Candy Canes and Snowflakes Mani

As usual, I'm a bit behind posting these.  Here are my first festive Christmas nails for this year!  More pics and info after the jump, just click the Read More link down below.

Candy Canes and Snowflakes

This was a fun mani to do!  I've been scared to do a watermarble to more than one nail.  I decided to face my fears and brave two nails!  Lol.  Hey, it's a start.  Here's the lineup of polishes I used in this mani.

L-R: OPI Nail Envy, OPI Alpine Snow, NYC Grand Central Station, Zoya Sooki,
Zoya Anchor basecoat, Zoya Nori Pixie Dust, Essie No Place Like Chrome, Seche Vite

I started with two coats of OPI Nail Envy on all nails and one coat Alpine Snow on the two nails I planned to watermarble.  For some reason, on my cindy hand I taped my fingers off first, then painted the coat of white.  Bad idea since I couldn't effectively do cuticle cleanup, and it was a nightmare trying to clean up the dry polish after my watermarble.  Lesson learned.  I ended up doing another coat of white just in case, and topped it with NYC Grand Central Station quick dry polish.

One coat OPI Alpine Snow

So I used painter's tape for the first time.  I found it easier to work with than scotch tape and it provided more coverage.  Win win.  While I was waiting for the white base to dry, I painted a coat of Zoya Nori on the rest of my fingers.

Zoya Nori Pixie Dust, one coat no topcoat

OMG this is a gawgeous polish!!!!!  It's not like the other Zoya ultra pixies I've used, it seems much smoother and not as grainy.  I'm a fan.  Plus, the jelly base combined with the holo glitter bits completely sold me on this.  I used two coats in the pic below.

Zoya Nori Pixie Dust and OPI Alpine Snow,
two coats topped with NYC GCS

Time for the dip!  I didn't take a pic of my water before I dipped bc I didn't want it to dry too quickly.  I'll just say that I used a recycled sour cream cup, room temp spring water, and I marbled with red and clear polish.  I had my OPI Nail Envy out since that's what I used as a basecoat, but I am not sure I want to waste it on watermarbling.  So instead I first tried Sinful Colors clear polish.  That was a bust since it wouldn't really spread.  So next I tried my Zoya Anchor basecoat.  That worked much better, but probably not as well as Nail Envy would have.  I'm still not set on wasting it.  :-p

Candy Cane water marble

The red I used was Zoya Sooki.  Great red creme that worked well for watermarbling.  Unfortunately I dipped a little too quickly because I ended up with some bubbles under the polish and I couldn't get them to pop before bringing my nails out of the water.  Let's just say this is a technique I still need to work with more to perfect it.

Candy Cane water marble

I used my needle-nosed tweezers to remove the tape and my Sonia Kashuk #105 brush for the minimal cleanup.  Topped all nails with Seche Vite quick dry topcoat once my watermarble was dry, which totally smeared the spots where the bubbles were.  Another lesson learned.

Once my topcoat dried, I was ready to stamp.  I used plate 04 from my Cici&Sisi jumbo set 1 for my snowflakes.  Again, fantastic plates for a great price.

Cici&Sisi stamping plate 04 from jumbo set 1

I used Essie No Place Like Chrome for the stamping.  If you don't have any Essie metallics, go buy them now.  I have not used them for a full nail, but they are perfect for stamping.  PERFECT.

And there you go!  Candy canes and snowflakes.  And beautiful holographic blue pixie dust polish.  Because SPARKLY!

After these were done, my first thought was, well, they look fantastic from a distance!  Much better than up close!  So here are some "far away" shots so you can marvel my awesome fantastic (read: I'm really insecure about my watermarbling and need to practice more and this was only semi-successful in my mind) watermarble!  ;-)

♪♫ "From a distance, the world looks blue and green......" ♫♪ (excuse me, is my age showing?)

I thought, what could make those imperfect watermarble candy canes better...??

Uh, FLAKIES!!!!

Candy Cane Watermarble topped with Fresh Paint Sugar Crush

One thick coat of Fresh Paint Sugar Crush on my candy cane nails.  It's funny because now they look like they are covered with cellophane.  Win!

Bad bathroom lighting

In some lights they look like they have an orange sheen, but mostly they just look "wrapped" and I've gotten a few compliments on them in person.  Makes me happy.  =D

Watermarble topped with Fresh Paint Sugar Crush flakies

What are your favorite polishes for watermarbling?  

And please don't say Pipe Dream Polish, because they contain Unicorn Pee and are actually imaginary polishes that only exist in your mind.  I've been pining over their A Night In Vegas collection for a while now.  One day... ONE DAY they will be mine!!