I’ve been photo-blogging my manicures on Pinterest for a while, but I normally paint my nails once a week. So it seems like a good idea to look back on some of my favourite designs since I have all the photos.
Back in early December it was too early for a full-on Christmas set, but it was getting nicely cold, so I brought out the penguin nails! These got by far the most comments from strangers – “Are those *penguins* on your nails” – than any other mani so far.
Starting with the normal OPI Nail Envy base coat, the base colour is Collection 2000 Hot Looks (Boots) in Show Off (two coats). I followed that up with a black penguin shape using Rimmel in Black Out. Rimmel polishes have a great flat brush, so it was actually fairly easy to create the body shape and wing without using anything special. Next up was the silver-white penguin chest – I used Chanel Le Vernis in Attraction which has a beautiful pearlescent finish and was opaque in one coat.
The eyes needed my trust Model’s Own nail art pens in black and white, using the dotting nozzle. Sadly my black is already running out which meant by the time I got round to my right hand some of the penguin eyes were a little wonky (I had to squeeze the little bottle so hard it was tricky to keep steady in my non-dominant hand). They had the air of the Cookie Monster about them….
Final touch, for the beak I used the tip of a fine striping brush dipped in Collection 2000 Hot Looks in Bright Lights for the beak. Finished off with some trusty Seche Vite top coat. Ta-da! Cold weather appropriate penguins 🙂
