebook group that I frequent. I used two thin coats of Christmas Sugar Cookie, a white crelly with multi-colored glitter. The glitter is most prominently red and green, although I think I spotted some yellow, pink, and blue, as well. It covers beautifully, and I think it could have been a one-coater if I'd been as heavy-handed in application as I normally am. With glitters, though, I am finding I prefer thinner coats, because I like the way the particles look suspended in the different layers of base. See, I've been learning. :) The wear time is quite nice. Before I attempted any art, I wore it solo for a few days with only minimal tip wear. For this look, I stamped a pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-603 on two nails. For my index finger, I used Revlon Top Speed in Emerald, and on my pinky, I stamped with Wet n Wild Megalast in I Red a Good Book. On my ring finger, I added a coat of Emerald, then sponged on a glitter gradient using an other brand I hadn't tried before, Barielle Goldfinger.

While I (clearly) haven't yet mastered the art of stamping, it still turned out better than I expected. I found myself a squishy little Vaga stamper on Amazon and have had slightly better luck than with my much firmer Konad stamper. I thank you for stopping by, and I wish one and all a Merry Christmas if you don't hear from me before then!

My Fun and Snowy Manicure

Greetings! Today I have a fun winter manicure to share. This one started with Colors by Llarowe's Sandy, We Ain't in Kansas Anymore. I love this color in particular because it's a multichrome holo. Even without any special properties this one would be a stunner. It's a rich turquoise with silver shimmer. While my favorite color is purple, blue and turquoise are my favorite nail polish colors to wear, so this one was a no-brainer. The holographic flame in SWAIKA isn't particularly strong, but it is still quite visible, even though it was difficult to capture in photographs. What grabbed me, though, was the multichrome effect. It shifts from turquoise to royal blue to purple...love! I took a couple sunlight shots in an attempt to capture the shift.

I wore Sandy, We Ain't in Kansas Anymore for a few days. Since the weather's been cold, I've been trying to change my polish less often in order to minimize dryness and breakage as much as possible. I generally add some sort of nail art when it's time for a polish change. This way, I get some practice, build some confidence, and (in the event that it looks halfway decent) extend my manicure a bit. I stamped several designs using Konad white with plate QA19, purchased from Born Pretty Store (found here). I sponged Sinful Colors Snow Me White on a couple of the tips, and added rhinestones in blue and clear, also from Born Pretty, because I thought they'd go well with the snow theme and add a little shine.

All in all, I was pretty happy with how this attempt turned out. I got to practice my stamping and use some embellishments, but still managed to keep this gorgeous color in its rightful place as star of the show. As always, I thank you for looking!