Wednesday 18 December 2013

Christmas Nails

I have only recently gotten into doing my nails and using special effect nail varnishes. Before, I was very much set in my ways of using neutral nail varnishes every so often. With my new found 'daringness' in the nail department, I thought I'd have a go at doing some festive nails with red and glitter ombré.





First I applied a base coat, I use Essie Fill The Gap, because my nails have lots of ridges in them, and they peel. I find creating an even layer to put the nail varnish on protects the nail from peeling any more. Next, I applied a red nail varnish, I used It Girl from Sephora, which is a cool toned dark red. Although, any red nail varnish will do.

After I let this dry, I start with the golden sparkles. I used Knightsbridge Road Galaxy Effect nail varnish from Nails Inc. Any sparkly top coat would work here, but I really like how this includes large, red glitter particles, which will go with the red polish I used earlier. I wiped off the brush 7 or 8 times, so there was hardly any product on the brush and applied it to the top half or so of my nails. I let that dry and applied another coat with slightly more product and applied it to the top quarter of the nails. When I'd used up the product on the brush, I used it to blend the nail varnish so the effect was more graduated. I then put the Sephora Gel Effect top coat over the top, which seemed to tidy up the look and also create an even surface, to prevent the nails from chipping.



I'm hardly a nail technician, but I'm quite impressed with my handywork here. I think this look looks pretty good, and it really isn't hard to do. You can keep adding more red and gold and blending with a clean brush until you're happy. A top coat will always tidy it up, so no one will ever know. I think this look would also look really nice with navy blue and silver sparkles, but your options are pretty much endless.

Are you guys doing any festive themed nails? Let me know!

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5 comments:

  1. Beautiful with the shimmer - it's a subtle but lovely frosty effect :o). Xx

    Makeup by Candlelight

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks absolutely gorgeous - I might give this a try for Christmas, hopefully they will look half as lovely as yours!

    http://meltedglitter.blogspot.com xox

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  3. Pretty!

    Chelle x
    http://chellesbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/

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  4. Whoa love the combo! :) I love the glittery polish you used, I must see if I can find it and buy it. Red nails for Christmas is a must btw! Lovely post, darling.

    xx from Misty's stuff

    ReplyDelete

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