Snowflake Half Moons

It's the most wonderful time of the year they say...There's music, christmas decorations, lights and glitter everywhere! In some places it's even snowing! And since we don't see snow that often here in Athens, I decided to make my own snow, on my nails! I love snowflake designs, I don't know what exactly it is about them that makes them look so special to me. I just find them very intricate and delicate at the same time, if it makes any sense. 

I think there are several colors that are associated with Christmas such as red, green, blue, white, gold and silver, at least for most of us. But for me, a rich purple also does the trick! That is why I chose a dark metallic purple, that almost looks black, as a base color and used silver to make the snowflake half moon design. I was actually debating between white and silver for the snowflakes, but I felt that white would look too flat and thought it would be more appropriate to stick with the metallic texture of the base. So we have a winner..Silver it is!!!

And just to switch things up a bit and make it more interesting, I used a silver base on my ring finger and decorated it on the side with black iridescent rhinestones (ebay). I think the rhinestones add some bling to the whole look without making it too much to wear and they definitely give some depth and texture to it as well.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how this turned out. I think this is an easy and quick design that looks very elegant and feminine. I hope you like it and give it a try. :)

Polishes used:

Orly Bonder Basecoat

Seventeen - 493

H&M - Silver

Orly Sec 'N Dry Quick Dry Topcoat

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Nail Art

Only 17 days left till Christmas..Are you excited?? This year I'm getting in the Christmas mood a bit more that the past years, something that doesn't happen to me that often. To be honest I have a love and hate relationship with Christmas Holidays, on one hand I love getting together with family and friends, decorating, on the other hand too much "Fa la la" makes me sick...

To match the mood I usually have during the holidays with my nails, I thought Dr. Seuss's Grinch would be ideal! I don't know about you, but I love Dr. Seuss and for some strange reason I had never seen the cartoon..So I finally watched it to get some inspiration! Here are the pictures I chose for today and here's how the story goes..

"Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot...But the Grinch,who lived just north of Whoville, did NOT! The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn't screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all, may have been that his heart was two sizes too small." - Dr.Seuss

For this design I used a dark metallic blue polish from my index to pinky as a base color and I topped it with a glitter polish. On my thumb I used a light grey polish. Then, just as I did in the previous post, I used acrylic paint to paint all the characters and some polishes for small details such as the ornament Cindy Lou is holding and the ornaments on the tree. In the end, I topped them all with top coat. TIP: When you use acrylic paint for designs you always have to use top coat to prevent them from smudging or coming off when you wash your hands etc.

Polishes used:

Essence Studio Nails XXL Nail Thickener

Essence - Space Queen

Seventeen - 96

Seventeen - 270

For the Christmas ornaments:

Tommy G - 431

Tommy G - 469 

OPI - Red Dazzle (As far as I remember, I lost the sticker.)

Essence Better Than Gel Nails Top Coat

Pusheen Cat Nail Art

Did you know that November 26 is the International Day of Cats? Well, I sure didn't.

I happened to stumble upon it while I was searching for interesting international days for nail art ideas. As an animal lover I couldn't resist, I just had to do a cat design in honor of those cute little furballs! I started thinking of cat designs and immediately the Pusheen Cat came to mind, you've all probably seen it in the Facebook stickers. I simply love it, it's adorable!

Personally I would love to have a cat, a black one. They're so misunderstood and I love how shiny their fur looks. But we already have two dogs and a parrot...And that kinda makes it impossible..The house would turn into a jungle and my parents would kill me! LOL.

So I hope all you cat lovers like this design, it's probably my favourite up until now. Feel free to leave comments, tell me what you think. You can also tell me about your cats or pets in general if you'd like. :)

Polishes used:

Essence Studio Nails XXL Nail Thickener

Seventeen - 103

Seventeen - 270

Seventeen - 69

Essence - Black is Back

Essence - Hello Marshmallow

Opi - Tomorrow Never Dies

Tommy G - 469

Rush 60 Second High Speed Top Coat

International Children's Day Nail Art

November 20 is International Children's Day, a very important day, but for me it's even more special since it's my niece's birthday. So, to celebrate both I decided to take some of my niece's drawings (picture below) and use them to make a nail art design. I know I'm a day late, but life happens...And it's better late than never!

As most of you have probably noticed, children are very creative when drawing and have a crazy imagination. That's what I love about them! They can draw things that you would never imagine, not even in your dreams!

On to the nail design.. I present you my friends Princess Mermaid (Oops! I forgot her bow.), Turkey and Elephant. They are all one of a kind!! I know, this design might look crazy to you. But for this special day I had to see things from my little girlfriend's eyes and pretend I'm 6 years old. I suggest you do the same.. The more colors we use, the better! And we have to have some glitter, because let's face it, glitter is FUN! Oh! And of course, you can't be a princess without any glitter!!

PS: Letting your inner child come out, is very fun and creative. If we did it more often, we would smile more! Children have a very simple way of thinking which makes things very easy and as grown ups we tend to complicate everything. Remember..You don't need to over think everything all the time, just do what makes you happy!

