red rhinestones | Craftynail

Merry Christmas everyone! And if you don’t celebrate Christmas then I wish your day is filled with plenty of good food, family, friends and love! ♥

This manicure is my entry for December’s Nail Art Ideas Linkup. The theme this week is FESTIVE FRENCH MANI and I’m realizing how seldom I wear French manicures!! I free-handed the white tips using a skinny brush and cheap NYC brand nail polish called French White Tip. I could’ve used tape or nail guide stickers, but sometimes that feels like a hassle to me. I did a light coat of a Seche Vite French Manicure color called Chic over top too. This may be my favorite French mani color ever! It’s very transparent but one one coat does the trick. It looks so sheer and natural and it has the slightest shimmer in it which is not even noticeable, but it keeps the nail from looking dull or flat!

I’m happy with my finished frenchie, especially since I painted the white tip a little high to create an illusion that my nails are longer than they actually are. It’s all smoke and mirrors, girls! lol

Now how did I do the little holly design? That’s actually a diy decal that I made last week. I stamped the holly design onto a plastic baggie using black nail polish and my MoYou Festive 03 stamping plate. Then I used some green nail polish to paint over and fill in the holly leaves. I topped that with a few swipes of topcoat and let it dry well. The hollies peeled off the baggie like perfect little stickers. Then I used some tiny scissors –you know those teensy cuticle trimmer scissors that we all have but never use? They are perfect for cutting up decals! I trimmed my holly bunches from three leaves down to two so they’d become smaller to fit better on my nails. I laid the decal on my accent fingernail, dotted some clear polish on top to secure a few red rhinestones, then I topcoated the whole thing. Here’s a shot of both hands…

These Christmas nails are a bit tamer than my usual style! I felt a little bare wearing such a simple french manicure. But don’t worry, I’ve already blinged them up by adding holo glitter that santa left in my stocking. If you give me nail polish, I will be using it as soon as humanly possible. 🙂

WHAT DID YOU WEAR ON YOUR NAILS FOR CHRISTMAS?? Did you go simple like me, or did you wow everyone with your major cray cray nails?

Warm wishes to you and yours- from the bottom of my heart! Talk soon, Craftynail xo

N.A.I.L. Dec Theme 4 – Festive French Manis

Today I’ve got a funky manicure for you- I like to call it my ‘underside mani’ where I paint the underside of my nails. I’ve done this look before with studs and Louboutin-style… but never with hand-painted nail art! Today’s the day to try that!

For this look I started with a couple coats of L.A. Girl Black Illusion on top and underneath my nail tip. This encapsulated my nails so they looked black from every direction. 🙂 Then I painted some whites stripes in a bold pattern on the underside of my nails. My nails are very curved so it was difficult to make the lines look perfect, or maybe I just need some practice. I also added some tiny red rhinestones to spice it up a little….and some seche vite topcoat to help it all dry quickly. I think this is so funky and fun! What do you think of my underside mani? Crazy cool, or just crazy?