Wrapping up 2018

Hi everyone!


As I already expected, I didn't have the chance to write one last blog in 2018 with the December nails that were patiently waiting on my camera but as I have some unexpected free time (I guess that's the only advantage of back problems) I decided to write this post and give them their spot in the, slightly belated, spotlight.

Let's start with the manicure I did for my mother-in-law's birthday, early December:

I started with a coat of a-england Let Me In on my thumb, index and pinky. I used one coat of a-england The Soul Attains on my middle and ring finger and created a gradient on top using (dark to pale): a-england Let Me In, a-england Rebecca and a-england The Soul Attains. To finish off I stamped an image from UberChic 16-03 using black Painted Polish Midnight Mischief and covered all nails with a generous coat of Seche Vite.

As work started to consume more and more time (people always want to finish as many projects as they can before the holidays so overtime in December has become the norm...) I wore my pink-to-wine gradient for over a week until I couldn't patch up the tip wear anymore. It was time for the next manicure:

I started by painting all my nails with two thin coats of Il était un vernis Farewell Party, a gorgeous scattered midnight blue holo that is very opaque so I put it on my try-to-stamp-with list. On top I stamped stars-on-a-string from Yours Cosmetics plate Models of Magic using Colour Alike Golden Queen. I actually managed to line up the stars quite good so the string stopped and started in the right place... and of course I didn't get one picture in which you could see that ;)

By now life had turned into: sleep-eat-work-eat-work-sleep-repeat so anything polish related had to take a back seat. One exception though, my nieces (now 14 and almost-12) came over to get pretty nails for their school's Christmas dinner. I did several reverse stamped images on a black holo base for the youngest. The eldest one I'm SO proud of! She did her nails all by herself. I showed her how to do a glitter gradient and she did alternating orange and pink glitter on a black base. After that I picked up a string of Christmas lights in silver, she colored them in neon colors and stamped them on her nails. Unfortunately they were running very late so we didn't have time to take pictures (and of course the next day they had swimming lessons and their manicures didn't enjoy being in the water for over an hour...).

My Christmas nails were red, as usual when I want to feel closer to my dad (who passed away in 2011) but this time I picked a darker color for a special reason. When we got married, my parents-in-law gave me a jewelry set that was a family heirloom: a necklace with pendant, earrings and a ring made from yellow gold with garnets. This year I decided to wear them on Christmas Day and I wanted my nails to compliment them. So I went through my dark red polishes and finally picked Cirque Colors Ambrosia, the exact color of the garnets:

Ambrosia is really pigmented so I needed just two thin coats but if your coats are less thin you might just need one. Of course I made sure my nails were as glossy as possible with a coat of Seche Vite.

After Christmas it was time for the Triad manicure. You can read about that one here (opens in a new window). And that brings me to the last manicure I did in 2018. The image I used came from a plate with snowflakes but I think they can pass for fireworks as well, or maybe pointed flowers? You can be the judge:

Masura Keeper is a beautiful dusty pink scattered holo with a strong orange flame that my lightbox totally killed... so please look up swatches as it really is SO pretty! I combined it with three thin coats of nude-gray Masura Cinnamon Latte that is filled with extremely small red and orange glitters and equally tiny holo sparkles, making it office friendly but anything but boring. I used OPI Yes My Condor Can-do! to pick up the snowflakes (fireworks? flowers?) from B. loves plates B.05 Let it snow, filled in the image with Keeper and rolled it on my nails. All that was left was a coat of Seche Vite to seal everything and add more gloss.


And that was it, my December 2018 in nail polish. I don't think the new year will bring many changes: I'll keep painting my nails and posting about it, I'll probably try to do the 52 Week Nail Art challenge again, I'll definitely keep doing Triad manicures with Michelle and Juanita, ... but maybe this year I won't be running late and doing everything at the last possible moment (on the other hand, that probably won't change either ;)


Last but not least, I would like to add my wishes to all blessings you must have received already: I hope 2019 brings you and your loved ones all the best and then some.