Simple DIY Christmas Nail Designs

I have quite a few christmas, festive nail art designs - I am not very good at nail art so if I can do these designs, anyone can! I am calling this post Simple DIY Designs as I do not have any actual nail tools - I use things that everyone would have such as cellotape, coloured paper, bobby pins, cocktail sticks and a thin brush.

1. Penguin: To make these cute, simple but effective festive penguins. All I used was the Rimmel Black Cab polish all over - I had to use two thick coats (I would recommend this polish) then white dots for eyes with a black dot in the middle of the white. I didn't have an orange nail polish or an orange eyeshadow to make into an orange polish so I had to use tiny triangles that I cut out of a orange piece of paper. 

2. ELF Hats: I just applied a blob of red and green at the tips of my nails and moved it with the brush into a pointed shape. The I used a bobby pin to dot white polish at he tip of the hat. I used two polish from ciate - Red hot chili and stiletto. 

3. Presents: I used an OPI shade 'A-rose at dawn...broke by noon' all over the nails then when it was completely dry I used a black CD marker to draw on lines and a bow. When using nail art pens or markers on the nails make sure the polish underneath is completely dry. 

4. Christmas trees: This is my favourite design, I applied cellotape in a triangle on the nail then used the Ciate shade 'stiletto' in the triangle. When dry I drew on black diagonal lines for the lights and then dotted red and gold polish for the baubles and star. 

5. Red/Gold Glitter: So simple but so festive. I applied Ciate 'red hot chili' then when dry I applied two coats of the Topshop shade 'stardust'. 

6. Snow Queen: I used the Color Club polish in the shade 'mod in manhattan' in two coats and then the Topshop polish in the shades 'stardust' at the tips.

7. Pink Fairy: Another simple glitter combo! I used loreal color riche int he shade 402 as a base then applied loreal color riche in the shade 836 over the top which is a gorgeous metallic pink glitter topcoat. 

8. Snowy Forest: Another Topshop polish in the shade Fallen Leaf as a base. I then mixed the Topshop Stardust shade with the white half from the Revlon nail art Miss perfect duo to create a creamy white with gold glitter for the snow on the tips of the nails. 

9. Silver Trees: I applied the new Essie winter trio shade 'Parka perfect' as a background and when it was completely dry I stuck two pieces of tape in a triangle shape on the nails. I painted the ciate shade 'Fit For a Queen' in the triangle. For the baubles and star I used Nails Inc Baker Street and Revlons Fall Mood. 

10. Snowflake: You will need the ciate caviar set or beads for this design. I applied Nails Inc Chesham Place over the nail and while the polish was wet I used my Tweezerman tweezers to place individual ciate caviar beads onto my nail in a snowflake(ish) design. 

11. Snowman: For the snowman I used the white shade from the Revlon Miss perfect duo and used a cocktail stick to move the polish into a snowman shape. I the used a bobby pin to dot the white as a background for the snowman. While the snowman was drying I painted the other nails with Ciates Pepperminty and dotted the white on them too along with Nails Inc Baker Street. When the snowman was dry I used a bobby pin to draw a scarf in Baker Street and I used a black CD marker to dot on eyes. 

12. Candy Store: This is the easiest design. I painted my nails with Color Club Mod in Manhattan. The when the polish was completely dry I used a red CD/DVD marker to draw on designs, such as a snowflake, heart, stripes etc. I really need to buy actual nail art pens! x

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Review: Ciate Caviar Manicure

This is my review of the Ciate Caviar Manicure set, I received this set as christmas from a lovely auntie of mine. I have only used this set once but here is my review of the application, finish and longevity of this product. 

Natural lighting

The application process for this product was fairly simple if a bit messy. To start with you paint your nails with the normal polish provided in the set - I would suggest your do one nail at a time. I only wanted the effect on one nail so I applied a thick (ish) layer of polish to the one finger first. I then allowed it to dry slightly and I tipped the small multicoloured beads onto my nail. Make sure you have something underneath your nails to catch the breads so you can use the excess beads that come off. This bit can be really messy - even opening the lid of the bead can be messy so I would suggest you open it over a tray to catch the beads. After the beads have stuck, press very gently on the nail with the beads to push them further into the polish - do this very gently otherwise the beads will stick to your finger. While the finger with the beads was drying I painted the rest of my nails and I waited for the suggested 15-20 minutes. The normal polished applied really quite smoothly/nicely but it did need two coats really. 

Artificial Indoor lighting

The drying time for the effect is a bit longer than I wanted it to be, I had to sit for 20 minutes for it to dry so only do this if you have about 40 minutes to spare because getting everything ready, painting the nails, applying the beads, clearing up took me about 40/45 minutes in total for the first time. I did this nail effect for new years eve/day and everyone seemed to like it. Although as you can see the effect doesn't last long, after 12 hours quite a lot of the beads had come off one finger but the other finger was ok. The beads can be really annoying on the nails as they catch on things = especially your hair! 

Natural light

The after two days, the beads had nearly all come off from one finger and the other was half empty! The longevity of this nail effect is really poor in my opinion and the leaflet that can with my set said to only apply a topcoat to the tips of the nails - not all over for some reason. Overall, I like the effect, I think it is a fun set/idea but in practice it is not practical, it is slightly messy, the longevity isn't great and when the beads do fall off they leave a worn/messy pattern/look to the nails. 

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New Years Eve Nails!

I received a Caviar nails set for Christmas and I was dying to try it out - so I thought that news years would be a great time to test it out! 

The first thing I did was paint the nail I wanted to decorate with the silver polish. The Ciate silver polish looks really beautiful and it looks like a foil/metallic cover over the nails. I just painted one thick coat on the single nail first - then I tipped the beads onto the nail with a plastic tray under my hand to collect the stay beads. I would suggest you open the bead bottle in the tray too as some beads did come out when I opened the bottle. 

After I painted the nail and cover it with the tiny silver, dark grey and bright pink beads I then gently pressed the beads into the nail polish - the nail polish has the be wet. Be really careful when pressing down on the beads as they can move around and stick to your finger if you press too hard. Also the beads can get every where so you have to be really gentle and slow when using the beads. 

After I pressed on the beads I then carefully painted the rest of my nails with the silver polish and let it all dry. On the leaflet that came with the set, it says to leave the polish/beads to dry for at least 15-20 minutes. After 15 minutes I checked the polish and then I applied my Seche Vite top coat to all of my nails, but only the tips of the nails with the beads on. There is the final result! I am really happy with the way it tuned out, especially as this is my first time using the Ciate Caviar nail kits. 

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