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Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas Manicures!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Eve, whether you spent it with loved ones or just had a quiet evening to yourself.

I know that tomorrow's generally a pretty hectic day (if you celebrate Christmas) with family and friends and food and presents and more food (if you're like me, probably way too much food). I'll be with family (shhh! My mom doesn't know it yet, but Mr. G is going to be calling us from Spain, which will totally make my mom's day!).

So I wanted to show you the manicures I did for Christmas--I tried two different designs and I'll let you guess which one I settled on.

I just have to say that it's become a tradition for me to bust out Sinful Colors San Francisco for Christmas--it's my favorite favorite Christmas green of all time and I used it for my Christmas mani last year too.

Here's the first design I did, using scotch tape (inspired by the lovely Chloe, of course):


For this one, I used a base of Sinful Colors San Francisco, and then I taped off the sides to paint a white stripe down the middle (yes, I said white) using Milani White, which is my go-to white these days (it's the only non-streaky white I've ever owned from the drugstore!). For some weird reason, even though I put a layer of Seche Vite over the green before I painted the white stripe, the white stripes turned light green. Gah! I was so mad!

Anyway, after that, I used Milani Gems over the white (light green) stripe. Kind of cute, kind of a fail. I don't know..I can't decide whether I love it or hate it.



Next up, I did a gradient manicure using a base of China Glaze Red Stallion and for the glitter I used Milani Gems (of course):



Gems is so darned BLINGY that it really gets in the way of you seeing all the pretty shades of glitter. So here's a pic I took without flash, in low lighting, so that you can see the glitter in detail a bit more:



If you want a way better look at what Milani Gems has to offer, check out my review here. It's such a gorgeous glitter--I fall more in love with it every time I use it. It's perfect for the holidays, don't you think?

So, which mani do you like better? I won't be offended if you say "neither'! I know these looks aren't for everyone, but I usually like to go a bit over-the-top on Christmas. Hey, it's the only day of the year where you're practically encouraged to be tacky!

So, what's your Christmas manicure like this year? If you have a blog, photobucket or some other picture-hosting site with pics of your mani, leave a link in the comments! I'd love to see your holiday nails!

PS: I hope each and every one of you reading this has a wonderful day tomorrow, whether you celebrate or not, and whether you're with friends or family or by yourself. It's rough for me to be without Mr. G this year, and I know that if you're missing a loved one right now, it can feel pretty lonely. So just know that you are NOT alone, and you've always got your friend G! Love you all so very much!

Disclosure: Milani White and China Glaze Red Stallion were provided to me on behalf of their respective brands for previous reviews. Sinful Colors San Francisco and Milani Gems were purchased by me with personal funds.
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14 comments

  1. I like the red with gems the best. :D

    My Christmas manicure (which I put on several days ago and it's still going strong) is two coats of Milani Gold Glitz and one coat of China Glaze Party Hearty over it. I loooooooooove it. It's amazingly sparkly and festive and keeps me occupied looking at it while waiting in lines and such. XD (For the record, I think this one might be a bit much for people with longer nails, but I keep mine pretty short).

    My Christmas is great so far. We had masses of cheese and crackers and frozen appetizers from Trader Joe's for Christmas Eve dinner and baklava for dessert. And my roommate and his parents got me a kindle with a pink leather case, and an amazingly cute 4GB flash drive for Christmas.

    I hope your Christmas is great too! Merry Christmas!

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  2. Good morning, G! I like both your manis but the red is my favorite. :) DH and I don't celebrate, but we are both off work for two weeks, and since I can't wear np @ work, I'm celebrating the festive season by changing my np every other day, lol. Right now it's OPI Wing It! from the Summer Flutter collection. I'll be changing today to Orly Flash, my favorite shiny silver foil (great for showing off my beloved ring collection). I'm so glad I discovered your blog! You've brought me lots of enjoyable writing and lots of new drugstore finds this year - thanks so much, and enjoy your day. Hugs!

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  3. I love them both, they are so pretty and festive!

    Merry Christmas!

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  4. Oooh, my lead-in to the Christmas manicures this month was a mani like your second one pictured, but with ChG Phat Santa.
    My Christmas mani is basically little bit of everything; I decided that since it was my last day to use the red and green color scheme until next year, I might as well go big.
    Photos: (obviously before cleanup)
    http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg619/scaled.php?tn=0&server=619&filename=wurs.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640
    (okay, I thought I had one of the other hand, but apparently not.

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  5. I love the green one, your nails look like little Christmas presents! :)

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  6. I did a pseudo-French manicure using greens from China Glaze that I posed here:
    http://tinyurl.com/25o3795
    ,but I'm starting to wish I'd used more glitter after looking at yours! Of those, I prefer the first with the white stripe.
    Happy Holidays!

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  7. I always wonder how you keep all of your makeup organized, could you post pics?

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  8. I like both of these! Very cute.
    I plan on using Gems for New Years (over Nyx Asphalt).
    My Christmas mani is China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint and Party Hearty. ^-^
    http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a21/Nightfall0820/Nails/?action=view&current=007.jpg

    Merry Christmas!

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  9. I like the red better :)

    I am without manicure this Christmas ;) My nails have a break ;-))

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  10. My Christmas manicure was a red Milani polish with Milani Gems on top that started peeling after one day. I redid my nails last night with Avon Olive and Milani Gems which is lasting pretty good.

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  11. Since glitter over black always looks good, but I didn't want to use black for Christmas, I have 2 coats of ChG Party Hearty over 2 coats of OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, with Seche Vite on top.

    http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w191/auroragyps/?action=view&current=Picture034.jpg
    http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w191/auroragyps/?action=view&current=Picture035.jpg

    I took these pics right after I put on the top coat. My cat, Lady Zeal, was nice enough to be my backdrop. I think she & the nails go well together. :D

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  12. G... both of those manicures are fabulous! I really want to get my hands on one of the Milani Gems.

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  13. PS: I got so involved uploading my pics, I forgot to say that I liked the green mani best. It's a shame the green seeped through the white, because that would have looked cool, like a Christmas candy. I just got San Fransisco, along with a bunch of other Sinful polishes, for a gift, so I'll have to try out that look.

    ReplyDelete

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