Guest Post by Nail Polish Pursuit: Christmas Nail Art + Video Tutorial

Please enjoy this guest post by my friend Paola from Nail Polish Pursuit!

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Hi Pretty Polishers and Kellie Gonzo fans! I'm Paola (Pa-OH-La) aka Nail Polish Pursuit. I am SO honored that Kellie asked me come back and do another fun and cute guest post for her amazing blog! Kellie has been a wonderful mentor and inspiration to me throughout my nail polish blogging journey. Isn't she the best? I know we can all agree Kellie ROCKS! So for my guest post today, I've got 4 Christmas nail designs to show you. These are pretty simple and quick in case you need any last minute Christmas nail art ideas.

To create these designs you will need the following:

That's a lot of polish right? If you don't have all of these colors you can use what you have, or you can create only 1 of these 4 designs and paint the rest of your nails red or green for the holiday season. You also don't have to use these exact colors I used, but in case you're interested, here is the list:

Gold polish - Ziv by ZOYA
Red polish - Sooki by ZOYA
Green glitter polish - Logan by ZOYA
Nude polish - Rue by ZOYA
Pink polish - Lo by ZOYA
Blue polish - Sia by ZOYA
Silver polish - I'd Melt For You by China Glaze
Orange polish - Lady & the Vamp by China Glaze
Black polish - Never Have Too Mani Friends! by OPI (Hello Kitty Collection)
White polish - French Tip by Color Club

You're also going to need a dotting tool or toothpick, a fast drying top coat (I used HK Girl by Glisten & Glow), straight nail vinyls or tape, and a thin nail art brush.

Now let's take a look at how to create each one:

CANDY CANE
Yummy, simple, and festive!

1. Start with a white base. I love using French Tip by Color Club because it's a one coater and super opaque!
2. Apply a fast drying top coat and let it completely dry for about 15 minutes.
3. Apply your nail vinyls at an angle to give the appearance of the candy cane swirls. If you don't have nail vinyls you can cut tape into different sizes.
4. Apply 1 coat of your red nail polish and remove the vinyls or tape immediately while the red polish is still wet.
5. Once that is dry, apply your fast drying top coat to seal the design. TIP: Apply the top coat sideways so you don't smear the design.

SANTA CLAUS
So jolly and bright!

1. Start with your red polish and apply only a small amount to the top 1/3 of your nail closest to your cuticle.
2. Then apply your nude polish to the middle portion of your nail. Don't worry about making the division of colors perfect because you will be covering it up.
3. Next take your white polish and create a "french tip" line at the bottom of your nail to create Santa's beard.
4. Once that is all dry, take your dotting tool dipped in white polish and create a line of dots side by side in between the red and nude polish to create Santa's hat.
5. Now take your dotting tool dipped in black polish and make two small dots in the nude polish section of your nail to create Santa's eyes.
6. Then use your thin nail art brush dipped in black polish and create a half moon shape under the eyes to create Santa's smile.
7. Last you're going to take your dotting tool dipped in your pink polish and make two dots at each end of Santa's smile to create his jolly and bright cheeks!
8. Once everything is dry, apply your fast drying top coat to seal the design.

CHRISTMAS TREE
This isn't a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!

1. Start with a white base. Apply fast drying top coat and let it fully dry for about 15 minutes.
2. Next take two pieces of vinyl or tape and make an X across your nail to create the outlining of the tree.
3. Then add your green nail polish in between the "X" outline. While the polish is still dry, remove the vinyls or tape.
4. Let that completely dry and you can leave it as is or you can add ornaments to you tree like I did.
5. Using your dotting tool dipped in gold and silver polish, make dots inside your tree to create the ornaments.
6. I added a star on top of my tree using a tiny nail art star that came in a wheel I bought at my local beauty supply store. You can also find these on amazon.
7. Once everything is dry, apply your fast drying top coat to seal the design.

SNOWMAN
With a carrot nose!

1. Start with a blue base. Apply fast drying top coat and let it fully dry for about 5 minutes.
2. Then take your white polish and create a circular mound shape at the bottom of your nail.
3. Next take your dotting tool dipped in white polish and make dots at the top portion of your nail to create snowflakes.
4. Now take your dotting tool again but this time dipped in black polish and make two dots at the top of the white mound to make the snowman's eyes.
5. Last take your thin nail art brush dipped in orange polish and make a sideways triangle to create the snowman's carrot nose.
6. Once everything is dry, apply your fast drying top coat to seal the design.

You're all done! Hope you enjoyed these cute and fun Christmas nails! Remember you don't have to make these look perfect, even the best nail artists make mistakes. Your designs will be unique and beautiful.

I also have a step by step video tutorial for these nails on my YouTube channel here:

I wish everyone a very Happy Holidays and a huge thank you to Kellie for giving me this opportunity to be a part of her awesome blog!

