My Christmas mani - a sparkly skittle!

Merry Christmas Eve peeps - are you all prepared for tomorrow? I'm wrapped, packed and full of chocolate roses, so as ready as I can be:)

I've ummed and ahhhhed over my Christmas manicure for a while now. I'm off visiting family for 5 days, so it had to be something that would last and that would fit in with most of my outfits. It had to include glitter (because duh, it's Christmas!). And it has to be nail art, because I need to practice.

Tadah!

These were heavily inspired by the amazing work of the The Nailasaurus, so I can't claim originality, but I'm pleased with how my skittle turned out. I also love the Skandi colours, so very fashionable right now (because, I'm like, all about fashion lol - as I type this, I'm in my pjs with walking socks on to keep my tootsies warm and a scarf wrapped around me). 

I think my favourite is the heart; I have to confess, after messing it up several times, eventually I painted the heart of to a plastic poly-pocket and then peeled it off and stuck it on my nail.

 Legen- OMG my nails look hot - dary! 

These are the polishes that contributed to this mani; from the top, clockwise- Claire's unnamed glitter, Gold Giles Green, Models Own Nail art Pen in White, Barry M Matt White, Barry M Blood Orange, Sinful Colours Rich in Heart, Barry M Red Glitter. 

Have an amazing Christmas peeps - I hope you have a wonderful time with your friends and family and that Santa brings you all the nail polish you could ever wish for. x x x x x

Ho Ho Ho* Hottie by Sinful Colors

I'm not sure if this counts as a Christmas colour, what do you guys reckon? It made me think of ice and snow, more winter than Christmas, but still, a lovely colour:)

* Btw, it's actually called Hottie, no ho ho ho-ing, I just felt that made it more Christmas. I actually think the name is a daft one, I'd have gone for something more reminiscent of a mermaid, but that's just me!

Anyway, I've had this a while and have been put off from wearing it by due to it's very sheer opacity. The swatch below is 4 (eeep!) coats and there's still a VNL. It's also nowhere near the colour of the bottle, which makes me a little sad. However, now I've got it on it has grown on me a little bit. Have a look for yourself. 

As you can see, it's a very pale blue jelly packed full of large and small iridescent glitter which builds up nicely. It's so full of glitter that it actually dries very quickly, a definite plus when you need 4 coats lol:) I'm going to try this again, but next time layered over a solid colour in attempt to get the sexy bottle colour I crave:) 

Barry M Red Glitter - aka Christmas in a bottle!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I LOVE LOVE LOVE this polish. It's a permanent feature in my top 5 (not even just top 10, top 5 y'all!) for 3 main reasons;

a) The blooming decent price - it's a standard Barry M £2.99 jobby.

b) It applies like a dream, 2 easy coats that dry quickly.

c) It's stunning, just stunning. I always get compliment when I wear it and can never stop staring at my nails when it's on.

So here it is, the most Christmassy of Christmassy polishes. If only my camera would do it justice. 

SWOON!  

Silver snowflakes - my first adventure into stamping!

Wow - this is embarrassing. My soon to be sister in law very kindly gave me a wonderful gift for my birthday, a Konad stamping kit. I was thrilled and resolved to start stamping asap. 4 months later......

But better late than never. And as it's Christmas, what other stamp could I use, but snowflakes:)

The base coat is Accessorize Electric Purple. I used Barry M Silver Foil Effects for the stamping and Bourjois It's Raining Stars for my silver glitter accent nail. 

This was hard work; I stamped off centre to disguise the fact that I struggled to get the whole image on my nail! Some of these took several attempts, but I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with them. 

Barry M Boots Special Edition polish - bar glitter

Oh wow - this polish is a party in a bottle...a stunning combination of bar glitter in what I consider to be some pretty dam Christmassy colours, red, green and purple (ok, purple isn't traditional, but for me it's the colour of Quality Street wrappers, and they ARE Christmassy:)

I layered this lovely over GOSH Deep Purple. Et volia!

My camera made the purple look a bit blue, apologies:)

Anyhoo, the best of parties are often followed by hangover. And so it is with this polish. The bar glitter is a pain in the ahem! It sticks out over the nail, sticks up in the air, I actually had to pick out pieces using tweezers. However, I got so many compliments about these, it was almost worth it (almost - I almost sliced my corneas off when doing my contact lenses!)

Would I wear it again? Er, probably. But on a day I was wearing my specs:)

Oh Christmas, oh Christmas tree.....

Let me start by saying that this manicure is in no way an original idea; it is my version of an amazing design I saw on The Crumpet and loved.

