Thursday 19 December 2013

Christmas Nail Art Skittle

This is my first snow-free Christmas in five years, and I'm so excited about it. Experiencing Christmas in different countries and cultures is interesting. In North America the snowy weather sets the atmosphere for hot cocoa and days spent indoors, usually at shopping malls where the sales are incredible! In the Caribbean there is a heavy focus on food and our local 'carols'; Latin American-inspired beats and Spanish lyrics mix in with our own Caribbean sound to create parang music, a sound that is really quite unique to our region.

Still, no matter where you go (or at least where I have been), there are facets of Christmas that are unchanging, and those constants are what I chose to feature in my Christmas skittle!


Christmas nail art

Red and green are bold colours, so I decided to tone down these festive fingers with a neutral base colour. Here I used two coats of the beautiful OPI Samoan Sand, a warm nude jelly that is perfect on all skin tones.


Ribbon Bow nail art


My thumbnail is a red ribbon tied into a bow, like the bow of a Christmas gift. I used Shany Cosmetics 20 to draw the ribbon and bow, and I used Shany Cosmetics 10 to outline the shape and add details.


Christmas lights nail art

My index finger shows strands of Christmas lights made up of individually placed glitter pieces! The cord and light sockets were painted on using Shany Cosmetics 22. Once the cord was dry I put on my topcoat. While the topcoat was still wet I picked up individual glitter pieces with the tip of a toothpick moistened in water and placed each glitter piece onto a 'socket'. It's best to use a topcoat that doesn't dry as quickly for this because the sticky topcoat helps to hold the glitter in place without the use of any adhesives.

I didn't topcoat over the glitter because my glitter is the cheap kind from the craft-store and the solvent in topcoat actually takes the colour off of the glitter pieces :( I left the glitter without the topcoat and even with daily showers and hand-washing, I only lost a few pieces. If you prefer using topcoat over your glitter for extra security (or personal preference), use plain silver glitter or solvent-resistant glitter. I don't know where you can buy these in-store, but eBay and Etsy have a wide selection of shapes and colours.

Christmas decoration nail art

My middle nail is a Christmas ornament. I didn't have a dotting tool big enough for this circle, so I found a nail polish bottle with a rounded top, painted the tip of it with Shany Cosmetics 20 and dotted it onto my nail. When that was dry I used Art Club gold glitter striper to freehand some glittery lines across the ball. I painted on a small square of Sally Hansen InstaDri Silver Sweep as the top of the ornament and I drew the hook with Shany Cosmetics 10.
Christmas tree nail art


Of course, what is a more ubiquitous symbol of Christmas than a Christmas tree? I freehanded the tree onto my ring finger with OPI Don't Mess With OPI, and then went over it with a thin coat of Rimmel Camouflage for a bit of depth and shimmer. I used a layer of topcoat to stick on the rows of silver glitter and the star-shaped glitter at the top.

Do you see that yellowy-bronze stain around the star? That was the original colour of the glitter, but I didn't realise that it wasn't solvent-resistant, so I swiped a layer of topcoat over it to help seal the points of the star in. As you can see, the topcoat stripped the glitter of its colour and just left a messy smudge around it :(

Santa hat nail art

Whether you call him Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas or Père Noël, the jolly bearded man in a red and white suit has become a staple of the Christmas season. For my little finger I painted his iconic hat using Shany Cosmetics 20 and used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On for the pom-pom and trim.

I used Sacha Top Coat to seal in my designs and adhere the glitter.

My favourite is definitely the Christmas lights. The glitter twinkled like real lights and I thought it was such a cute, unique and easy way to bring this look to life.


Wishing you the best for the season!

Mara

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