Christmas Nail Art 2012

Blue and White New Nail Art Ideas for  Happy Merry Christmas

Christmas Nail Art for Long Nails

Red and White X-Mas Nail Arts Designs

Christmas Nail Polish Red Color

Christmas Nail Art Image for Sort Nails

Short Christmas Nail Arts

Red Shinny Nail Arts Pictures for X-mas

Red and White Colors Nail Polish Patterns

X-mas Nails Design

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Color Club sent their Beyond the Mistletoe Collection for review, and I'm wearing the namesake of the collection today.

Beyond the Mistletoe is a very pale, barely green medium-fine glitter that's loaded up with some really exceptional holographic glitter.  The base is clear and the glitter provides full coverage in just two coats.  I applied it late last night, and since the glitter's pretty fine I'd hoped the one coat of Essie Good to Go I'd used to dry it would be enough, but this morning it was totally dull and felt like sand.  I kept adding one coat of top coat as I sat here doing other things, and at five coats of top coat, it's smooth.  That's a lot, but not terribly high maintenance since adding each coat to a dry manicure takes about one minute and dries really fast, and the finished manicure is totally worth it.

It's cloudy (and snowing!) here today, so the pictures are just a hint at the glitter - it's really blazing, and I have yet to see a picture of it that really shows just how cool the polish is.  I'll toss my own inadequate representations onto the pile and give you my cloudy-day pics of Beyond the Mistletoe.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Two Coats

I chose this picture because the middle of the polish bottle gives you a glimpse of how this really looks on all nails - the bright colors reflected show up well even in indoor lighting.  Here is a closer look at part of one nail so you can see the glitter a little better.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Closer Look at Two Coats

A polish that looks like this under a cloudy, snowy sky is a winner in my book.  I've already chosen another from this collection to wear when I present this project I'm working on - I figure even if I completely bomb, I have a solid shot at mesmerizing them all with my mani and no one will notice!

That's Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe and the first of the collection, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Ludurana - Superior

So many new polishes I don't know where to start.  But I had to start somewhere and the sun was out, which means holos!

This is Ludurana Superior from the Aurora Boreal collection.  The collection has six holos and six multichromes.  I'm going to alternate a holo and a multichrome each day.

Superior is a yellow gold holo.  The particles in this look very spectraflairesque. That is, this polish would match in well with the Ozotic holos.

The colour is very simiar to China Glaze L8R G8R from OMG Collection, but the holo effect is completely different.

This was three coats, you could definitely get away with two coats, but I wanted to ensure a nice rich bottle colour for my photos.  Application was smooth and easy, no bald spots, but I did notice that I got a few tiny bubbles as it dried.  I never get bubbles so I'm not sure what that was about.  A coat of Seche Vite quicky covered the bubbles and also didn't dull the holo effect.  

I got this polish from a swap, but you can purchase through llarowe.

Konad m85 & m84

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I realized I simply wasn't up for scrape-y edges of my failed Sweet Tart-an manicure poking me, so I changed it and called that one an expensive waste.

This week is a big one because it's the last week of the semester before finals.  Yes, semester and finals - after the professional ethics debacle last spring, I decided I needed to get some letters after my name to prevent that in the future and started grad school full time in August.  I have a nightmarish project to muscle through this week to keep my A in the only class where there's a question mark about an A, and a fun mani seemed like a much better choice than an annoying one that's constantly poking me for that.

My ultimate "I'm in no mood..." color is Essie Punchy Pink, and I applied three coats last night.  I was horrified to discover that the remaining polish in the bottle is right at the bottom "e," so maybe two manicures left.  Still, I recalled driving on the highway to face my ex's ridiculous lawsuit against me two years ago, with him being a lawyer represented by a lawyer and me showing up alone hoping for the best, having a truck driver playing aggression games on the highway at about 6:00 a.m., halfway through the drive, and just how truly satisfying it was to flip him off with an Punchy Pink and black Konad mani.  That sealed the deal no matter how precious the remaining drops are, and I stamped it in Konad Black Pearl this morning.

On my tips, I used the interconnected rings pattern from Konad plate m85, which is a full nail pattern, but being open it lends itself to use as a tip pattern.  That went on all nails, and on my my left ring finger I added the lips pattern from Konad plate m85, sort of a nice little póg mo thóin touch.  The result is a bright fun manicure that makes me giggle, so it fits the bill perfectly.  Protect your retinas, because here's Punchy Pink.

Konad m85 with m84 over Essie Punchy Pink Nail Polish

In person, it's brighter - Punchy Pink is the single most retina-searing neon pink I've ever used, and that's one of the reasons I love it.

