I'm having so much fun creating fun holiday inspired nails. Today's nail creation is traditional candy cane stripes. A striping tool is essential in creating this look. You could use a nail art polish, but I don't always love their formula. You may have to go over it a few times to get even, opaque coverage.
For the white I used a flat white with no shimmer: LA Splash Great White ($3.99). A shimmery white would also look nice, just make sure you apply enough layers to achieve full coverage. I used a medium length striping tool from a Sally Beauty Nail Art Brush Set ($10.99) to create alternating thicknesses of red. I liked the little bit of shimmer that Zoya Lisa ($7) adds. A little shimmer gives it a realistic candy shine. I topped it with two coats of Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat ($9.99) for extra shine.
Click the pic to see full size. Would you recreate this look?
This holiday nail kind of happened as a happy accident. I pulled a bunch of festive polishes from my collection and just started layering. It ended up looking a little like a decorated christmas tree. Obviously not literally, but more like the essence of one. I used 4 polishes to create the final look. You can stop at any point. For example, the first two steps look a little like venetian marble and are really cool just on their own.
Step by step:
1. Apply 2 coats of OPI Jade is New Black. Let dry a few mintutes
2. Using a sponge (a piece of a clean dish sponge works perfectly) dab on Sephora By OPI Dark Room. Let dry 2 minutes.
3. Top with 1 coat of a Flakie polish. I used INGLOT #205. Let dry another 2 minutes
4. Add 1 or 2 coats of an irregular glitter polish. I used a Claire's sample polish. (I don't have an exact name, sorry.) What works really well for this is big flecks of glitter or strange shaped glitter. It gives the illusion of ornaments. Let dry a few minutes between coats.
5. Top it all off with a few coats of clear top coat. I used Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
(click the picture to see detail)
Too much? Not enough? Should I put a star on the top of each nail? What do you think?
As most of you know, I am abso-obsessed with all flakie polish. It's such a cool effect and adds so much dimension to your nails. When I was given Barielle Elle's Spell I totally sqeeled. Red Flakies are perfection for the holidays. Unfortunately, this polish doesn't do so well on it's own, so I think layering is a must. I chose to go a with red-on-red. However, the red flakies would probably look KILLER on top of gold, silver or white. Who knows, it could even elevate a rich chocolate brown color to the next level.
I used Essie Limited Addiction for my base color. I applied 2 coats, waiting a few mintues between coats. Then I applied 2 coats of the Barielle Elle's Spell, which I also let dry between coats. I finished it all off with a coat of Sechie Vite Fast Dry Top Coat. Enjoy!
(as always, click picture to see detail)
Do you love rocking a red nail in the winter? Have any other suggestions for flakie layering?
Hey Kittens! What I love most about the fall and winter is the fact that holidays during these seasons give us PLENTY of reasons to wear crazy fun nails! The more glitter, the BETTER. No matter what your age, wearing glitter around the holidays is totally acceptable.
May I present to you a holiday nail suggestion: Glitter-tipped gold. To create this look I used Sephora By OPI Charge It! as my base color. Two coats give a nice opaque, metallic finish. After letting them dry for a few minutes, I then applied a dab of clear (glitter polish would work well too) and dipped the tips of the nails right into the glitter. The glitter I used was LA Splash Lady Luck. This glitter is especially cool because it has small glitter pieces as well as larger ones and it reflects golds, pinks, and greens.
Do you have any special nail art or colors you like to use around the holidays?