So, now that's off my chest, here is my take on Christmas trees:0

I'm dotty about Christmas trees (groan, Dad joke alert!!) partly because I still don't have one! HTB (husband to be) and I can't think of anywhere that we could put one that won't end up with it becoming a play thing for the cats. Sad face:(

These are the polishes that made this manicure possible; from top, clockwise; Models Own Green Tea, Models Own Utopia, Barry M Watermelon, Barry M Emerald Green, Barry M Silver Foil Effects, Gold Giles Green, Bourjois It's Raining Stars.

Hope you're all getting excited about the big day; I've finally wrapped all my pressies so I'm feeling pretty dam Christmassy:)

New Look Green - Giles Gold

Ahhhh, this is my Christmas green - it makes me think of Christmas trees, warm heavy blankets, holly......

It's a oldie, I think I bought this over a year ago and whilst I'm fairly sure I swatched it at the time, I'm doing it again because a) it's THE Christmas Green and b) my swatches are so much better now. Not perfect, but better:)

The problem with this polish is twofold; the smell (bleurgh) and the drying time. You can see a patched up smudge on my pinkie, I smudged it hours after I painted them; fail!  I seem to remember it was £1 from New Look, so I can't really complain. But for this colour, I don't care:)

 I see this being used in some Christmas tree nail art asap!

Let it Snow! Part 2:)

I loved the glitter I showed you earlier this week so much that I had to try it again - this time over the perfect Christmas red, China Glaze Red Essence.......

The perfect Christmas red; somehow it needs a particular shade, and this is IT!

That's all from me folks; I have to entertain some friends with mince-pies and brandy:) 

Snow....I wish.

Ahhhh, a snowday - wouldn't that be ideal? I'd pop on my warmest socks, keep my pjs on, eat buttered toast and drink hot choccie and sit on the sofa watching Home Alone, Muppets Christmas Carol, any classic Chrimbo movie................bliss.

But - not yet. So I'll settle for snowy nails. This white glitter polish is one of the many I picked up in Argentina. It cost less than 75p and has no name, simply an unintelligible amount of beautiful Chinese characters. I'm sure you can imagine the quality.............

I so love the glitter mix; red, white, gold and blue glitter, happiness. I really like the mix of matt white and shiny colours. Sweet:)

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE this combo - but the glitter top coat is a killer - it just doesn't dry. At all! I waited for soooooo long, and then painted a topcoat over the top simply so I could go to bed. As you can see, this didn't work well; instead it just bubbled like a b^&%$. 

Ahhhhh, but it looks like snow, so it's ok:)

We all like a Christmas pudding

Wayhay - my first Christmas manicure of 2013.....I bring to you..................

CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS!

I'm so pleased with these; I couldn't stop staring at them:)

I used Barry M Lychee for a neutral base, then painted semi circles on using Barry M Mushroom. I 'iced' my puddings with my Models Own nail art pen, then added a cheery with the ever wonderful Barry M Red Glitter. A randon nail art pen in green was used to add the holly and Sinful Colours Rich in Heart was dotted on for the currents:)

Tra-lah-lah-lah-laahhh, la-la-la-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaah:)

Purple Leopard Print

It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, .......................etc.

As this scheduled post posts, I shall be pouring a bottle of wine, unwrapping some Ferrero Rocher and snuggling on the sofa with my wonderful fiancee. Happiness is a tipsy Friday night.

These leopard print beauties are the last of the 'oldies' stored on my computer; from now on, it's Christmas manicure time! 

I love the base colour, Electric Purple by Accessorize, so much that I've almost finished the bottle. I'll be needing a back up asap:) The Models Own glitter is Bora Bora. 

Christmas manicures here I come:) 

Hola! Un-named purplely-ness:)

Ahhh, I can't believe I still have polishes that I bought in August and I still haven't swatched them - poor show me!

Today I have the gorgeous......er, no idea what this polish is called actually. Tbh, it cost me less than $1 in Argentina in a random drugstore. I wasn't expecting much from this, if anything to be honest, but ooooooooooooooooooh it's so pretty.

It's a lovely purple with a gold and blue shimmer - I didn't think it would translate from the bottle, but it really does, especially in the light:) Happy days - what a shame it took me so long to post this, it deserves some attention:) 

It's Friday tomorrow EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeek!

Duck eggs....

Happy Wednesday - half way through the week, not long til the weekend! I'm off to see my gorgeous friend Sherri and her lovely family this weekend, bring it on! 

So, this manicure I've had kicking round for ages - shame on me:( It's so pretty; I can't believe I've not worn Loreal's Confetti, the black and white glitter below, since this manicure; I obsessed over it for weeks until I finally got my grubby little mitts on it. Ahhhh, the highs and lows of an addiction.......

Am I the only one who thinks it makes my nails look like duck eggs?