I'm off to dig into my last nightmarish project for the semester, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 3 PRESENTS!

Sure, I love getting the family together and eating a delicious meal on Christmas day but the gifts are also pretty awesome. I wrapped my nails up in ribbons for today's manicure.

Base colours (top to bottom): NYC Prince Street, Cult Nails Iconic, Barry M Gold Foil, No7 Stand Back.

Ribbon colours (top to bottom): Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid, GOSH Metallic Blue, BYS Fern, W7 Metallic Neptune.

I used white acrylic paint for the outlines.

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Sally Hansen Sweet Tart-an Salon Effects

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I came across some new Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips while grocery shopping today, and they seemed like a good choice after soaking off OPI Divine Swine - I was up for low maintenance after that!

I've found that there's significant variation from one pattern to the next in how easy or difficult Sally Hansen Salon Effects are to apply, and these seem to be at the more difficult end of the spectrum  With Sweet Tart-an, I ended up with wrinkles, air bubbles, or both on every single nail, and none of the usual tricks to fix them up after the fact were particularly successful.  I didn't use base coat under them, and most of the others I've used have been really easy to apply smoothly all alone, but that wasn't the case here.  I considered taking them off right away since they're not perfectly smooth and will likely get on my nerves, but figured what the heck, I have red tartan nails whether they're perfect or not, added a coat of top coat, and called it finished.

I took a picture of them under artificial light once they were done, and this is my Sally Hansen Sweet Tart-an Salon Effects manicure.

Sally Hansen Sweet Tart-an Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips

You can see the bubbles and wrinkles in the picture, but without the magnification they really don't show.  The only real trouble I anticipate is the unevenness getting on my nerves, but for a day or two, I can live with it.  Although this is one of my favorite Salon Effects patterns, the manicure with them is probably my least favorite  Salon Effects manis so far.

That's my Sweet Tart-an Salon Effects manicure and the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Blue addicted

Hi ladies~ Wow, it's been almost a week since I've last posted! I have a lovely blue glitter polish to show you today - Essence Blue addicted. It's sooooo pretty ^^ ♥ I've always wanted to own Across the Universe by Deborah Lippmann, so this cheap alternative is going to be highly treasured!

I layered one coat of Blue addicted over a coat of China Glaze First mate. First mate is an extremely pigmented crème navy blue and one of my favourites from the Anchors Away collection released at the beginning of this year.

How amazing is Blue addicted? <3

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

Essence Blue Addicted

This is one beautiful polish that is generally agreed to be a dupe of Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe.  Dark blue jelly with small square blue glitter and medium sized blue and green hex glitter.

I purchased two bottles of these as they are only small 6ml bottles.  I'm glad I did because I used three layers to achieve this look.  I wanted to use this colour on its own rather than layering with it, because I really wanted to have the depth of pieces of glitter suspended in the various layers of polish and overlapping each other.

Purchased from Target for $2.55.  Whoo Hoo.

This was Nail Tek II foundation, three coats of Blue Addicted, one coat of gelous and one coat of seche vite.  Look how smooth and glossy it is.  That's the gelous working for me!!

This mani totally rocked.  I wore it to work on Friday and the security guard at the front entrance noticed my nails and commented how cool they looked.  I love it when total strangers notice your nail polish!!

12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 2 (Reindeer Nail Art)

Here goes Day 2 of my Christmas themed manicures! Coming up with ideas for this theme is so much fun and it's really getting me in the mood for Christmas. I thought I'd struggle to come up with 12 designs but as it turns out, I may have a job narrowing it down to just 12!

I can remember as a child being read the poem, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas' every Christmas Eve and I always tried so hard to remember all the names of the reindeer. I'll list all the ones I can remember and you guys can fill me in on the rest... Dancer, Prancer, Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Vixen? Haha, am I right so far?

I used an unnamed Collection 2000 white as a base colour.

I outlined the main shape of the reindeer with Barry M Mushroom and then used black and white acrylic paint for the details. The antlers were done with L'Oreal Black Bean. Rudoph's nose is Barry M Red Glitter over La Femme Cherry Red.

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Birthday Haulage

Whoo hoo, Happy Birthday to me today!  Boo Hoo, my husband is on the road with the Canberra Cavalry baseball team on the other side of Australia, in Perth.  Seriously he couldn't be further away unless he left the country.

So whatis there to pep up a girl?  Awesome nail mail.  The best thing about all this nail mail is that it wasn't even for my birthday, it just arrived in time for my birthday.