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Thanks so much for guest posting again Paola! I love nail art oh so much and I fail so hard at it, so thanks for bringing some creativity to my blog! Let me know what you think! What are you wearing on your nails for the holidays? Be sure to stop by the Nail Polish Pursuit blog and subscribe if you want, or follow her on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

❤ Kellie

Guest Post by Nail Polish Pursuit: Halloween Nail Art + Video Tutorial

Please enjoy this guest post by my friend, blogger, youtuber and fellow Halloween enthusiast, Paola!

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Hi pretty polishers and Kellie Gonzo fans! I'm Paola (Pa-OH-La) aka Nail Polish Pursuit. I am SO honored to be guest writing for my lovely friend Kellie today! She's been a wonderful mentor and inspiration to me throughout my nail polish blogging journey. Kellie and I both love all things Halloween so I felt it oh-so appropriate to create these fun and simple Halloween Nails.

You will need the following:

• white polish {I used French Tip by Color Club}
• yellow polish {I used Pippa by ZOYA}
• orange polish {I used Lady and the Vamp by China Glaze}
• purple polish {I used Looking Bootiful by China Glaze}
• green polish {I used Drink Up Witches by China Glaze}
• black polish {I used Black Pumpkin by Sally's Girl - How adorable is that little witch hat bottle top!?}
• fast drying top coat {I used HK Girl by Glisten & Glow}
• thin nail art brush {mine are from a local beauty supply store}
• medium and small dotting tool {mine are from Amazon}
• striped nail vinyls (mine are from Nailvinyls.com}

These are pretty simple for nail art beginners, but remember practice will make perfect! Here is how to create each one:

CREEPY GOOGLY EYES

1. Start with 1-2 coats of your black polish. The polish I used is opaque in one coat so it was perfect.
2. Apply a coat of fast drying top coat and let it completely dry for about 10 minutes.
3. Using your medium dotting tool dipped in white nail polish, apply three set of eyes on your nail in different directions. You can do more or less set of eyes depending on how big or small your nail is.
4. When those dots are completely dry after about 5 mins, take your small dotting tool dipped in black nail polish to make the center dot of the eye.
5. Once that is dry, apply a fast drying top coat.

CANDY CORN - this one is my favorite and SO easy!

1. Start with 1-2 coats of white nail polish. The polish I used is opaque in one coat so it was perfect.
2. Apply a coat of fast drying top coat and let it completely dry for about 10 minutes.
3. Once your nail is completely dry, use your stripe nail vinyls to create the middle color of the candy corn.
4. Apply one coat of orange polish to the middle of the nail.
5. While your polish is still wet, remove the nail vinyl stripes.
6. Apply one coat of yellow polish to the bottom of the nail. I did this one freehand and just swooped the brush across the bottom of my nail sort of like a french mani.
7. Once the polish is dry, apply a fast drying glossy top coat.

PUMPKIN

1. Start with 1-2 coats of orange polish.
2. Once that is completely dry, take your thin nail art brush dipped in black polish and create 2 triangles at the top of your nail to create the pumpkin's eyes.
3. Then create an upside down triangle underneath the two triangles in the middle to create the nose.
4. Then create a sideways half moon to create the pumpkin's smile.
5. Once that is dry, apply a fast drying glossy top coat.

WITCH STOCKINGS

1. Start with 1-2 coats of green polish.
2. Apply a coat of fast drying top coat and let it completely dry for about 10 minutes.
3. Once that is completely dry, apply your nail vinyl stripes in different positions to create the stripes of the witch's stockings.
4. Apply purple and black polish interchanging the colors with each line.
5. While the polish is still wet, remove the nail vinyls.
6. Once the polish is dry, apply a fast drying glossy top coat. TIP: Apply the top coat sideways so you don't smear any polish downward that may still be wet.

And that's it! You have created adorable Halloween Nails :) I painted the rest of my nails black but you can do more designs or paint them any other fun color you would like.

I also have a step by step video that shows this process on my YouTube channel here:


Hope you all enjoyed this tutorial and I hope you re-create your own Halloween Nails! A huge thank you to Kellie for letting me be a part of this amazing blog!

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Thanks so much Paola! I love that these fabulous Halloween nails are so easy and fun to create! Please show some love in the comments for her because you know I can't bring you nail art like this! See ya again soon!

❤ Kellie

Color Club Poptastic 2015 Pastel Neons Collection Swatches & Review

What's going on friends? Today I wanted to show you the Color Club summer collection called Pastel Neons. Their summer collections are in a series called Poptastic and this is this year's version. There are seven pastel crèmes with a neon twist in the collection and they are absolutely perfect for the season! And they pair perfectly with a tan ;)

Press Sample

First is Diggin' the Dancing Queen, a warm orchidy pale purple. All of these have similar formulas, kinda thick with almost a crelly type of consistency that lends a little towards the streaky side. I used two thin coats to start and then one slightly heavier third coat to even them out.

