Need some nail inspo for the party season ahead? Done! We teamed up with four fabulous bloggers to get their low-down on how your nails can look the festive part this season. Over to them… 

 Michelle
Thou Shalt Not Covet

Hi Guys!

Have you heard of the broken glass mani? It’s a really awesome yet easy to do form of nail art, I’ve been trying it out myself and wanted to share my results with you!

All you need is a clear base and top coat, a base colour nail polish shade with ideally either a metallic or pearlised finish, and some iridescent foil.

Firstly apply your base coat to protect your nails, then single coat of your chosen shade of polish. I went for Penny Talk by Essie, it’s a lovely metallic rose gold shade. Luckily this polish dried quickly, and when it did I cut up some tiny pieces of foil into triangles and random shapes. I should also point out that this is extremely fiddly. You’ll need patience and some tweezers to help you pick the pieces up.

Then, one nail at a time, apply a thin second layer of polish, and simply press the pieces of foil on, gently pushing them down with the tweezers. After they’ve dried just apply your top coat to help keep everything in place, and voila! One broken glass mani!

Amy 
Little Tip Off

I absolutely love Christmas time. The food, the presents, the music, and the way that everyone seems to be nicer to each another! I also love Christmassy nail designs; red, green, gold and silver polishes tend to adorn my nails at this time of year, with snowmen, Christmas trees and Rudolph making regular appearances. 

However, I decided to try something a little different this time around. I wanted to try painting bolder, geometric snowflakes, rather than the delicate, sparkly designs that I’ve done previously. I also wanted to try out the waterfall technique, creating wintry icicles. I settled for a mix-and-match manicure incorporating both of these styles, and stuck to a palette of black, white, pink, purple and silver – a more feminine twist on the festive!

I used OPI’s A Definite Moust-Have for the hot pink base, and Slick Bluenoir from Kiko Cosmetics’ Poker collection for the black. I added the icicles with a thin liner paintbrush, applying strips of white (I used China Glaze White On White), lilac (Models Own Grape Juice) and sparkly silver (Barry M Silver Multi Glitter). I made each icicle slightly different in width and length, making sure a good amount of the pink base was visible. Before applying a top coat, I added a couple of small black icicles too, as I thought this would tie in nicely with my other nails.

The snowflakes were a little more complicated. I used the same thin liner brush, and began creating the abstract design from the inside out. This required a very steady hand, and although there a few little mistakes throughout, I think I get away with it! I waited for a good ten minutes for these nails to dry, as I didn’t want to smudge the white bits with a top coat.

Fiona
Make Up Savvy

Each year I think we all secretly wish for a bit of snow come the festive period, well I know I do! But sadly it can be a bit hit and miss, so I’ve come up with the perfect solution with festive snowy nails. These nails are actually easier than you’d imagine and for an extra festive touch you could adorn the snowy trees with multi-coloured baubles using a dotting tool or some nail gems!

To recreate these nails simply start by painting your nails a pastel blue shade, here Models Own Hyper Gel Powder Blue was used. Next taking an opaque white nail polish sponge a little to the tips of the nails to act as the snow – you can cut up the sponge part of a scouring pad for this or use an old makeup sponge. Once dry, use a dark green shade to carefully paint on the little Christmas trees, here Illamasqua Rampage was used. Again, once dry it’s time to go back in with the white nail polish to go snow crazy with a dotting tool, dotting the tips of the trees and adding small dots of snow to the blue background. To finish apply your favourite glossy top coat and stack on them midi rings and wait for the compliments to come in!

Claire 
nuthin’ but a nail thing

I’ve got a really fun winter/Christmas themed manicure to show you today, alongside a tutorial…

Start off by painting your nails a white base colour.  My favourite white base colour is either White Hot Love from Rimmel, or Heaven White by Misa – both of these only need 1-2 coats to be opaque.

Once these are dry, take your make up sponge, soak it slightly with water and squeeze it out. Then take your blue polishes and paint them onto the end of the sponge and sponge the gradient onto your nails. (For more details on this process, check out my gradient tutorial here). For this I’ve gone with sponging the gradient on in lots of different directions to mix it up a bit.

I’ve used a mixture of blues from Models Own for my gradient.  Let this dry and use nail polish remover and cotton wool buds to clean up any mess around your skin. 

Next, take a glitter top coat, and add one coat over your gradient for a little added sparkle.  I’ve used a glitter from Beauty Bay here that has some lovely iridescent colours for a great sparkly effect.

Now, take a thin paint brush and your white polish, and draw some fine lines on your nails.  I’ve gone for putting the lines (which will shortly turn into snowflakes!) on the darker blue areas on my nails so that they pop out more.

Next, add some small arrow points on the end of each of your thin lines, then add some more lines/arrows lower down the fine lines you’ve created. 

Take a dotting tool, and add a large dot in the centre of each flake, and some dots to the end/middle too. I’ve added small white dots on the rest of my nail to give the impression of snow.

Finally, apply your top coat, and use an orange stick to add some diamantes to your snow flakes for some extra sparkle.

Got the design now finish the look with our jewellery range – now with sterling silver!