Hello and welcome! I’m finally getting to do a festive design, which makes me incredibly happy. And it’s just in the nick of time!
So this is probably going to be a monthly occurrence, since I purchased the subscription, but for this design I’m using the Maniology Mani x Me box. And it came with the perfect stamping plates for what I wanted to do. For inspiration, I searched the manixmebox hashtag to see what other people had done. And when I saw the ornaments done by @copycatclaws I was immediately sold. But I knew I wanted to stick with classic colors, and use these Christmas stickers that I bought forever ago in preparation for now. I love the sales after holidays that make all the themed stuff cheap, but it’s torture to wait an entire year to use it.
What I Used:
- Base Coat: Glisten & Glow – Base Coat
- 1st Color: Colors by Llarowe – The Mighty Red Baron Original
- 2nd Color: Twinkled T – Ghosted
- 3rd Color: Painted Polish – Stamped in Greenery 2.0
- 4th Color: Maniology – bam! white
- 5th Color: Maniology – Ice Pond
- 6th Color: Maniology – Snowdrift
- Top Coat: Glisten & Glow – Top Coat
- Maniology M036 stamping plate
- silicone stamper & scraper
- lint roller sheet
- Maniology double-sided dotting tool & nail art brush
- Maniology Christmas rub on nail decals
- Twinkled T clean up brush, size #2
- acetone nail polish remover
As usual, I started with base coat, and then two coats of Colors by Llarowe – The Mighty Red Baron Original. I bought this polish because it’s a favorite for one of my friends, so of course I had to try it out for myself. And I was not disappointed, it’s sparkly, and applies easily. The only reason it won’t ever be my favorite is because it’s red, but it’s still great for special occasions.
Then, I stamped a base grey-ish color on to my nails. I went with ornaments on my thumb and pinky, a circle of ornaments on my ring finger, a Christmas tree in the middle, and I couldn’t decide what to do on my pointer. I felt more ornaments would throw the balance off, so I went with a simple wreath line.
And since I was feeling lazy, I filled in the ornament colors after the stamp was on my nails. I used green (of course), the blue that came in the box, and a white. For the tree, I simply used green, and the new gold from the box. It was all very sloppy at this point, but I was really hoping that my idea would work, and I wouldn’t have to redo anything.
Next, I reapplied the stamps, just in gold this time. Some of the nails were pretty hard to align with the original stamp, but I did my best. And I don’t think you can even tell that I did these a bit strange. For the last step, I applied the stickers to my ring and pointer fingers. I chose an image of Santa, and “Merry Christmas” in white.
Sadly the top coat somehow made the red bleed through the stickers. I wonder if I just didn’t let it all dry enough, or there’s some other trick to nail art stickers that I don’t know yet. But even with that, I absolutely love these nails! They took me a while, but it was worth it. Because they came out exactly as I imagined (the complete opposite of my fall attempt). And they’re just so festive, they make me happy, and make up for the fact that I couldn’t do more designs for the holiday.
I hope everyone enjoys their holidays!
Update:
It did not feel like I wore this design for a week! They definitely added to my joy throughout the week though. Even though they weren’t perfect, they made me completely happy, and matched my Christmas spirit. As for how they lasted, by Christmas Eve I had a few tiny chips along the edges of my left hand. But they stayed so tiny that you can’t even see them in pictures. Trust me, I tried. So even with opening things, and just more nail/hand use in general, they stayed intact. And I would call that a huge success.
Weekly Nail 