Nails DIY: Upon a Midnight Clear

It's Christmas Eve day and I am feeling all the excitement and joy that comes with the holiday. That Christmas spirit snuck up on me quite suddenly and pretty soon it will have disappeared as quickly as a morning frost. The other day while I was feeling very festive I decided to paint my nails for the holiday events. What I ended up creating was not a traditional Christmas scheme, I created a midnight sky filled with small stars surrounding one large bright star. I am pretty pleased with the results and I think that the look will work with a variety of holiday outfits and would even be appropriate for New Year's eve festivities.

Colors:

Midnight Blue - OPI Road House Blues

Silver with fine point brush - Color Club/Art Club Steel this Look

Top Coat - Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat

Step 1:  Use a base coat if desired then do two coats of midnight blue polish on each nail.  Allow to dry at least 10 minutes.

Step 2:  Using a silver polish and a fine point brush draw one large silver star on each nail ( I did an asterisk style star).  Then around larger star paint small silver dots to create the appearance of a sky full of stars.  Allow to dry at least 10 minutes to avoid smudging.

Step 3: Seal each nail with one layer of a clear topcoat.

There you go, mystical midnight nails, whether you are singing carols round a tree or ringing in the New Year, this look will surely serve you well.

Ombré Nails

While I am often impressed and intrigued by the new nail trends that have emerged on the blogosphere I very rarely will get on board with them. Not because I wouldn't want to rock polka dot nails or the like, but because I lack the dexterity needed for it. However here is a nail trend that I can fully get on board with...Ombré nails.  We have seen Ombré clothes, Ombré hair but before you dismiss it as another step in the ridiculous Ombré trend train take a look.

The color is a purple grey with a sheer gold shimmer layered on top.

Extreme Nail Close-Up:  Ignore the ragged cuticles and see how the color progressively gets darker towards the tip.

I spotted this nail polish look over on the blog Cult of Pretty and I knew I had to try. I adjusted the directions in the post since I did not have two different shades of polish that would blend. Instead I used my inexpensive CVS Confetti polish in Moonstruck, which is very watery and needs a million coats to cover. I layered one light coat over the entire nail, then layered a second heavier coat on the top 2/3, finally I added another coat on the tip. With this look precision is not important keeping the edges uneven will add to the painterly effect of this look. The shimmery top coat was the final step and blended the three layers together. I used CND Gold Shimmer sheer polish go my top layer. Really easy, not at all precise, nail polish perfection.

What nail trends have you been loving? What color(s) are you wearing on you nails now.