Textured Stamping feat. Layla Cosmetics Mirror Effect

I hope you're not tired of textured stamping? Because I still love it! This one was a bit of a different approach, even though it's still the MoYou London Christmas plate #04 that I used for the stamping image. I think it's more of a NYE design than one for Christmas, because there's a lot of silver going on here! As my textured base I used two coats of Manhattan - Give me Sparkle (Visions of Me LE) and as my stamping color I used Layla Cosmetics Mirror Effect - Metal Chrome. So for now I'm off to the usual Christmas trip but I have prepared two more posts to keep you entertained. Also I will obviously be on Instagram where I might show off my nails and cats under the Christmas tree. :) 

Textured Christmas Stamping feat. Dance Legend - Amethyst / Essie - Penny Talk

After my latest Textured Snowflake Stamping I really wanted to do a similar design, but this time using different colors. I chose one of my favorite textured polishes Dance Legend - Amethyst* as my base color for the stamping. Then I used two images of the MoYou London Christmas Collection #04 and Essie - Penny Talk for the Christmas stamping.

*PR Sample

Snowflake Nails - Textured Stamping feat. MoYou London Christmas Collection & KIKO Cosmetics

So while slobbering over the KB Shimmer Christmas collection on Google images a few days ago, I stumbled upon this beautiful Christmas stamping by Marta from ChitChatNails. A bit earlier that week Sarah from Chalkboard Nails did her awesome Rough and Spotted design. I don't think I've ever done a stamping over a textured polish before, but I absolutely love the look and somehow the season seems perfect for that purpose. It seemed like a nice opportunity to finally try the KIKO Cupcake Lacquer that I got last summer. #655 Mint is one of the limited textured polishes from KIKO and what I love about it are those colorful sprinkles mixed into the rough mint formula. I used two coats as my base color for the next step, which is a stamping with the MoYou London Christmas Collection #02. For the blue snowflakes I used KIKO #523 Royal Blue and obviously there is no top coat involved. I also found this textured snowflake stamping by Natalie from Nailz Craze and I love it! Definitely my new favorite way of stamping nail art! 

DIY Textured/Sand Finish - Green Glitter Nails

Back when the textured/sand finish trend came up I made a little tutorial on how to create the same effect with nail glitter. I never actually did this again after the tutorial so I think it's about time! I had a very pretty green glitter from Born Pretty Store lying around in my stash, that I have received as a sample quite some time ago, but never actually used. It's the #10 from these glitter powders. As my base color I used KIKO - #391 Grass Green and then I just sprinkled the glitter on top of the wet polish. Since it already looked really cute without the next step, I took some pictures without top coat. I wouldn't actually wear it like this though, since the glitter is gonna get everywhere! So you want to add a matte top coat onto the glitter for the textured/sand effect. I used Essie - Matte About You. Please look at the pictures below for a direct comparison with and without top coat.

Tip 1: Use tape to get rid of glitter on your skin and work space!

Tip 2: Wipe off the brush of your matte top coat before dipping it back into the bottle, glitter gets everywhere!

No Top Coat

Left: No Top Coat

Right: Essie - Matte About You

Essie - Matte About You

The Lacquer Legion Glam: OPI - My Favorite Ornament

I skipped last month's challenge, but this month's I'm in again! It's the fourth challenge of The Lacquer Legion: Glam. The first thing on my mind was a polish: OPI - My Favorite Ornament from last year's Christmas collection. I love this one! It's textured and I always wanted to combine liquid sand with a creme polish. So I used two coats of Wet'n'Wild - Black Creme as my base and then created a pattern with striping tape. I then added one coat of My Favorite Ornament and removed the striping tape - that's it! You can find all of the other designs of this challenge with the hashtag #LLglam. 

My #LLadoration design

My #LLreinvention design

Essie - Aruba Blue + Dance Legend - Top Sahara

Since I had to schedule some designs and posts, today's nails are already a few days old. The first time I used Dance Legend - Top Sahara (the top coat that changes normal polishes into textured ones) I wrote that I didn't like the glitter too much. I actually changed my mind about it, especially with this combination! I used two coats of Essie - Aruba Blue as my base color and then added two coats of Top Sahara. Again, the textured effect isn't very strong but I love the result! On top of which color would you wear Top Sahara? I'm thinking about pastel colors for spring, that could look very cute! 

Bottled Galaxy / Dance Legend - Top Sahara + Celia

I was especially curious about one of the Dance Legend polishes that I received: Top Sahara, the top coat that is supposed to turn every color into a textured polish. I was a bit concerned about the glitter in it though and I would have prefered a plain textured top coat. But the pictures today are actually more about that glitter than about the textured effect. I used two coats of Dance Legend - Celia, one of the beautiful multichromes from their Chameleon collection as my base color. Then I used two coats of Top Sahara over Celia, just to see what would happen. I love the result a lot, the pictures don't do it justice! It looks like a galaxy out of the bottle. I'm definitely going to try more combinations like this one! The Chameleon polishes are sold for 8$ each and Top Sahara for 9 $. You can buy Dance Legend in their online shop or in their partner shops, shipping is 10$ or free if you buy more than ten polishes.