Thursday 17 December 2015

Christmas Holly Nails (November Nailbox Polishes)

Helloo! Today I've taken inspiration from the nail design tutorials included in November's Nailbox (post here). One of them shows you how to create a holly leaf manicure. I decided to do a similar design but stamped holly leaves instead of freehanding them. I used all three polishes from the box, as the tutorials originally intend. As always, read on for more info! 
 
Christmas Holly Nails @acertainbeccaa

Please ignore my lumpy little fingernail - it appears my teabag repair (post here) didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped!

I painted my index and middle fingers with OPI 'Happy Anniversary'. The tutorial suggested four coats so I knew it very sheer. It did build up surprisingly well considering the initial sheerness, and is so pretty. I applied four coats but can still see my nail line in certain lights. I think next time I might layer this over white.

On my other fingers I used True Brit London 'Park Lane',  a gorgeous deep green opaque in two/three coats. I needed three due to the length of my nails. This dried smelling of something so familiar that I couldn't put my finger on! After a while trying to work it out I checked the ingredients list and it's elderflower - I love it!

True Brit London 'Park Lane' & OPI 'Happy Anniversary' @acertainbeccaa

To stamp my holly leaves I used my favourite Christmas plate - MoYou London Festive plate 03 (online here) and my squishy rectangular stamper.

MoYou London Festive Plate 03 @acertainbeccaa

I crossed my fingers and hoped that True Brit London 'Park Lane' would stamp due to its opaqueness, and it did! I stamped the holly leaves pattern (top left on the plate) onto my middle and index fingers. Apologies for the dark photo here - I nearly always do my nails at night!

Holly Leaves with True Brit London 'Park Lane' @acertainbeccaa

Although this was super pretty on it's own, I wanted the holly berries to be red. I dotted a small amount of Rimmel 'Double Decker Red' onto each berry using a dotting tool and sealed my design in with topcoat.
 
Christmas Holly Nails @acertainbeccaa

Christmas Holly Nails @acertainbeccaa

What do you think? Do you prefer them with or without the red berries? I think i prefer with the berries, they're really cute! I think this is another design you could get away with being both Christmassy or just Wintery.

In other news, I leave for my Christmas holiday tomorrow, yay! I have some guest posts scheduled for you while I'm away, starting tomorrow. There are some amazing ladies helping me out so don't miss them!
 
Hope to see you in the next post!
Becca x
 
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

2 comments:

  1. Great post as always hun, I am loving those holly leaves. You are seriously making me want to buy that plate, another one to add to the ever growing wishlist :) x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you lovely! I've used it so many times, you definitely need it! :) x

      Delete