Sparkly Christmas Tree Nails with marbling

So bring on the cheese with these nails.  They are Christmas-y and Holiday-ish without shame...not to mention, Sparkadelic!  As I have said in previous posts, I have been playing with marbling when I stumbled onto a way to make a Christmas tree shape.  Dare you to try it!

Polishes Used:

After putting a clear base coat on my nails, I applied Metallic Green to every nail but my ring finger.  On that nail, I applied a thick coat of Sugar Sugar.   I quickly used a nail art brush to paint a thin line in Metallic Green down the nail. 

Here is the crucial step:  Dip your toothpick or needle into Metallic Green polish before you start your gradual horizontal marbling.  Stop midway and reapply some more Metallic Green to the pick or pin and finish.  Keep in mind that your zig zags should be getting bigger toward the end of the nail.

While the polish was still drying I applied a single glitter star from Siver Star glitter polish.  While the polish on your ring finger dries (its thick so it will take awhile) this gives you time to decorate the rest of your nails a la Christmas tree.  I first used several drops of Chunky Silver on my scrap paper and place the largest glitter pieces in swoopy lines on each nail to simulate garland.  This doesn't have to be that painstaking if you use a toothpick and overlap the glitter.  I then used a small dotting tool to put in ornaments with Sugar Sugar and Metallic Purple.  I also used Starry Blue's large blue glitters and placed them in random on each nail.  Last I used a medium dotting tool to make larger gold ornaments.  I covered each nail with Julep's Fast Drying topcoat.  Voila!  Cheesy (but cute and fun) Christmas Tree Nails.

*Tips* You could also use rhinestones or glitter to simulate Christmas lights.  I have some Sally Hansen Kaleidoscope glitter strips that would do awesome as glittler but it would be overkill with silver garland.  As with any marbling project, do not use fast drying polishes:)

Christmas Ribbon Candy Nails

Ive been playing a bit with marbling and dreamed up these nails while marbling on ziploc bags. 
In my quest for alternative Christmas nails (they can get pretty cheesy!) I thought that these nails would be a good but cheese-less design for the holidays!

Polishes Used:

Julep's Helena

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails The Real Teal

Revlon's Gold Coin

Julep's Fast Drying Topcoat

For these nails I simply painted my base coated nails with one half thick Real Teal and one half thick Helena.  Then using a stripper nail art brush, I painted a thin Gold Coin line down the middle of each nail.  I took a clean toothpick and quickly did swirls down the middle of the nail, dragging the gold polish into the teal and fuchsia polish.  I then waited for the nails to dry and applied a topcoat.

Pitfalls: 

Real Teal tend to dry very fast so you have to be faster or you end up with parts of the nail underneath showing!

Try to do the marbling in one fluid motion because if you try to go back, the design gets muddy.  Example is my index finger nail.

*Tips*

Since Real Teal tends to dry fast, I would recommend another greenish blue polish instead.  These nails would probably be excellent with some metallic green and red polish but again, I was looking for alternative holiday nails.  Let me know how it works for you!



Swirling Snow Nails

I have been wanting to do winter nails but the only designs I keep seeing involve snowflakes and/or dots.  Since we just receieved several inches of the white stuff in Denver (not to mention single digit temperatures) I have been toying with the idea of swirling snow patterns on my nails.  Here is what I came up with...

Polishes Used:

Sinful Colors Midnight Blue

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty glitter

Sinful Colors Hottie glitter

KleanColors Chunky Silver glitter

After applying a clear basecoat, I applied one coat of Midnight Blue to each nail.  I then poured out some Snow Me White polish and dabbed a small nail art brush into it, blotting away the excess on a paper towel.  I then started making swirly patterns on each nail using the brush almost like a tiny sponge blotting on dabs of white polish.  I then cleaned and used the same brush to place large pieces of Chunky Silver glitter throughout each swirl.   I also painted over the swirl with the much smaller Queen of Beauty silver glitter.  The nails still needed something so I pulled out Hottie a blue and irredescent glitter and applied over each nail.  Last, I applied a clear topcoat.

Overall, I think these nails were exactly what I was looking for to break the monotony of winter nails.  Plus, I can't convey how much I love glitter polish.  These Swirly Snow nails are a hit!

Snombie Love Nails

What does a Snowman that been infected with the Zombie virus become?  A Snombie.  I came across this delightful little cartoon and was inspired to do some Snombie nails. Ah... but not just any Snombie nails...no.  While in the midst of sketching out the design I thought, we gotta add some brains and some love.  So the Snowgirl victim falls for her Snombie attacker.

Started out with clear basecoat then applied two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White on thumb and pinky nails.  I applied Sinful Colors Why Not to the other three nails on each hand.  I mixed Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Limestone and Sinful Colors Savage to make a sickly green and used Snow Me White again to make Snowgirl.  I used Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby for red accents, China Glaze's Recycle for the Snombie scarf and heart, Sinful Colors Nirvana for the Snombie nose, Sinful Colors Cloud 9 for the Snowgirl nose, and Sinful Colors Soul Mate for the brain material. I used Sally Hansen's Xtremewear Black Out to outline everything.

On the other hand, I again used Black Out to make "Snombie" and outline the brain and used Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar for "Love."  Used Soul Mate yet again to make the brain.  Highlights on the black letters using Snow Me White.  All and all, very fun nails to kick off the Christmas holidays...