Nail Varnish Christmas Decorations!

I am SO excited about today's post! Ever since I saw this tutorial for nail polish ornaments at The Nail Network, I've wanted to make some of my own. But it turns out that clear glass baubles aren't easy to find in the UK. I looked EVERYWHERE I could think of! Supermarkets, craft shops, cheap decoration shops, expensive decoration shops, online... The only place I found any were Amazon (plastic and very expensive delivery) or Ebay (which I don't use). Then I remembered that I had these coloured glass baubles that I bought in Paperchase a few years ago.

I had two boxes of these. They're pretty, but a bit bland, and I don't think I bothered using them last Christmas. The other box (not shown) has two clear ones too.   So, I pulled out all the caps and wires, and got pouring!  I used lots of glitters, especially the ones that aren't brilliant on the nails (too smelly, too gloopy or too uneven, or all three). I poured them in, swirled them around, then stood the baubles upside down on the bottles to pour the excess back in. Then in some cases I was done, and just left them to dry, turning them around every so often to make sure any drips evened out. With some of the others, I did a second coat later to make the coverage denser. 

Aren't they pretty?!  Want to look in more detail? Well here we go, but it's picture heavy!

The Models Own glitters worked really well. I wasn't a huge fan of them on the nails - they smell a bit, and are quite thick and don't lie flat. But they look stunning here!

These are the Mirrorball collection polishes that I have.

These are from the Firework collection.



This blue is Freak Out. This was in a pale blue bauble.

This is Boogie Nights. I love how this one looks! This was in a clear bauble.

This is Hot Stuff, in a pink bauble.

This is Rocket, in a red bauble. You can't really see the orange/gold glitter, but I don't think it really matters!



This is Catherine Wheel, in a yellow bauble. I love this one!

Moving on to Barry M, this is Yellow Topaz Glitter, in a yellow bauble.

This is Pink Sapphire Glitter in a pink bauble. This polish was a bit sparse - I may put some more coats in later to improve this one!

This is one that was labelled mysteriously last year, but which I think is Jewel Britannia. I love this one! It's in a clear bauble.

I think this one is my favourite! It's one of this year's Barry M Superdrug Limited Editions.

I mean - just look at it! This one was in a pink bauble.

Here it is again with another Barry M limited edition - this was the other Superdrug one, a silver holo glitter, in a grey bauble. This one looks much better in real life, but isn't hugely pretty either.

And this is Aqua Glitter, in a blue bauble.

Moving on, this is Jordana Copper Blaze, in an orange bauble.

This is Kleancolor Blind Date, in a blue bauble.

This is Kleancolor Aurora, in a pink bauble. This one was really hard to photograph. It's really shimmery in real life!

This is Deborah Lippmann, Across the Universe, in a blue bauble.

This is another Deborah Lippmann, Bad Romance, in a purple bauble.

Here is OPI Crown Me Already, in a grey bauble.

This is American Apparel Jupiter, in a green bauble. This one was awkward - the formula was very runny.

This is Sinful Colors Nail Junkie, in a green bauble. This was disappointing, because the formula was too liquid to really cover and dry properly. It's still sparkly though.

China Glaze polishes worked really well - they poured easily and covered well, and look really sparkly. This is Glitter All The Way in a green bauble. The green hides some of the colours (the purple isn't too visible) but isn't it pretty?

This is the beautiful Emerald Sparkle. It doesn't look much here, but it's so nice in real life!

This is Be Merry, Be Bright, in a purple bauble. I love this one!



And last of all, here's the ultimate Christmas glitter, Party Hearty, in a red bauble. The red hides most of the green of Party Hearty, but still! Gorgeous!

Essie Skirting the Issue + Jordana Copper Blaze

This is yesterday's new purchase, Essie's Skirting the Issue. I was idly browsing in Boots, and picked this up thinking 'meh, another vampy red, I have loads of these...' when I suddenly noticed - JELLY! Oh wow. I have lots of dark, vampy reds. But I do NOT have any vampy red jellies! It looks great on its own, but I thought it might be fun to try a jelly sandwich. 

This is one coat of Skirting the Issue. It's a lovely smooth formula, although a bit streaky at one coat. It dries semi matte in appearance, so this would need topcoat.

I then added a coat of Jordana's Copper Blaze. This was a gift from my lovely American friend Ari, and it's SO sparkly and pretty. It's the perfect glitter for me, in an orangey coppery gold. There's tiny microglitter, and larger hex glitter, all the same colour, in a clear base. I often wear this over black, or dark blue, both of which look good.  Anyway, I then added another coat of Skirting the Issue, which gave me this:

I was initially disappointed, in that it clearly isn't going to make a typical jelly sandwich. The Essie is far too dark for that. You can't see the glitter clearly, much less the colour of it. However, after a few minutes of waving my fingers around, I decided that actually, this looks pretty cool! It was much sparklier and shinier than I'd expected, and I think it looks very similar to Barielle's Elle's Spell (which I posted about here). 

After another coat of Skirting the Issue, I then added a final coat of Copper Blaze. You need to be a little careful when applying this, as the larger pieces can drag, so you do need to push them around a bit to get the placement even.

Copper Blaze is just SO sparkly!


I like this. I think maybe I'll just wear the Copper Blaze over the top of Skirting the Issue in future though, rather than layering it.