Nordic Christmas Nail Tutorial

God jul, everybody! That's what you'd tell people in Sweden at Christmas, and today I'm bringing you a cute Scandinavian/Nordic inspired nail tutorial that is perfect for this Christmas...

You will need:

1x red nail polish - I used Rimmel's I <3 Lasting Finish in Double Decker Red
1x white nail polish pen/paint - I used my rio nail pen
1x top coat
1x base coat

Step 1:

Apply base coat and allow to dry, then apply your red polish all over the nail and apply as many coats as you feel it needs. Allow this to dry before moving on to the detailing.

Step 2:

OK, now your nails are dry it's time to start adding some of the white detail. If it helps, you can mentally divide your nails into thirds. For the first third, you need to add some dots at the top of the nail...

I alternated between double dots and single dots, purely because I thought it looked better, but you can play about with this and do larger or smaller dots and organise them differently if you like.

Step 3:

Now we're onto the second third of the nail and you'll need to make two 'x' shapes, leaving space in the middle where the four lines would usually join.

As with the first step, you can totally play about with this. You could make lots more smaller dots or you could have the lines joining if you so desired.

Step 4:

This is the last third of the nail, but it's also the most complicated (but only because more than one pattern goes in here). Firstly, you need to draw a straight line up that fills most of the third, then you will need to draw 'branches' coming off it. This is supposed to resemble a Christmas tree. Around both sides of the tree, dot on three dots, with two next to the tree and one in the middle of those two. Finally, draw two straight yet diagonal lines underneath the tree, and you're done!

Of course, you can play around with this part of the design too, however I do think the tree part is kind of crucial for capturing the idea of 'Christmas'. 

Step 5:

Allow the nails to fully dry. Your final step is to apply a top coat and you don't want to smear all of the white detail up your nail, so ensure that you leave the nails for a decent amount of time before applying a top coat. If you can do it an hour or so later, that would be ideal. Finally, apply one layer of your chosen top coat and leave to dry. Now you're all good to go with cute, Nordic, Christmassy nails! :)

Nordic style prints are really 'in' this Christmas (rumour has it that it's partly due to Forbrydelsen and Sarah Lund's jumpers in the show). In fact, most of my Christmas wrapping is themed like this too. 

What do you think? Please let me know if you try this out by either leaving me a comment below or tweeting me (links will be below)! :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

Christmas Sparkle #2

Hi guys! I'm straying a little from the usual format of my Christmas Sparkle series today (two days in, I know!) and bringing you a Christmas gift suggestion. It's still nail polish and it's still glittery, but I think it's the perfect little gift for a beauty-lover...

Nails Inc 'In the Spotlight' is a set of three mini glitters. I bought two of these in my local Boots for £10 each, though it's not listed on the Boots website. If you like it, I'd recommend going to your local (or biggest local) Boots and having a look for yourself, because the website often doesn't correspond to shop stock. The Nails Inc website also no longer lists this item, but they do list one that contains two of these polishes and a black holographic third, which you can find here. 

This set, however, comes with three cute little glitter miniatures that I think are beautiful. The red, Covent Garden Market, was featured in my November Favourites post and I think it's the perfect Christmas red. 

The holographic glitter in the middle, Electric Lane, is a really pretty holographic top coat, and is also available in a full version from Nails Inc counters (e.g. in Debenhams) and on the website too. 

Soho Street is a really pretty chunky glitter that just looks fun and gives off a real 'party' vibe. It's also similar to Edinburgh Gate, which was a mini they released around Christmas last year and is also a much-loved polish in my collection (P.S. if you're my friend [you know who you are] and once told me you liked Edinburgh Gate, around this time last year, don't buy this for yourself...just sayin').

Here's an out of focus shot that shows the glitter a little better...

What do you think? Would you be happy to receive this for Christmas?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo
Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti
Instagram: iRachey

Christmas Sparkle #1

Who doesn't love a bit of sparkle at Christmas? I know I do, so I decided to bring you a series of posts this Christmas featuring my favourite glitter polishes. If you know me, you'll probably know that I love a good glitter polish. Today, I'm kicking things off with the most indulgent polish I own and two equally beautiful dupes. 

From the cheaper end of the scale to the pretty damn special...

Models Own Hed Kandi 'Ibiza Mix' - Every blogger has this, it would seem, but I suppose there's a good reason why. At £5 this is the cheapest of my three polishes and is available from Boots (linked above). This polish has a nice mix of colours but isn't of the three, I will say that this is my least favourite purely for the colour selection as the colours are a bit too pastel based for my preference. Still, it's a nice polish and is a totally reasonable festive glitter.

Topshop 'Brazil' - This is the first Topshop polish I ever owned. I think the colour selection amongst the glitter in this is really good for a high street polish, and at £6 it's practically the same price as Ibiza Mix. I have to say, I do prefer this to Ibiza Mix too. The glitter in this is a mixture of shapes and sizes, which I really like, and if you click through to the Topshop website you can zoom in and have a look for yourself. 

Deborah Lippmann 'Happy Birthday' - Now for something on the opposite end of the spectrum. At £16, Happy Birthday is the most expensive polish I own, but boy is it pretty. This looks especially pretty layered over dark colours like a dark or navy blue, but also over beigey nudes. Basically, it's versatile as hell and has the best colour selection of the three polishes I've chosen here. Yes, it's expensive, but Christmas is coming up after all. I use this when I really want to treat myself, and it really is a 'treat' kind of product.

All in all, I love all three of these polishes. Perhaps it's true to say that I don't need them all, but the good news about finding dupes for a well-loved more expensive product is that you really can save it for special occasions but still create the same kind of effect whenever you want with your less expensive polish. 

Hope you enjoyed this post, have you ever tried any of these polishes? And I'd love to know... what's your favourite Christmas glitter?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo
Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti
Instagram: iRachey