First is my Ludurana Aurora Boreal.  I did a swap for these polishes with the sweetest Rafa from Nails Ink.  They were wrapped in the beautiful way with purple bubble wrap and cellophane bags with hearts on them.  It really was like opening a birthday present.  Thank you Rafa!

I didn't get Espetecular, and I see that llarowe doesn't sell it on her site either. But looking at bottle pics it looks very similar to Fascinate.  Rafa also included a Risque polish that looks like a Chanel Paradoxal dupe.  Below are all the holos. Arrrgggggh *wipe drool from mouth*

Next, after seeing Stefs post about Essence being available in Target, I did some googling and discovered that as of Thursday they are now available in every Target in Australia, not just selected stores.  So I hauled arse over to the Canberra city target to check it out.  Canberra ladies, don't bother checking it for a week or two, the display stand was well and truly picked over, with less that 1/3 of polishes left. 

But the polish Gods must have been smiling on me, because there were still two bottles of Blue Addicted left.  Blue Addicted is the dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe, which after seeing Carli's post about it, I had to have. STAT!

Sitting next to that is Nfu Oh #51.  I have been trying to get this polish for at least two years.  I had all the other Nfu Oh Flakes through Vivid Nails, but they were never able to get me this last allusive polish.  The most awesome Erina got me this bottle. Thank you so much!!

I received my Cult nails order.  The Superheros collection.  I can't wait to try them.  Clairvoyant. WOW. It may seriously be the most awesome polish ever!  There's a very cool looking duochrome one in there too - Mind Control.  It looks to be a very special collection.

Finally, I had a gathering with my family last weekend to catch up for my birthday and my Dad's, who's was the week earlier.  I baked a cake.  The ladies instantly knew what it was, but one of my brothers was scratching his head for a while.  Not my best decoration, but it did kinda looks like a metallic orange gold bottle of polish.  It tasted yummy too.

I just don't have time at this time of year to do swatching, so it will have to be NOTD for all those bottles above.

OPI Divine Swine

Good morning, Dear Reader!

The memory of removing OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy with It from OPI Muppets has faded enough to give me the courage to wear its purple counterpart, Divine Swine.

For the manicure, I used three coats of Divine Swine and Essie Good to Go to dry it, and not being up for a thousand coats of top coat, I added one coat of Konad top coat (it's very thick and self-leveling) with a coat of a less effective quick-dry top coat to dry it (I applied it last night and don't remember which).  I know it'll be a great big project to remove, but it sure makes for a cool manicure in the meantime.  I took a picture in daylight long after it had dried, and it's very smooth and sparkly.  Here is OPI Divine Swine.

OPI Divine Swine Nail Polish, Three Coats

I really like it a lot, it's a fun glitter.  The base color isn't as vivid as Gettin' Miss Piggy with It, so it's not quite as eye-catching, but still wonderfully glittery.

That is OPI Divine Swine and the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Excuse Moi layered over Metallic Red

It's my birthday tomorrow and I've got an early birthday present to show today.

I'm proud to say that my mum and I recently converted my muggle sister-in-law to the world of polish.  I was so totally excited to received one of the OPI Muppets polishes from her and the family when we caught up last weekend.  I love this so much that I'm going to have to grab a few more of the Muppets polishes.  Watch out Warm & Fozzy, Rainbow connection and Designer, de Better (I'm coming for you!)

I wore one coat of a dollar shop polish brand called NURY in Metal Red.  This is a gorgeous colour, but I didn't remember to photograph it on it's own.  I then layered two coats of OPI Excuse Moi, then gelous, then Seche Vite top coat.

This layering was so pretty.  My photos just don't do it justice. 

Excuse Moi is such an interesting polish.  It's opaque enough to wear on it's own in two coats, but it also is perfect for layering too. Because of it's pink base, I didn't realise there were so many interesting glitter colours in this polish until I got the macro shot.  I think that is why it looked so pretty on the nail.

I only took this off cause I scored a bottle of Essence Blue Addicted at Target yesterday and I had to kill that Across the Universe lemming immediately!  I will be putting this laying combo back on again soon. Love it!

Most Beautiful Nail Painting

Colorful Nails on Hand for 2012

Polka Dot Nail Painting Image

Silver Color Nail Polish White Floral Design

Shaped Long Nails

Dark and Light Purl Color Nails

Big Nail Arts for Girls

Maroon Color Bigger Nails Arts

Green Leaf Shinny Nail Arts Pictures

Pink Nail Arts and Matching Ring