Monday 17 December 2012

A Christmas Nail Art Tutorial

So I have some more festive nails for you, and this time I've gone all out...!


These were so much fun to do and took about 45 minutes whilst listening to Christmas songs! How festive of me!

So I'll explain how I did them and hopefully you can recreate them or maybe just a couple of your favourite designs because they are actually quite simple to do when you break them down into their components. 

BIG TIP: Save the most complex designs for your left hand if you are right handed (or vice versa). Also use toothpicks for the detailed parts. Drop a blob of polish onto a piece of paper, and dip the toothpick in and paint away.

So first my left hand...


Left Hand: Penguin, Snowman, Reindeer, Santa, Holly

Penguin: 
-Painted the base black.
-Then did two careful brush strokes rounded at the top of white for the white body, and filled in the gap between them so the penguin had the round white head bits. 
-Then I painted on his teal/blue scarf with a toothpick in a dotting motion. 
-I filled in the nail tip with a black line using the polish brush. 
-Then using the toothpick, dotted on his eyes with black and his beak and feet with yellow.

Snowman:
-Painted the base a sparkly red.
-Splotched on two white circles using the polish brush
-Then I painted on his purple scarf with a toothpick in a dotting motion.
-Then I used black to dot on his buttons and eyes and mouth, and orange for his nose

Reindeer (Rudolph!)
-Painted the base white
-Painted brown polish in the half circle for the head (just use brush strokes off the nail edge for this-really easy)
-Used a toothpick to draw on his antlers with brown
-Used red glitter polish for his sparkly nose
-Dotted white circles on for the eyes using the polish brush
-Drew two black dots in the eyes with a toothpick

Santa face:
-Painted the base a nude beige.
-Painted the top half near the cuticle red.
-Splotched on in a dotting motion white polish on the hat edge of the red and around his face for his beard.
-Used a toothpick to dot on his eyes with black, and his nose with rose pink.

Holly:
-Painted the base red.
-Using a toothpick drew on the three leaves in a wavy pattern
-Dotted on red glitter polish in the middle to be the berries.


So now for my right hand... 

Right hand: Santa buckle, Santa hat, Candy cane, Christmas pudding, Christmas tree

Santa buckle:
-Painted the base red.
-Used a toothpick (the thicker end) and dotted on a black line across the nail.
-Used a metallic gold, and dotted on the buckle in a rectangle shape using a toothpick.

Santa hat:
-Painted the base metallic gold.
-Used the polish brush, and painted a triangle of red ending on the nail tip.
-Used white polish, and splotched on the hat base and white pom-pom at the top.

Candy cane:
-Painted the base green
-Used a toothpick to dot on the white candy cane shape
-Used a toothpick to dot on the red lines in the candy cane

Christmas pudding:
-Painted the base brown
-Used white polish to splotch on in a random way white drip shapes
-Used a toothpick to draw on the two leaves in a wavy pattern
-Dropped red glitter into the middle of the leaves for the berries

Christmas tree:
-Painted the base sparkly red
-Painted on a triangle with green polish, making the edges blurred (for the pine needles)
-Using a gold colour, used a toothpick to dot on the tinsel in a zigzag manner across the tree
-Using yellow polish, used a toothpick to dot on a star shape at the tree top
-Using a toothpick, dotted on red baubles on the tree


So there you have it! Christmas artwork for your fingertips!

What is your favourite design? I think mine would be either the Reindeer or the Pudding!

These have definitely put me in a more festive frame of mind. Hope you are all enjoying the lead up to Christmas!!

Sunday 9 December 2012

Christmas Nails

My nails this week have been painted very festively with my favourite Christmas nail polish...



This is OPI's Gettin' Miss Piggy With It! from the Muppets collection last year. I forgot I had it and then when looking for a festive colour it just jumped out at me. It's better than usual glitter polish because when a few layers are painted on it looks more like a metallic foil of red with silver hexagons spattered throughout. About three layers are needed for opacity, or just paint a couple over any red to ensure all the gaps are filled. 

It really looks like you are wearing sparkling rubies on your fingertips, and this nail polish has attracted more compliments over the last week than any other I own surprisingly! It's very stunning and glamorous to wear, and the perfect Christmas polish. As this polish is no longer available in retail stores, any kind of bigger glitter red polish should have a similar effect to this. 


Also in keeping with the festive spirit, I just thought I'd share with you Melbourne's big Christmas tree in the city square... isn't it pretty!? I love seeing all of the decorations in the city at the moment!




And here is my family's Christmas tree! I love it especially because all of the decorations are individualised and personal, rather than just buying a pack of baubles and chucking them all over the tree with no meaning behind each one. 



I hope all of you are enjoying your Decembers so far and feeling very festive! Lots of Christmas parties and celebrations coming up in the next few weeks, how very exciting :)

Merry first week of Christmas!