Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Holiday manicure ideas with the Pretty Woman Holiday Nail Kit


      As some of you might know on Monday I was given the opportunity to take over the Pretty Woman NYC twitter feed for their virtual holiday party. For 2 hours I shared some nail art, held a few giveaways, and talked about holiday trivia. It was kind of fun, but not very interactive. I think the time slot I had may have had something to do with that, though. (Middle of the day and just after lunch.)

    For the party I came up with 4 nail art looks using the 4 nail polishes that come in the Holiday Nail kit. I wanted to do designs that even a beginner could easily replicate, and I wanted them to have a holiday feel. Something you might wear for Christmas or New Years without being a traditional design.  These are the looks I came up with.

Argyle-Manicure

     I started out with an Argyle manicure using Just Peachy, Snake Charmer, and Gold Dust. This was actually a lot harder to do than I thought. An Argyle manicure has been on my to-do list for a few months and I was determined to get it right. It took me 3 different attempts to get the triangles looking decent, but in the end, it was worth it.

     I tried freehand painting them and that was a disaster. I used stripping tape, but the lines ended up being off. In the end, I used scotch tape and some creative placement to get the look I wanted. I did end up free handing the gold and that worked out much better than the triangles. After taking the pictures I didn't want to take this one off.

Half-moon-manicure-in-red-and-gold

      The next look I tried was a half-moon using Shirley Temple and Gold Dust. I thought this would be a more classic holiday look that would appeal to a wider audience. Specifically, people who aren't into wearing wild or intricate nail art. Oh and get this, that's one coat of Shirley temple on my nails. I couldn't believe I found a one coat red! 

     I actually freehanded this entire look and think it turned out pretty good. Especially considering I did the half-moon part with a dotting tool. In hindsight, I probably should have used some guides to get a more rounded look. But hey this is nail art looks for beginners so perfection was not required right?

New-years-eve-nail-art

     For this look, I had New Year's Eve in mind when I created it. Something a little more sophisticated and some bling. Using Snake Charmer and Gold Dust I recreated a look I did earlier this year with Mentality Tempest, this time with a twist. I chose a different finger to use as the accent and made that the plain nail keeping the focus on the negative space stripes.

     This is a really easy look to do, but it does require some patience. Something I usually don't have when it comes to nail art. But I knew if I wanted my stripes to work I had to wait for each layer to dry. It took a lot of sitting still and catching up on a few TV shows but I found my patience, and my stripes are good.  Ahh, the things we do for nail art, it's a tough job but somebody has to do it.

Holiday-Manicure-ideas

    For my final look, I wanted to go a bit more playful. Originally I wanted to do plaid nails. Something with a warm and comfy feeling to it for the cold winter days but this looks a bit more like presents to me. I used Just Peachy, Shirley Temple, and Gold Dust to create this look. And I'm proud to say that I freehand painted those stripes and they look pretty darn good.

     This was a fun little challenge for me. Coming up with holiday nail looks using only these colors, making it something I could be proud of and, something others could replicate without a lot of experience. It really made me focus on my techniques and helped tune a few nail art skills. I hope you enjoyed these looks, Id love to know which one was your favorite. If you'd like to purchase a kit for yourself or a gift they are available at PrettyWomanUSA.com.  The kits cost $7.99 and you have the option to have them gift wrapped. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!



13 comments:

  1. These are all really cute but I especially love the red and gold one! And how awesome that it was a one-coater!

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  2. These are all such fun ideas for a holiday manicure. I really like the last plaid manicure a lot.

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  3. I really like your designs, especially the argyle.

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  4. Thanks. I love that it's a one coater! Not that 2 coats takes a long time to apply but 1 just seems like such a time saver.

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  5. Thanks Lisa. I like that one too, but have to admit my favorite is the argyle.

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  6. Thank you. That one is my favorite too. And now that I know how to get the look I want I might re-do it for the holidays.

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  7. I like the plaid look! What a fun opportunity to take over the twitter feed!

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  8. These all look awesome!! I love the half moon design, it's so pretty!

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  9. Thanks. It was really exciting at first and I had fun doing it. I'm not sure I would do it again if they offer. Things on their end seemed kind of disorganized and I got some pretty important info half way through my "shift". But its an experience I'm glad I had.

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  10. Thank you. I enjoyed coming up with these looks.

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  11. Ooooh, the argyle is a design I'd love to try as well!

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  12. That one took the most work, but its also the one I'm most proud of.

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  13. These look great! The argyle is my favorite!

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