Thursday 25 December 2014

Merry Christmas!

Hey y'all!

Merry Christmas!  I hope today brings each of you warm, full bellies and warm, full hearts, and maybe a few consumer goods you've been eyeing!  I don't have any new nail art to show you today, but I wanted to send you my best wishes and give you a whole page of exciting nail art from other artists to look at!

Tuesday 23 December 2014

12DOC: Freestyle Christmas Tartan Plaid

Hey y'all!

Today is an exciting day for two reasons!  First, it is the final prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge which has consumed this month's blogging activity for me, and the second reason is a fairly big blogging milestone.  This is my 300th post!  Who would've thought when I started this journey just over a year ago that I'd have logged 300 entries into this blog?  It's very bizarre for me.  In any event, today's final prompt for this challenge is Freestyle, leaving it completely open to each artist's interpretation.  I took inspiration from another artist's design for the Red and Green prompt and while my attempt is nowhere near as sophisticated or chic as Natasja's of Love Life Lacquer, here are my Christmas tartan/plaid nails!

Tartan plaid nail art in Christmas colors red, green, and gold.

Sunday 21 December 2014

12DOC: Presents!

Hey y'all!

Happy first day of winter (officially)!  Seems a bit bizarre, given that I've been wearing a uniform of sweatshirts, long pants, and socks for months now, but I'm still a Texas girl at heart and it's bizarre that my flip-flops were retired for the year in October.  Today marks the penultimate prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas nail art challenge!  It's also the final assigned prompt, because Tuesday's prompt will be freestyle and open to all the artists' interpretations.  I find this prompt particularly appropriate though, because it involves something that I still haven't done and need to do quickly - wrapping presents!

Christmas presents nail art featuring nail foils, stamping, freehand painting, and a nail charm.

Friday 19 December 2014

12DOC: Ugly Sweater Nails

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  We've had a lovely past couple of days, as some heavy rains brought a bit warmer weather and I was actually able to leave the house in flats and no jacket!  Extraordinary!  I don't expect it to last, but I definitely enjoyed it while I could.  It's that time of the year when people pull out their Christmas sweaters (jumpers) and even go to parties dedicated to wearing the ugliest you can find.  In this spirit, today's prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge is Ugly Sweater Nails, and I had to dig out my flocking powder to create some for you!

Ugly sweater nail art created with flocking powder, stamping, rhinestones, and glitter.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

12DOC: Silver Bells Glitter Gradient

Hey y'all!

Happy Wednesday!  Can you believe that in just ONE WEEK it'll be Christmas Eve?  Insanity!  I am truly sorry if you're still jostling around trying to get preparations made.  Thankfully, I've been able to stay on top of it all and am left with the luxury of enjoying all the decorations and fast-forwarding through the commercials because we only ever watch stuff on the DVR these days.  Speaking of decorations, I showed you some on Monday, and today I've taken the 12DOC Glitter prompt and turned it into decorations as well, sort of.  Here is my silver bells purple glitter gradient look.

Metallic purple nails with a glitter gradient, topped with stamped silver bells.

Monday 15 December 2014

12DOC: Christmas Decorations

Hey y'all!

Yup, it's Monday, again, and we're now halfway through December.  By now, neighborhoods should be filled with creative and festive light-up displays at dusk, where enterprising homeowners compete with one another for the most Christmas-y lawn display of the street.  This was the inspiration I used to complete today's 12 Days of Christmas prompt: Christmas Decorations.

Christmas Decorations nail art of icicle lights over a red brick background and a wreath nail charm over a stamped wooden door.

Saturday 13 December 2014

12DOC: Red and Green Candy Canes

Hey y'all!

We are now in the final half of the 12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge, and today's prompt is Red and Green colors.  I took inspiration from the colorful Christmas candy canes (and two of Barry M's Winter Silk shades) to create this striped design.

Red and Green candy cane nail art design.

Thursday 11 December 2014

12DOC: Tenth Time Lord Leaping!

Hey y'all!

