Christmas Eve is Here

I love Christmas Eve! I love sitting around as a family with all the lights off except for the Christmas tree and just chatting. It's one of my favourite times of the year. This year is extra special as my brother and his family are able to join us for the first time in a few years.

This evening always brings to mind a fireplace with stockings hung and a plate full of cookies for Santa.

I did my fireplace using a whole multitude of colours so if you'd like to know a specific colour, let me know.

I should have taken a picture less angled as it would look more like a fireplace if it was straight on but I didn't really notice until I was editing these.

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening and a Merry Christmas Eve!

Happy painting friends!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Well tomorrow is the night that Santa finally comes and so of course I had to do some Santa nail art. I actually did these a while ago but I knew I wanted to post them closer to Christmas day.

I started with two coats of Zoya Delilah and then painted on the Santa suit details using nail pens.

Although I'm only posting my left hand, I did do the design on both hands. It's just so hard to take pictures of my right hand!

I love how Christmassy this design is and I ended up wearing it for a few days I liked it so much!

Happy painting friends!

Christmas Pudding

I saw this super cute design on One Nail to Rule Them All of Christmas puddings and knew I just had to try it myself!

How cute are these?! I love them and they were easy to do. I started with a base of Jessica Brown Sugar (I think it was two coats). I then added on the icing and holly with nail pens.

The only thing with these that I'm not super happy about is that the edge where the polish meets the cuticle is not very neat. My clean up was not amazing but it's all about practice!!

Happy painting friends!

Christmas Glitter Polka Dots

I wanted to do something a bit glam for the season and since I've been trying to do both hands (as only one hand done is weird when you're in public) I needed something that was reasonably easy. Dotting is a beautiful pattern and rather easy to do on both hands.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Diamonds which is a beautiful gold shimmer. I then went in with my dotting tools and did various sizes of Zoya Delilah (red), Tomoko (gold) and an unnamed Color Club green.

These pictures are of my ever elusive right hand! Let me tell you how hard it is to take pictures using your left hand. I need to practice apparently.

Happy painting friends!

Putting Presents Under the Tree

Of course I needed to do some presents! Christmas for me is all about family but I must admit that I do get excited about all those fancy wrapped packages under the tree :)

I started with a base of Sephora by OPI Curve-aceous (gotta love that red!) and then added in all the accents (bows, ribbon, tree, star) using nail pens.

I think these are pretty but I don't know that they are super "original" and they are very plain compared to what my mom does with her wrapping.

Next year when I do present nail art I will have to make them all different.

Happy painting friends!

Light Me Up

Living in an apartment is not very conducive to having outside lights. My husband has always had a fantasy of having a National Lampoon's type Christmas light display, lol. Since we can't have them where we live, I thought I would put them on my nails.

I started with a base of Essie Bikini So Teeny (one of my favourite light blues). I then went in with a whole load of nail pens and drew in the Christmas lights.

I then took Sally Hansen White On and sponged it at the base to look like snow (not sure how successful this was).

Here are some pics in natural light:

I got the inspiration from the look the Nailasaurus did here but I wanted to make it look more like the snow was on top of the lights. Unfortunately I was a bit too heavy handed and I think I covered up the lights a bit too much. Oops :)

Happy painting friends!

Christmas Leopard

I love me some leopard and so of course I had to do some Christmas themed ones! I stared with a base of Sephora by OPI Curve-aceous (red) and Nails Inc. Bruton Mews on the accent nail.

I then dabbed on the opposite colour for the leopard spots. The above picture is taken in front of my Christmas tree :)

I then used a copper nail pen and outlined the spots.

Here are some pics outdoors:

This may be one of my favourite leopards! I love how versatile animal prints are. I think this would look good with a gold stud at the base of the nail.

Happy painting friends!

Warm Up with a Cup of Cheer

I love getting inspiration from all over and today's nails are inspired by a picture of one of my friends, Nikki, who recently visited the German Christmas Market here in Vancouver. If you are ever so fortunate as to meet Nikki, you would find her to be one cool lady indeed!

Here is the pic I took inspiration from:

And here is the nail art that came from it:

I started with a base of Zoya Sailor  on all of my nails to replicate her coat and then added polka dots using a dotting pen and Revlon Foxy (dark brown) and an unnamed beige by LA Color Craze for a rather loose interpretation of the fur around her collar.

My first pic is in natural light and the second pic is taken indoors.

This pic is also in natural light. For the cup I used an unnamed red in my collection and some nail art pens for the details. I'm not sure what exactly is in the cup ;)

Nikki liked it a lot! (I think, lol)

Happy painting friends!

A Little Bit Holly

Being back at work has sure made me behind in blogging! I have definitely not been on top of it like I usually am but I still haven't missed a day! I wanted to do some nail art for my friend Holly and what better to do than some holly :)

I started with a base of Orly Moonlit Madness (red) and then did a diagonal stripe of Zoya Tomoko (gold). I then took the Orly and dotted on the berries followed by putting the leaves and gold accents on with nail pens.

I really like how these turned out but they weren't what I pictured in my mind lol. Isn't that always the way?

Apparently I applied the top coat (Seche Vite) rather poorly as I had uneven lines near the cuticle. Oh well, it's a learning process!

Happy painting friends!

What Says Christmas More than Green and Red?

Today I have used China Glaze Outta Bounds and OPI Magazine Cover Mouse to do a stripe design. I was going to incorporate some gold as well but it didn't really work out.

I think it's such a Christmas combination! It reminds me of gift wrap.

The only thing I wish is that my lines were a bit more even; it would make the look cleaner. But overall I think this is a simple (ish) Christmas design. I like the contrast of the shiny green and textured red as well.

Happy painting friends!

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

I think that we are going to get our Christmas tree this weekend which I am beyond excited for! We usually go to Ikea of all places but they have nice trees and we usually get some chocolate biscuits from their food section and then fight (not really!) over which Christmas music to play. It's our own little tradition :)

I started with a base of Orly White Out (2 coats) and then put two coats of a silver glitter on my pinkie and thumb. 

Then I went in with my trusty nail pens and drew on the ornaments and tree. I added a silver star to the top of the tree and called it a day.

I really like the cleanness of this design. It's not too busy.

Now bring on the chocolate biscuits and tree trimming!

Happy painting friends!

Tis the Season!

It's December and you know what that means...Christmas nail art is upon us! I'm not saying that I'm going to do holiday themed nail art every day but I'm also not promising that I won't. Christmas is my favourite time of the year and I'm so excited to do some cool designs. I'm pretty pumped about today's look. I saw something similar to this on a blog and for the life of me I can't remember which one (wish I could so I could give credit where credit is due!).

I used a base of Zoya Tomoko (which you know I love!) and then drew on the holly leaves with a green nail pen and the berries with Orly Moonlit Madness and a dotting tool.

I think this turned out so well! The holly is pretty simple design-wise but I think it looks amazing when paired with the gold textured polish. So festive!!!!

I absolutely did not want to take this off of my fingers!

Happy painting friends!