Winter nail design for New Years

What a crazy week. My internet has been acting funny, I think its the wireless base and not actually the cable - hence the delay in posting. I had prepared the posts but could not get online to post.

For the next few days I'll be with family and friends celebrating Christmas (we have several gatherings to go to). Then even more on New Years, add on the fact that my nieces birthday is Jan 1. So I wanted to post the design I'll be sporting on new years.



The base I did with OPI Ski Teal We Drop
, which I reviewed in an earlier post. It's a lovely navy (however, in some light it looks forest green). I do like the shade, mostly. I'd like it more if it never appears forest green.



For the Snowflakes, I used GCOCL plates, which are like the cheaper version of Konad nail art plates. The plate I used was m10. The paint used was Konad Sky Pearl
which is a mid-light blue with shimmer. The shimmer is not usually visible after stamping, but the color is lovely.
If you haven't tried nail art stamps before, I highly recommend it. The expense adds up buying plates, but they last forever and you can reuse them indefinitely.



I tried not to center the large snowflakes so I could add partials to the sides to make it look more like falling snow. I love how the look came out. It's probably one of my favorite nail stamping designs.

Do French!

I love all variations of the french manicure. From the crazy to the simple pink & white. I feel like it makes my nails and toes generally look better, and it can hide tip flaws when the rest of the nail looks nice. I usually work with a white tip and a clear coat. Sometimes I go a bit wild, when I can.
My main problem with French manicures is that I chip my nails often. I hate spending forever trying to do a perfect french, to only have it chip within 24 hours.

A fun french manicure

For these nails I used square french tip guides, which didn't come out perfect as I removed them too soon. They should be left on just long enough for the polish to begin to set but not to completely thicken/dry. Remove too soon and you'll smudge, remove to late and you'll pull strings or chip. I usually leave the guide on about 60 seconds after painting the tip. You also want to try to get as little polish on the actual guide as possible.

Oops, I painted on a hair :(

For the colors I used MAC Earthly Harmony for the base, and OPI Ski Teal We Drop for the tips. It makes for an amazingly lovely combination. These two polishes were born to co-exist!

In this photo, you can kind of see the orange sparkles in Earthly Harmony

It needed a tiny bit more pizzaz in my book. After painting I used a water decal on my middle fingernails only. I found one in my Viva La Nails setup where the colors matched perfectly, at least the teal did. The flash made the blues look lighter but in real life they looked exactly the same.

Working with water decals is a pain, I'll do a how to post soon

I finished with Rimmel London 10 day lasting finish. Which as of now is my new favorite top coat. My manicures have been lasting anywhere from 2 days to over 1 week longer (on my toes, where I change things less often). I kept this design on my nails for about 4 days before the chipping began on my thumbs. During that time I got quite a few comments.

So what do you think? Posh and pretty?  Or over the top?

Polishes were purchased by me. Water decal was part of a blogger review pack from Viva La Nails.

O.P.I. Swiss Collection Ski Teal We Drop

Probably the only color I've really really wanted from the Swiss Collection by OPI Ski Teal We Drop
. I've been so in love with the swatches I've seen but my CBSullivan seems to always be sold out. I finally broke down and ordered it through Amazon(for double the price, ouch). Amazon told me I'd have to wait a month for shipping, but I got it within 2 weeks.

O.P.I. Swiss Collection 2010 Ski Teal We Drop

The color is lovely cream navy blue in most light. Which I love. I could see using it for all sorts of fun designs. In fact, I did a colored french design I'll post next week. Overall it's a great fall/winter nail polish.

In warmer light

The downside is, in warmer lights or at night time it actually appears completely Forest green. Gag. Green is one of my favorite colors, but for some reason forest green nails just look funky to me. To me, thats the biggest downside to Ski Teal We Drop. It bugged me so much I removed my polish a day before I had originally planned.

Because I had trouble finding it at my beauty supply store (they had the rest of the swiss collection) I can only assume its popular. Many sellers on Amazon do in fact carry it, including Amazon itself with free prime shipping. Don't be turned off by the shipping time, it really did not take over a month for them to plop it in the mail - more like 5 days.

Do you like Navy polishes?