First Christmas Mani of 2011

China Glaze - China Rouge

China Glaze - White on White

China Glaze - White Cap

Kiss Nail Art Pen - Silver

I was browsing online today to find inspiration for a Christmas-type mani, and I found this video posted on YouTube by Christina77Star.  Here is a screen shot of the original design she posted.  I think this one is the 4th or 5th one in the slide show.

I did it pretty much as she did except I added the White Cap on top of the white tips.  You can't see it very well in this picture at all, but in normal light you can tell there some shimmery-ness on it.  I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially since I free-handed the white tips and the silver stripe.  As usual, the right hand doesn't look quite as soon since it's my non-dominant hand, but I do think my left-handed skills are definitely improving.

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Last night, I was playing around and decided to try Chloe's Nails Checker Tape Tutorial.  I was using two shades of purple.  The lighter one is  OPI - A Grape Fit and the darker one is a bottle I bought at my local nail salon when I went for a pedicure one time.  The brand is Tic Tac and the color is #251.  I've never seen this brand anywhere else but I wish I could find more of it.  Anyway, here's my attempt:

I knew I was going to do a Christmas mani today, so I didn't bother cleaning up or trying to make it look perfect.  Obviously, it didn't turn out as Chloe's version, but I will continue practicing and I know I'll get better.  I have gotten better at a lot of different techniques in the past few months, including not flooding the cuticles, getting less polish on my skin while painting and doing free-handed stripes.  But anyway I thought this was a really fun tutorial to try and I will definitely be trying it again soon with different colors. 

Well I'm off to watch the Packers game.  Let's go Pack!