 I had a great time creating this design and I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to leave comments. :)

Polishes used:

Essence Studio Nails  XXL Nail Thickener

Essence - Destination Sunshine

Essence - Circus Confetti

Essie - She's Picture Perfect

Essie - Butler Please

Erre Due - Heart Trick

Golden Rose Rich Color- 18

Seventeen - 103

Seventeen - 208

Seventeen - 110

Seventeen - 63

Sinful Colors - Hazard

Sinful Colors - Energetic Red

Tommy G - 467

Tommy G - 473

Essence Better Than Gel Nails Top Coat

World Diabetes Day Nail Art

November is considered Diabetes Month in most countries and specifically November 14 is World Diabetes Day. So, why not support the cause and help raise awareness?

Since I don't know much about diabetes I won't pretend to be a doctor and I'll leave it to the experts. For any of you who are interested, you can visit the International Diabetes Federation  website to read and learn more about it.

The World Diabetes Day logo is a blue circle and the grey ribbon is a symbol for diabetes awareness and that is why I decided to use both in this design.

I would also like to share with you one of my favourite make up artists on Youtube. Her name is Lex and she owns Madeyewlook and MadeULook Twice. She has amazing make up and body painting skills, OBVIOUSLY.. And she does a great job raising awareness and money to help find a cure for diabetes. So, if you are into make up, body painting or anything creative, go take a look.

Polishes used:

Essence Studio Nails XXL Nail Thickener

Essie - Lolipop

Essie - Butler Please

H&M - Did I Tell You?

H&M - Silver

Seventeen - 39

Seventeen - 103

Seventeen - 270

Tommy G - 431

Rush 60 Second High Speed Top Coat

World Kindness Day Nail Art

For those of you who might not know, November 13 is World Kindness Day. I decided to do a nail art design for this special day, to do my part and remind everyone to focus on the good and positive.

We are all guilty of being negative, selfish, judgemental or even mean from time to time, including myself. It's very important for all of us to try and be a better version of ourselves. Being kind and loving doesn't cost a thing to anyone. Actually, kindness can have a chain effect if you think about it, they even say it's contagious. So, put on your best smile and do something nice for others people! It will most likely come back to you. Like a boomerang. In the face. Ha! Just kidding, it won't be painful. I promise!

Obviously, I was inspired by the picture above (which is not mine) and I hope you enjoy it.

Polishes used:

Essence Studio Nails XXL Nail Thickener

Essence - Black is Back

Seventeen - 18

Seventeen - 103

Tommy G - 458

Tommy G - 464

Tommy G - 467

Rush 60 Second High Speed Top Coat

The Nightmare Before Christmas!

With Halloween just around the corner, the only appropriate thing would be to show you a Halloween inspired nail art design. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Halloween maybe because in Greece we don't celebrate it. But The Nightmare Before Christmas was one of my favourite movies growing up as a child and I thought I'd give it a try.

I don't really have much to say about this design. I used a black and grey polish as a base for all my nails, a glitter top coat for my thumb and I topped them all with a fast drying top coat. Then I used acrylic paint that I got from the craft store, to paint all the characters and sealed it with fast drying top coat again.

This was the first time I've ever done nail art with acrylic paint and I found it a bit difficult to manage. It did't come out as smooth as I would like it to be. I don't know if the paint I used wasn't so good, if I did something wrong while using the paint, or if that's just how acrylic paint comes out on the nails. I would like to see if any of you have tried acrylic paint for nail art, and if you have any good tips. :)

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the final look of this design. I'll definitely try more nail art with acrylic paint and I hope that I can do another Halloween design before it's too late.

Polishes used:

Beauty Secrets Base Coat

Essence - Black is Back

Essence Glitter Topper - Black Dress and White Tie

Seventeen - 270

Rush 60 Second High Speed Top Coat

Breast Cancer Awareness Nail Art

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual international campaign organised to increase awareness of the disease. So, I decided to do my part to spread awareness, by doing an easy inspired nail art design.

Learn all you need to know about breast cancer here and don't forget it's all about prevention. Always remember to check yourselves regularly ladies!

Now, on to the nail art design! I used a thin brush to draw the pink ribbons on my thumb and ring finger and a dotting tool in different sizes to do the dots on my index. On my middle finger I used a sponge to apply the glitter polish (a little trick I've seen from The Nailasaurus in the past), to get full coverage. Finally, I used some clear polish to apply the rhinestones (which I bought from ebay) on my nails.

Polishes used:

Beauty Secrets - Base Coat

Seventeen - 10

Seventeen - 17

H&M Glitter - Pink

Rush 60 Second High Speed Top Coat

Jo is in the House!

I originally didn't have a plan to start with, for this manicure. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was in the mood for something shiny and glittery. So...I lined up all my glitter polishes and decided to use "Jo is in the House" from H&M. I've had it for such a long time and was dying to give it a try and see how it looks in full coverage...
Everything else just came to me along the way and I ended up with a little party on my nails! Yay!

The nail polishes I used:

Beauty Secrets - Base Coat

Erre Due - Heart Trick (248)

Essie - Butler Please

H&M - Jo is in the House

H&M - Silver

Seventeen - 103

Essence - Better Than Gel Nails Top Coat

Well...I hope you like it!

Feel free to leave comments. :)