Black and White Skull Nail Art

After being surrounded by all the holiday glitz and glam for the past month, I decided today would be a day for total badassery, hence these black and white skull nails were born. There's so much going on here that I love, silver studs, metal spikes, rhinestones and little stamped on skulls. I feel like I should switch into  my alter ego and be playing guitar in a smokey underground club  or something with these nails. Rock on!

Polishes Used: Orly-Liquid Vinyl, Konad White, Seche Vite Topcoat

I started out with 2 coats of Orly-Liquid Vinyl and once that was dry I got to work hand placing the studs, rhinestones, and metal spikes. I wish the camera had picked up the spikes better, they are a bit hard to see but in person, but trust me, a complete stranger on the internet - they are the bomb. And if you can't trust complete strangers on the internet then hey, who can ya trust, right?

By the time I finished sassing up the ring and pointer fingers, my polish was dry enough for me to begin the stamping with Konad white stamping polish. The white skulls are from the MASH-29 stamping plate, and the white checkerboard stamp is from the Pueen48 plate. As always, you know I had to give it a good layer of Seche Vite topcoat to give it extra shine and complete the look!

White & Gold Flakes with Handpainted Ornament - 12 Days of Christmas Holiday Manicures Day 12

It's the final day of Christmas manicures, can you even believe it? It feels like it went by so fast,  I  have so many more ideas! I either need more days until Christmas, or more nails...  I started with a base of OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then I decided to go out with a bang today and break out both my handpainting nail art skills AND 18k gold topcoat for this one. I'm so faaaancy!

Polishes used: OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls & Mariah Carey Pure, China Glaze - Blonde Bombshell, Seche Vite Topcoat   

While I do love the OPI - Mariah Carey Pure 18k gold flake topcoat, I have to admit that the flakes are quite small, which is a bit of a disappointment. It seems like every time I use it I always end up wanting more. The other day while I was out and about, I spotted  Maybelline Color Show Jewels - Gilded in Gold and I just couldn't resist picking it up. These flakes are much bigger, and are exactly what I was hoping for out of the OPI topcoat. By layering both of these polishes, I got exactly the look I was going for.

For maximum blingage, I added a gold accent nail using China Glaze - Blonde Bombshell and used acrylic paint for the hand painted ornament. I gotta admit, the ornament turned out way cuter than I thought it was going to, I'm pleasantly surprised! A nice coat of Seche Vite added so much shine to these it's insane. Can't wait to wear them to my family Christmas party! Well that's a wrap on my 12 Days of Christmas manicures, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! In other news, I'm considering trying out video tutorials for my nail art, but I'm honestly just not even sure where to begin,. Let me know down below if you have any tips or tricks for getting started!

What do you think of these gold flakey nails, just enough bling or too over the top?

Elegant Red and Gold Ruffian Nails - 12 Days of Christmas Holiday Manicures Day 11

I seriously can't get enough of the sparkles this week, I am obsessed! Is this where I'm supposed to put #sorrynotsorry? There's not too much to say about this one, I think the look really speaks for itself!

I started out with 2 coats of OPI - My Favorite Ornament, then I used one of my absolute favorite reds for this manicure. The red polish is called Red Cameo by Ruby Kisses. It's not from a hugely popular brand but I will say that it is highly underrated! I got a pleasant surprise today when I realized that the red is slightly jelly and allowed the glitter polish to shine through which made this even more awesome in my opinion.

I used striping tape in a criss-cross pattern to create the look for my index finger and added a tiny snowflake to my ring finger to give this a wintery touch. That's it for today, see you tomorrow!

Green Holograpic Nail Stamped With Ivy - 12 Days of Christmas Holiday Manicures Day 10

If you've got a keen eye, then you just might recognize this green holographic polish from day eight's design, if you did - good sleuthing! I mentioned I was going to start using my stamping tools more often, so before I wiped that gorgeous polish away I just could not resist stamping over it to give it a different look first.

I hadn't planned on using this for one of my 12 days of Holiday manicures, but what the hey, life's short. I love the ivy design and this stamping plate worked awesome. It gave me no troubles whatsoever, it's a Christmas miracle!

This is the same 3 coats of Color Club - Holiday Splendor stamped with the Pueen 55 plate. I used my Konad stamper and white Konad polish again, because hey if it ain't broke don't fix it, right? If you are rocking a polish and you want to freshen it up, try stamping over it. Seriously it changes everything and who cares if it's yesterday's polish? Ain't no shame in our polish game!

Candy Cane Striped Nail Art - 12 Days of Christmas Holiday Manicures Day 9

Now you didn't think I was going to make it all the way through my Christmas designs without first representing my favorite holiday candy, did you? If you couldn't tell right off the bat, my favorite treats of the season are the delicious, old fashioned red and white striped peppermint candy canes. Just looking at my nails right now is making me hungry, YUM!

I painted my nails white first and once completely dry, I used striping tape to create the lines. Once I got all my tape in place, one quick swipe of my favorite glittery red polish Chine Glaze - Ruby Pumps did the trick. PRO TIP: Be sure to pull the striping tape off quickly while the polish is still wet in order to get neat and crisp lines!

If you recreate this or are inspired by any of my other manicures please be sure to add the hashtag #HeyUnitedinBeauty so I can see your awesome work!