5 Manicures This Week // Dark or Festive

Snapping pictures of each manicure for this post has reignited my love for polish, and I've actually been enjoying changing it up every couple of days. My manicure's never last very long thanks to my weak nails and lazy nature, so this is my way of enjoying my polish stash (goodness knows it needs loving) and sharing some shades with you along the way. Consider this a new semi-regular feature on the blog, 2014 will hopefully see a more organised blog for me!

Christmas shopping for the niece's + nephew's!

One of my very favourite bottles, Polka.com* was released with the OPI Euro Centrale collection and is a mix of purple, hot pink and turquoise glitters with some baby purple glitters thrown in for good measure. A clear base is a must-have in glitters for me as I love using them as top-coats, but for this I was rushed and just painted two coats of Polka.com by itself to play around with it. Check out Sleep and Water for some amazing swatches too!

my beloved tree

I was drawn to the classic red mani for Christmas, and the closest at hand was #24 Port Wine* from Bio Sculpture Gel, which is a jelly sheer finish that suited my tree to a tee! I didn't realise that I could wear Bio Sculpture shades at home without a full gel mani, so I guess it is true that you learn something new every day!

taking Charlie out to play fetch

It's safe to say I squealed quite a bit when the OPI set I had on my Christmas list landed on my desk in early December. The San Francisco mini set has some amazing dark shades, and the duochrome Peace & Love & OPI* was the first to hit my nails. This was without a doubt Mister Bovary's favourite mani this month, he couldn't stop staring at the shifting colours! 

tug-o-war with Charlie Bear

 Mister Bovary treated me to a new Rimmel polish while we were out Christmas shopping the other day, the newly released Star Dust in Moon Walking. I didn't realise these polishes were textured until I applied it, but I love the sparkly finish of this lilac shade. I now have my eye on the pale champagne Aurora shade from the Star Dust collection...

heading into work on a hot day

Last but not least we have my rushed work manicure, channelling the cold of the other side of the world while I sit here in 40 degree heat in front of my air conditioner. I used the new essence Beauty Beats collection polish in 03 As Long As You Love Me which is a truly beautiful slate grey filled with warm tiny shimmers when you look at it in the light. I then topped it off with a coat of the new Ilamasqua Blizzard*, which is a mix of different sized sheer white hexes that totally reminds me of snow (not that I've ever seen snow...)

 

So what shades have you been rocking lately? Have you planned your Christmas day manicure yet?

 

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty