Christmas Glitter Mani 2021

I fell behind with posting, but I really wanted to get this Christmas Mani up on the blog (even though there are a few older manis that I have yet to post! 😅), as it's becoming a bit of a tradition for me to do this same mani at Christmas-time:

I talked about the first two times that I did this manicure in this post from December 2018. I'm pretty sure that this is actually the fourth time I re-created this mani, as I distinctly remember wearing it during the holidays in 2019, however, it looks like I didn't take any pictures of it that year.

One change that I made from the original version, is that I am using a different gold base polish for my middle finger. In the first two versions I used Orly 'Luxe' as the base coat, which is a bit more of a true gold colour. This year (and I think last year too), I started using OPI 'Dazzling Dew Drop', which is a bit more of a brassy, yellow-toned gold. I think that this shade of gold works a little better with this bright, playful look. For both versions, I used Orly 'Halo' as the glitter topper over the gold polishes.

Once again, I love how it turned out! This manicure was so much fun to wear, as it instantly put me in a festive mood!  

Happy Holidays to all!

'Shades of Coral' Manicure

 

For today's mani, I decided to a skittles manicure using a dark, medium, and light shade of coral. I used three polishes from Essie's Gel Couture line to accomplish this look: 'Sizzling Hot', 'Signature Smile', and 'Couture Curator'. I'm calling it my 'Shades of Coral' mani! 

I actually really enjoyed this look. It's fun and summery, but also sweet, and playful! For some reason, it kind of reminds me of 'Strawberry Shortcake' - the cartoon, not the dessert! Perhaps little green and white accents would complete that look... hmmmn... that could be a fun mani idea for the future!

Summer Fun Shimmery Skittles Mani

Today I have another summery skittles mani to share, this time using all bright shimmery colours. I even managed to throw in a bit of embellisment, with some nail jewels! 

For the manicure I used four different Sally Hansen Polishes. I've been having a lot of fun shopping my stash lately, and using older polishes that I haven't really used much in years. I've been rediscovering a lot of fun drug store polishes that I bought back when I just started getting into nail polish, some of which are now discontinued.

Polishes Used

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear ‘Hot Magenta’

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure ‘Wedding Glitters’

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear ‘Ivy League’

Sally Hansen Hi-Definition Nail Colour ‘Three D’

All in all, I really like how this manicure turned out. I think the colours work really well together, and they are so cheerful!

Blue, Gold and Orange Skittles Mani featuring Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

As discussed in my last post, I managed to do another skittles manicure! This mani features the iconic original version of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Pacific Blue'. This polish caused quite a stir in the nail polish world when it was reformulated back in 2014. The original version was super popular, and much beloved in nail polish circles, and has now become somewhat of a collector's item. I've had the bottle in the photo above for several years now - I'm estimating that I may have purchased it anywhere between 7 to 10 years ago!

In the manicure, I used Pacific blue on both my thumb and ring finger. I chose complementary shades of light blue, gold and orange to complete the look.

Polishes Used

Morgan Taylor ‘No Filter Needed’

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear ‘Pacific Blue’

Rimmel 60 Seconds ‘Dazzle’

Orly ‘Melt Your Popsicle’

I really like how this manicure turned out. The colour combination is fun and energetic, and works really well for the summer! I'm happy I was able to throw a neon polish into the look, with Orly's neon orange 'Melt Your Popsicle', as well as a bit of bling with Rimmel's gold shimmer polish 'Dazzle'. 

Metallic (Partial) Rainbow Skittles Mani

It's been a while since I got a chance to feature some new nail art on this blog. It's been difficult lately to find time to sit down and create a design and then execute it. As a result, I've been doing a lot of simple (one-polish) manicures. I decided to try to dip back into creativity, with one of the simplest forms of nail art - the skittles mani.  I wanted to do something bright and cheery, so I decided on the Metallic Rainbow Skittles mani photographed above.

Polishes Used

Orly 'Crawford's Wine'

Orly 'Flicker'

Revlon Brilliant Strength 'Hypnotize'

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear  'Emerald City'

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear  'Blue It'

I love how this mani turned out - it is so fun and colourful, that I'm inspired to do more! However, I think I may just stick with skittles manicures for the time being, because they are relatively quick and easy to accomplish. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to throw in the odd manicure with other embellishments, and/or some stamping here and there... we'll see where this goes!

Adjacent Color Scheme Skittles Mani (Blueprint only)

Today I have the blueprint of a manicure to share, but not the manicure itself.  Sadly, I didn't get to take a picture of the actual manicure, however I did get a picture of the polishes that I used.

What happened? Well, I did my manicure, and then took a picture of the polishes that I used so that I could put the polishes away. I was planning to take a picture of my manicure later, after I had done some clean up on my cuticles. Unfortunately, I never got around to taking the picture! I figured I'd put the polish picture up anyways because one of the main reasons for this blog has always been to keep track of my various manicure ideas and looks, as well as to share the results. Unfortunately, I don't have the results for this post, but it was still a pretty good idea that turned out well, so I figure that it's worth noting.

Anyways, it was a skittles mani created with the following polishes (in the same order from thumb to pinky):

The polishes I used were: OPI 'Ski Teal we Drop', Zoya 'Meg', Zoya 'Elphie' (PixieDust), Zoya 'Ryan' and Zoya 'Waverly' (PixieDust). I quite liked how the colours looked together, and I remember being really taken with how lovely the textured polishes, Elphie and Waverly, looked. I only wear textured polishes occasionally, so it was a nice change for me.

Monochromatic Skittles Mani

I love manicures that allow me to use a lot of polishes at once, because I like being able to go through my untried polishes. That was basically the inspiration behind the skittles manicure that I am sharing today.

These polishes were all new to my collection, most of which were picked up during boxing week and January sales. I really love how they look together!  If I had to pick favourites, I would have to say that I really like 'Viva Antigua!' and 'First Timer'.

Polishes Used

Essie 'Poolside Service'

Essie 'Viva Antigua!'

Essie 'First Timer'

Essie 'Going Guru'

Essie 'Passport to Happiness'

All in all, I really like how the manicure turned out! It's a simple adjacent colour scheme and ordered more or less from darkest to lightest shade. It's essentially a manicure which allows you to just have fun playing with colours!

Heart Stamped Skittles Mani

Today I have a cute skittles mani with a stamped accent nail to share.

I'm ecstatic about the way this manicure turned out. I love the colours together and I think the finished look is so much fun. For the stamped accent nail, I made a stamped gradient by filling the stamping image with drops of both coloured polishes. The dark metallic pink polish 'The Lace is on' and the dark metallic blue polish 'Front Page Worthy' combined to form a lovely metallic purple where the two polishes blended. I stamped the image over the light gray polish 'Go with the Flowy' used as a base.

Polishes Used

Essie 'The Lace is On'

Essie 'Go with the Flowy'

Essie Gel Couture 'Front Page Worthy'

I think the plate I used was Lina Nail Art Supplies 'Make Your Mark 07', but I am no longer 100 per cent sure, as I forgot to take note of it or take a picture to remind myself. If I figure it out at a later time, I'll try to remember to come back and update this page. All in all, this was a very successful manicure, and I absolutely loved wearing it!