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!

Pink and White Mish Mash

Inspired by the wonderful nails that Sammy (the Nailasaurus) often does, where none of the nails match, but they all coordinate, today I have a pink and white mish-mash of things.

I used Essie Blanc on my thumb and ring finger. On my thumb I added dots of China Glaze Life is Rosy. On my ring finger I made a heart of China Glaze Material Girl, which I applied with a dotting tool.

On my other three fingers I used two coats of China Glaze Life is Rosy, and then added a coat of Kleancolor Aurora to my index finger. On my middle finger I used striping tape and Essie Blanc to make stripes, and on my little finger I used a Barry M Nail Art Pen in white to make tiny dots.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out! I like how the nails are all different, and yet all tied together. I will definitely be doing more looks in this sort of style! What do you think?

Half Moon Mani - Kleancolor Salsa Much

This is one of my American swap polishes, Kleancolor's Salsa Much. 

I'm wearing it as a half moon over Nails Inc Colville Mews, a pale yellow-toned nude. This is two coats of Colville Mews, and two coats of Salsa Much, with topcoat.

Salsa Much is a clear base with lots of tiny glitter in shades of red, gold and some blue. The glitter is very fine, and ends up leaving the look of an overall pinky red colour. 

Salsa Much is ok - it isn't as sparkly as I would have expected it to be, and it ended up looking a bit underwhelming, to be honest. 

I think wearing it as a half moon makes it marginally more interesting than just on its own... but I'm still not blown away. Maybe I need to wear it over black or something?

Kleancolor - Born to the Purple

My recent swap parcel included loads of GORGEOUS glitters, and they're all exciting. But the two that grabbed my eye the fastest were two of the Kleancolor jelly glitters, Red Hot and Born to the Purple. Almost immediately, I'd made two rings and a pendant!

Here is Born to the Purple on my nails - this is about three coats. It's a little hard to tell, as some of the coats were more dabbings that actual coats. Born to the Purple is a bright fuschia purple jelly polish with stacks of bright purple glitter. The glitter isn't particularly easy to place on the nail, but with some careful dabbing I got an even coverage. 

I absolutely LOVE how this looks - it's so squishy and bright and shiny, it reminds me of boiled sweets.  It looked amazing in the sunlight - which of course had gone by the time I got round to taking photos!

This took a while to dry. Not an inordinately long time, but longer than many polishes I use. Nothing that was a problem though. And just look at the result!

I mean - look how squishy it is!

I love how the ring looks - the glitter is suspended in the jelly and it's just so bright and pretty!

I made a pendant to go with it too.

And here is my Red Hot ring.

While I'm here, here is a bunch of pendants - some that I've made for a friend, with my Born to the Purple one. What you have here is Models Own Purple Glitter, Sally Hansen Garnet Lapis, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, and China Glaze Ruby Pumps.

Birthday + Another Swap = LOADS OF NAIL STUFF!!

I had a birthday, and bought stuff from the Born Pretty online store, and did another swap with my American friend Ariadne Elise, and all the parcels arrived on the same day!



In the box are: lots of nail varnishes, peanut butter related American sweets & chocolates, socks, nail varnish, a very special personalised nail varnish planner (lol), cupcake supplies, Springsteen cds, various vouchers and more nail varnish.

Ari made me a gorgeous ring which is so sparkly it's impossible to take a photo of.

I bought studs and striping tape and lots of glequins from Born Pretty:

A friend sent me two of the OPI Germany polishes. These are Danke Shiny Red and Germani-cure by OPI. 

These are my swapsies! Look! My first Kleancolor polishes, and OH MY GOODNESS!

Look!

And more!

I am going to have so much fun with this lot!