Holiday challenge - Wreaths

I'm in a bit of a nail funk at the moment and am not completely happy with these. I love the colours as they are our Christmas colours, as you can see by our tree below. The whole design though - meh!

I decided to do the wreaths with the dotting tool and lined up some purples and blues with a splash of Orly Tiara (love that polish!). The shimmery blue is OPI See I told you! and it is a gorgeous colour!, the middle finger is Nubar, violet sparkles and the pinkie is Butter London Scallywag. I've added a few Nubar polishes to my collection lately and I really like them, they apply well and last quite awhile.

I stamped using plate mm 01 and use Essie No Place Like Chrome. The metallics collection from Essie work quite well for stamping.

My tree again because I love it :)

Hopefully I can get my mojo back before tomorrow's challenge!

Have a happy Tuesday

Please visit the other bloggers taking part in this challenge!

XOXO Alexis Leigh
Purple Castle
Iced Laquer
A Ginger's Nail
The Polished Mommy
Robyn Loves Nails
Teen Polish Junkie
Fancy Schmancy Nails
Mari522 (on Instagram)
Fairytale Charm
nailzbyroro (on Instagram)

Candy cane nails - Day 4 Christmas Challenge

I really love the traditional candy cane manicure. I was going to do different colours again but I couldn't resist the traditional colours. It looks so Christmasy (if that's a word lol).

I used striping tape which is an absolute pain to use but worked to give me the desired look. The most difficult thing about this mani was finding the right top coat to not make the stripes bleed. I had to do a couple of attempts and even with an hours drying time on this one there is still a small amount of bleeding. I'll explain below a few tips I learnt while doing this mani.

For the white base I first used two coats of Nubar faded putty - this is a just off white with a hint of beige.

I then used one coast of Essence to go - Sparkling Water Lily. I used one coat of top coat and gave it half hour to dry. I then used striping tape placed like photo below.

Once I made sure all tape was stuck well and had pressed the sides in with a cuticle stick I added one coat of Sally Hansen Ruby Stilettos.

I first did this look with Essie After Sex and Leading Lady but they bled a lot. With SH ruby stilettos I found wiping my brush dry two times and applying a thin coat worked well, I then waited 1 minute 20 seconds before carefully removing the tape. It helped to pull the tape slowly and carefully not in the whip off manner I have used previously. The end result was worth it and the bleeds you see in the photos are not noticeable in real life, the camera truly does magnify everything!

UPDATE As Robyn noted I forgot to say about top coats. I tried both HK girl and Orly sec'n'dry and both made the polish bleed badly. This may not have been their fault as I could have waited longer, though with Orly it was 30 minutes. I eventually used my fav seche vite, it only bled a small amount, so much so that I didn't know it had until I saw the photos. This was added one hour after the last red nail polish.

Please visit the other bloggers taking part in this challenge!

XOXO Alexis Leigh
Purple Castle
Iced Laquer
A Ginger's Nail
The Polished Mommy
Robyn Loves Nails
Teen Polish Junkie
Fancy Schmancy Nails
Mari522 (on Instagram)
Fairytale Charm
nailzbyroro (on Instagram)

Candy canes and gingerbread man

This one was fun! My candy stripes here aren't your everyday candy cane stripes (though they are coming soon), but as candy canes have grown in flavours I decided to go the non-traditional route on this one. The little gingerbread men are super cute.

The base colour I used is Nubar - faded putty. It has the tiniest hint of beige and applied beautifully. The candy cane stripes are Butter London Rosie Lee and Burjois Beige Glamour, the gingerbread man is Picture Polish Goddess and the glitter is Candy Cane gingerbread.

 Unfortunately I was impatient and my stripes smudged but I still like the overall look.

Have a fabulous weekend and please visit some of the other bloggers (shown below) that are taking part in the challenge. There are some super creative designs.

Snowflakes

Yes the other snowflake mani :) I started with two coats of Opi My Boyfriend Scales Walls, I then added one coat of Nicole by Opi You're a Star. I made a mistake here and should really have used 2 coats. I then stamped with China Glaze Passion and Essie Blue Rhapsody  It didn't quite turn out how I pictured it in my head but I do like that it's a subtle stamping.

Please visit the other bloggers taking part in this challenge

XOXO Alexis Leigh
Purple Castle
Iced Laquer
A Ginger's Nail
The Polished Mommy
Robyn Loves Nails
Teen Polish Junkie
Fancy Schmancy Nails
Mari522 (on Instagram)

Snowflakes and Snowfall

1st day of the second nail challenge I'm doing. They have have both landed on snow themes, so had to put my thinking cap on. It's hard to think about snow when it's summer here :)

I free handed the snowflakes using Orly white out, the base colour for the nails is Essie She's Picture Perfect and the accent finger is a fabulous polish by fellow Aussie Emily de Molly called Simplicity. I added one coat of Opi Pirouette My Whistle to add a glittery effect.

I'm happy with how it turned out, though I was sad to take my Santa mani off.

Santa Baby, Holiday Challenge

 Day two of 12 days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge and the theme is green.

I adore green so find it hard to decide which green to use, I then picked up Zoya Holly from my stash and thought it doesn't get more perfect than that. 

I used two coats of Zoya Holly, one coat of Zoya anchor top coat, waited around 20 minutes and it still wasn't dry so used one coat of Seche Vite. I then did a glitter gradient with Debroah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow and popped my nail decals into a bowl of water. I hadn't used the decals before but they were very easy to use. After about 10 minutes soaking the image becomes slippery and you slide it off and  on to your finger. It stays slippery which makes it easier to place exactly where you want it. Once happy with position I held paper towel over it and quickly followed with a coat of Seche Vite. I do just love this Santa he has a gorgeous face :)

 Decals bought from KKCenterHK

Please visit the other bloggers taking part in this challenge

XOXOAlexisLeigh

Purple Castle

Iced Laquer

A Ginger's Nail

Robyn Loves Nails

The Polished Momy

Teen Polish Junkie

12 days of Christmas Day One challenge

Red was the theme for the day and while technically this may be more burgundy I couldn't go past Zoya Blaze. As part of the Zoya Ornate Collection this one is a favourite. The depth or beautiful colouring don't show as well in my photos but this polish is simply stunning.

I used three coast, probably would have gotten away with 2 but I had bald spots. This polish is highly pigmented and easy to use. The biggest problem is if you flood your cuticles it's very hard to remove the stain. For my ring finger I used Essie After Sex and created the tree with tap and striping tape. I added a little rhinestone to the top.

I love how it turned out and am very excited it's time for Christmas nails!!