So, on Tuesday I geeked out a little bit with my prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas nail art challenge.  Today, I'm geeking out a considerable amount more, and I'm also trying a new-to-me technique, creating home-made water decals.  Our challenge was to pick one day from the 12 Days of Christmas song and use that as our prompt.  After hemming and hawing for a few hours, I finally decided to give in and go with my gut, and completely twist the challenge to fit my geek needs.  Ergo, I present to you the 10th Doctor (Time Lord), leaping across my nails!

Nail art inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas song and Doctor Who - the Tenth Time Lord Leaping.

Tuesday 9 December 2014

12DOC: Hoth Camo!

Hey y'all!

Hold onto your seats for a minute... because my nail art for today's 12 Days of Christmas prompt contains 0% nail charms!  Are you so excited??  I totally am.  Today the Challenge Your Nail Art group is tackling the colors Icy Blue and White, so I decided I wanted to go Tauntaun hunting on Hoth, and was gonna need some camo!

Hoth Camo - Icy Blue and White nail art for the 12 Days of Christmas nail art challenge.

Monday 8 December 2014

Magical Mondays: Harry Potter

Hey y'all!

Happy Monday!  Today I'm stepping outside of the 12 Days of Christmas challenge to bring you the first of a new collaboration series that I'm starting with Catriona of Belle Glamour.  If you've been around a while, you'll have heard me mention Cat in the past - she is the first British blogger friend that I made after starting Fixin To Faff, and what began as a business arrangement has blossomed into a friendship that I truly cherish, as she provides me with almost daily giggles and regales me with stories of her wee Sophie.  Among our other common interests is a love for all things Harry Potter, so we've decided to set aside the first Monday of every month to bring you two nail art looks centered around a common Harry Potter theme.  Of course the only theme we could possibly choose to christen our new collaboration is the boy who lived himself, Harry.

Harry Potter nail art look, a blogger collaboration with Belle Glamour.

Sunday 7 December 2014

12DOC: Santa!

Hey y'all!

Happy Sunday!  We've officially put the first week of December in the bag, and as such, today's prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art 12 Days of Christmas Challenge should bring a few very familiar faces to you, because today we're doing Santa and/or Elves!  I know you'll be shocked by this, but I have *another* nail charm for this prompt!

Santa Claus French Tip nail art with nail charm.

Saturday 6 December 2014

Hey, Swatch It! OPI Red Fingers & Mistletoes

Hey y'all!

Happy Saturday!  Since the currently-running "12 Days of Christmas" challenge is running all month and falls every other day, this will be December's only Swatch It, which I had to post because it's so seasonally appropriate.  I thought I'd show you a pretty little polish that I picked up from the Gwen Stephani Holiday 2014 collection, which called to me from the bottle with its fire-y orange shimmer - I just couldn't walk away!  While most of the collection was easy to overlook in the store, Red Fingers & Mistletoes definitely wouldn't let me!

Swatch and review of OPI Red Fingers & Mistletoes.

Friday 5 December 2014

12DOC: Snowmen

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  Can you believe we've already made it through the first week of December, and Christmas is only 3 weeks away?  Sometimes it feels like the first half of the year drags on and takes forever, then as soon as September hits, everything whizzes past!  Marching right along in the 12 Days of Christmas challenge is today's prompt: Snowmen, so I turned once again to that trusty pack of nail charms I bought at Poundland, and added some freehand nail art to flesh out my look.

Snowman winter nail art.

Wednesday 3 December 2014

12DOC: Christmas Trees

Hey y'all!

I'm back with the second prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge, and today we're covering Christmas trees!

Christmas Tree nail art.

Monday 1 December 2014

12DOC: Snowflakes

Hey y'all!

Happy 1st of December!  We're on the countdown now to Christmas and New Years, and that means a LOT of seasonal nail art from all of your favorite nail artists.  It seems like we only just finished last month's Challenge Your Nail Art series, and here we are starting a new series today.  For the next 3 weeks, we're going to be visiting the Twelve Days of Christmas, with prompts every other day.  Since this schedule runs roughshod over my usual M-W-F-S posting schedule, I'm going to abandon my normal schedule and hold off swatch posts (with one important exception this weekend), so that I can get all this nail art done and still have time to get my Christmas stuff in gear.  All that said, let's get into this challenge!  Our first prompt is Snowflakes!

Snowflake nail art over blue gradient base with stamping and 3D nail charms.