O Christmas Tree - China Glaze Emerald Sparkle & Ulta English Rose

It's almost time for Christmas, and end of year festivities have begun for some! Which gives me the opportunity to play around with Christmas manicure ideas. :D

My theme this time round is the Christmas tree, complete with baubles.

[Christmas Tree: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Ulta3 English Rose, LA Colors 24k Glitter, round rhinestones]

Minus the ring finger, the others are all supposed to be red Christmas ornaments, done using what is called the reverse half moon manicure. I have seen it called the half moon or crescent manicure as well, which is a little confusing, because the original half moon manicure from the 1920s curves in the opposite direction to your cuticles, and I have always thought the crescent manicure is just another name for the half moon manicure, except starting closer to the cuticle maybe.


[Christmas Tree: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Ulta English Rose, LA Colors 24k Glitter, round rhinestones]

I used China Glaze Emerald Sparkle as my base, to represent the tree. And then I used Ulta3 English Rose on top of that for the red. I did that free hand as I'm pretty lazy. I used LA Colors 24k Glitter from the Art Deco line to draw in the gold bauble patterns on the red polish, and then I was done!

[Christmas tree inspired manicure under direct sunlight]

The ring finger is meant to represent a Christmas tree. The base is Emerald Sparkle again, a lovely dark green jelly with green glitter that is a perfect shade for a shiny Christmas tree. I used 24k Glitter to draw in freehand the gold, curved zig-zags to represent gold tinsel. Then I stuck on flat-backed 1.5mm round rhinestones in Christmas bauble colours. Ev had some tips on the best way to stick on rhinestones, so be sure to read that. For longer lasting manis with rhinestones, go over everything with a thick coat of quick dry polish, to keep the rhinestones from catching on edges.

[Christmas Tree: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Ulta3 English Rose, LA Colors 24k Glitter, round rhinestones]

I do love the sparkly within the dark green of Emerald Sparkle, which is why it's my favourite Christmas polish. I can use it for so many things!

[Christmas tree inspired manicure, with Ulta3 English Rose in bottle]

Interestingly, while English Rose is opaque and bright red on its own, it's a shimmer which means that layered over Emerald Sparkle, it now looks a darker, antique red instead. In this last picture, I had actually removed the blue baubles on the ring finger to see if just red and gold would look better.

This was a fun Christmas manicure to try out. Anyone wants to show me pictures of your own festive manicure? :D

On that note, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus, and Happy Holidays to everyone! Cheers all! Hope you have a great week filled with lotsa eating and celebrating with family and friends!