Lustrous Lacquer
6:00 AM
Tape Manicure
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.
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.
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?
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.
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!
