Christmas nails - it's all about the Red...

I know it's a bit late, but better late than never! I thought I'd quickly show you some Xmas manicures I did for the festive season before I blog about my latest manicure, ready for New Year's Eve!

Jenni, an old school friend came up from London for the Christmas holidays and when she heard that I was doing Shellac she asked if I could do hers too in red and gold, so naturally I obliged and bought in a red colour for my collection as all I have so far are pinks and darks. I took awhile choosing the best red that would suit Christmas and opted for the slightly metallic looking Red Baroness in the end. I'm pleased with my choice too, it's just on the right side of dark so that it's not too bright or too 'pillar box' - I would describe it as a very elegant shade of red.

She loved my cousin Nat's nails in the blue and silver glitter fade, so she went for the same effect but with CND Shellac Red Baroness as her base and Gosh Nail Glitter in Gold as her glitter fade. She loved the finished look, they suit Christmas perfectly and I was really pleased with how the Red Baroness applied - it went on very smoothly and not streaky like similar metallic colours can (I typically find Strawberry Smoothie difficult to get 'smooth').

I was also really feeling Jenni's idea of a red Christmas mani, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought to change my leopard print mani that I showed you a couple of posts ago. Then my December Glossybox arrived and in it was a mini Deborah Lippmann polish in Razzle Dazzle. Sold! That was to be my Christmas manicure, so on Xmas Eve, off the leopard print came and on went my new glitter polish (see my sister blog Brush up and Make-up! for review soon of the December Glossybox).

I've never tried Deborah Lippmann before so thought this was a perfect opportunity to give it a spin. I liked the glitter colour and it applied OK but I have to say I wasn't wowed. It was a little gloopy for my liking and it took 3 coats to get the perfect amount of coverage - 2 would probably do, but I hate holding my hands up in light and my nails looking patchy or streaky). I then finished off with a coat of Seche Vite, my favourite topcoat.

If I'm honest I probably won't buy the full size of this, I'll use this bottle up and then find a similar one that's easier to apply. It won't stop me from trying another Deborah Lippmann polish though as I know glitter formulae are very different to cremes or metallics. But the look was perfect for Christmas and it lasted 4 days before tip wear was obvious and the inevitable chipping started - to be fair 3 days involved no hand labour what-so-ever and then the 4th day was quite intensive so it would have lasted longer had I been more... lazy, shall we say!

What colour did you wear on your nails for Xmas?

Deborah Lippmann Nail Varnish is £14-16 RRP for a full size bottle and is available from House of Fraser