Nail Art: Winter Themed Snowflake Nails!

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I am sharing some wintery themed nail art with you. I thought it would be nice to take a break from Christmas specific nail art for a bit. I love LOVE snowflakes. I love using them in nail art and hanging them on my tree at Christmas time. I live in Georgia so we rarely see snow. As such, I have a weird fascination with it that my friends in colder climates just don't understand! Anyway, I have two snowy manis to show you today, let's jump right in!

Let's start with one of my favorite and most sparkly manis of all time! I used three polishes from the M Polish Winter 2015 collection to make a gradient on my nail. I started with my favorite base coat - LynBDesigns B-Stronger. Once that was dry, I used a latex free makeup wedge that I cut in half to make it more the size of my nail. I placed Frost first, followed by Bells, and finally Carol so that my colors were lightest to darkest starting at my cuticle. Now if you've ever done gradient nail art before, you know that it usually take several passes with the sponge to get the blended look that you're going for. With these polishes...ONE FREAKING PASS! I did bounce the sponge up and down a few times but I never reloaded my sponge. This is one coat with the makeup wedge! I added a quick dry topcoat  - mine is KBShimmer Clearly On Top to protect my base from smudging when it came time to stamp.

Once my base was dry, I used my Creative Shop Stamper and scraper along with M Polish Figgy to stamp an image from a Cici&Sisi plate for the snowflake image. I sealed everything in with another round up topcoat and that's it! Let me show you the macro:

The other mani I have to show you is a little less glitzy, but only just. Its also a bit more abstract and less traditional snowflake. That's because the images I used are from Bundle Monster's most recent holiday set and the plate with the large snowflake images are too big for my tiny baby nails right now. Oh well! Onward and upward, I say! I stamped an image from BM-S213 using M Polish Copper over 2 coats of Powder Perfect Deshret. I'm not sure if this Powder Perfect is still available but if you can get your hands on it - DO IT! Its a garnet textured polish with scattered holo glitters in it and such a gorgeous base for winter manis! Garnet happens to be my birthstone so I think that's why I'm drawn to it. Since its textured, I did topcoat with one coat before stamping so that my stamping wouldn't look textured. I also topcoated the whole mani again after the stamping so in the end, my base didn't feel or look textured anymore. Check out the macro!

That's all I have to share with you today! Which mani was your favorite? What's your favorite winter design? 

Thanks for reading!

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Swatch and Review: M Polish Winter 2015 Collection!

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have the Winter 2015 collection from M Polish to share with you! I was lucky enough to receive these to swatch through Nail Blogger Roundabout and am so excited to show them to you. They're all so super gorgeous, glitzy polishes that are perfect for the holiday season, so let's jump right in! 

The first one that I swatched from the collection is Frost. Frost is a reflective, antiqued silver foil with holo shimmer throughout. So many finishes in one polish and they all translate to the nail - how amazing is that? One of the best things about the M Polish Winter collection is that although they are primarily stamping polish, they all can be used as regular polish with easy application! I applied Frost here in one easy coat on my index and middle fingers and stamped it over Zoya Verushka. The entire mani is topped with KBShimmer Clearly On Top. Because of the heavy amount of flakies in Frost, it was a little thicker to apply as a full coverage polish but it self leveled easily and the image stamped cleanly using my Creative Shop Stamper and the Cici&Sisi Holiday 2014 plate. 

 The second polish I have to show you is Cranberry. Cranberry is a metallic pink toned purple with scattered holo glitter running throughout! The formula on Cranberry is similar to Frost but without the flakies in it. It applied in one easy coat for a full coverage polish on my index and middle fingers and stamped crisply on my ring and pinkie over Zoya Leah. The entire mani is topcoated with KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

 The next one I have to show you is Figgy, a royal blue toned purple metallic with holo shimmer running throughout. The formula and application on Figgy is identical to Cranberry - easy to apply as a full coverage polish with no brush strokes and the polish picked up and transferred easily using my Creative Shop Stamper. I stamped it here over LynBDesigns Fresh Fallen Snow and topped with Clearly On Top.

 Next up is the blue of the collection, Joy! You guys know how I feel about blue...Be still my heart! Joy is a blue metallic with scattered holo glitter running throughout. I feel like a broken record here but they all have easy formulas for both full coverage wear and for stamping! Joy has an identical formula to Cranberry and Figgy and applied easily with no brush strokes as a full coverage polish and stamped beautifully over KBShimmer In Bare Form using my Creative Shop Stamper.

 What would a Christmassy, wintery collection be without a true gold? Next up I have Bells, a yellow toned reflective gold foil with holo shimmer throughout. Can you even? I can't! I stamped it here over Madam Glam Red-Black. This one was a little thicker for application as a full coverage polish due to the heavy amount of flakies but it self leveled and smoothed over with topcoat. Stamping was a breeze with Bells using my Creative Shop Stamper and the Cici&Sisi Holiday 2014 plate.

Lastly is my second favorite (after Frost!) - Carol! Carol is another beautiful reflective foil with holo shimmer but this time in a coppery shade. Just like Bells and Frost, it was a bit on the thicker side for full coverage application but I only needed one coat and it self leveled well. My images picked up cleanly using my CSS. I stamped it here over Zoya Sailor and topped with KBShimmer Clearly On Top. 

This stunning collection launches TODAY at noon CST at mpolishes.com! The entire collection can be purchased in full size for $60 or mini size for $24. Individually the polishes retail for $10.50 for full size and $4.25 for mini size. You can also follow M Polish on Instagram for more swatches and news on the release! 

Which is your favorite? Are you excited for this collection? 

Thanks for reading! 

Press Release: Zoya Winter 2015 Matte Velvets

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!! 
ZOYA MATTEVELVET 
Six new MATTEVELVET Nail Colors to slip into this WINTER/HOLIDAY season.

The best-selling, MATTEVELVET finish returns this holiday season with six new shades. Each nail polish perfectly opaque, matte color with that extra special ZOYA MATTEVELVET fleck finish everyone loves.

·         Aspen (ZP814) - a sparkling artic white with a micronized diamond pearl fleck.

·         Sue (ZP815) - a soft champagne gold with a multi-hued oyster shell pearl fleck.

·         Amal (ZP816) – a classic crimson red with a ruby red pearl fleck.

·         Iris (ZP817) - a deep amethyst with a fuchsia pearl fleck.

·         Yves (ZP818) - a deep sapphire that's midway in between indigo and royal blue with a blue pearl fleck.

·         Honor (ZP819) - a true emerald green with a tone on tone emerald pearl fleck.

NOTE: MATTEVELVET nail color by Zoya is not intended to be worn with a base coat, glossy top coat or speed dryer. Due to the unique matte formulation, color is not as long-wearing as traditional nail color. A completely clean, dry surface yields the best results for matte nail color wear. To extend wear, apply one coat of the Zoya Matte Velvet Topcoat over your favorite matte shades after polish is completely dry.

AVAILABLE NOW!

ZOYA IS THE HEALTHY COLOR OF FASHION!
Zoya MATTEVELVET Colors, 0.5 oz. -  $10 (US) ea.
Zoya MATTEVELVET Color Sampler, 6 – 0.5 oz. bottles -  $60 (US)

Available in top salons, spas and on zoya.com

* **BIG5FREE, TOXIN FREE: Zoya Nail Polish Formula contains no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, toluene or camphor.