Disco's Not Dead is a buttery pale yellow. For a yellow, this had a pretty good formula. It is the same as the others, as described above but a touch streakier. Thee coats here.

This is Feathered Hair Out to There, a nice pale girly pink. This is so lovely and a really classic type of pink. Same formula, three coats.

Under the Blacklight is a glowy greenish highlighter yellow crème. This is actually unique to my collection, I don't have anything like it. I thought it looked pretty great using only two coats, but looking at the photo now you can see on my ring finger on the side there's a little streakiness. Should've used three.

This powdery baby blue crème is Meet Me at the Rink. I really love this one, not a neon but definitely gorgeous. Three coats.

Hot-Hot-Hot Pants is a stunning pale peachy coral crème. This is like a super blanched version of China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, like a sophisticated older sister. Three coats.

Last is 'Til the Record Stops, a cool toned bright pale green. I love green and this is a really fabulous shade of it. This is three coats, same formula as the others.

These are available on the Color Club website for $8.50 each. I know they are also stocked at some e-tailers like Amazon and HB Beauty Bar (I have never ordered from HB but they are cheaper there). What do you think of these awesome pale neons? I think they are pretty perfect for both Spring and Summer, they're so flippen fun!

Have a great week!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Color Club Spring 2015 Shift Into Neutral Collection Swatches & Review

Greetings friends! I am doing really well today, in case you read my previous post about my sick kitty, he's doing much, much better! Yay for healthy fur babies! I have a collection from Color Club called Shift Into Neutral to show you today. It's a gathering of seven neutrals, that actually would be great for palette cleansers with all the neons that are coming out for this summer. I'll give you a hint now, I love them.

Press Sample

First is Barely There, a nudey beige crelly. Fabulous formula and opaque in two coats, which was surprising for this type of finish. This might be my new go-to nude shade!

Blank Canvas is a squishy white crelly. It's not stark white, more on the soft marshmallowy side. It's not streaky, surprisingly, but I did need three coats for complete opacity. You could do two if you don't mind your nail line showing. I didn't really need another white polish, but I ended up liking this a lot and I'm glad I have it.

This gal is Blush Crush, a milky, very pale pink crelly. This is more jelly-ish than the others, making it more sheer. It was still looking a little streaky on three coats and you can definitely see my nail line, but it was getting a little thick so I didn't do another coat. This isn't my favorite.

Next is Get a Mauve On It, a tan-ish muted mauve jelly crème. This is more of a brown toned mauve rather than a pink or purple like most I own. I think this is a great neutral. It reminds me of Zoya Bridgette but less pink. Great formula, great opacity, two coats.

Midnight Mulberry is a plummy dusty purple jelly crème. This is darker than I expected to see in a Spring collection, but it somehow fits in well. This also had a fabulous formula, I used two coats here.

And here we have New-tral, a soft dusty putty pink crème. This was a surprise favorite for me, a perfect girly fresh color. It's one of those pale shades that make me look really tan and ya gotta love that haha! Amazing coverage, almost a one coater. This is two. I can see myself wearing this a lot.

Last we have Sweet Mint, my second favorite of the collection. It's a soft pale warm mint green with some hidden icy shimmer. I love this and it's actually different than any other green mint that I have in my collection which is awesome. This is two coats.

These are available on the Color Club website for $8.50 each. I also know they are stocked at some e-tailers like Head2ToeBeauty and HB Beauty Bar (though I have never ordered from HB). I really enjoyed this collection, it's a great gathering of soft work appropriate colors and there is only one I would skip (Blush Crush). What do you think of these gorgeous soft neutrals?

Have a great day loves!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Color Club Love Tahiry Collection Swatches & Review

Hi folks! Today I wanted to share with you the Love Tahiry collection from Color Club. This wasn't specifically described as a Valentine's Day collection but it definitely has those types of shades. These are all designed by Tahiry Jose, who I just learned is on the reality show Love & Hip Hop: New York (sorry, I don't watch it). These all have a special scent to them when they dry. Let's take a look shall we?

Press Sample

First is Sweet Getaway, a very neon pink shade. On the nails it appears hotter & glowy-er than the pink color in the bottle. It seems to go on very opaque, but there was still some streaking with two coats so I needed three. It does apply very easily for such a neon color though. This one has a "pink rose" scent. I love rose scented things normally, but unfortunately this scent was too overwhelming for me to want to wear this again.

Here we have Tall Dark & Handsome, a dusty deep grey crème. It has a thin formula but is very opaque. I used two coats. This scent is described as "cologne" and that is right on. I like men's scents but I don't know if I want my nails to smell super masculine haha. It was a bit too strong for me.

Seal It With a Kiss is a strawberry scented peachy pink light coral crème. This is so my type of color. It was a little on the thick side but manageable. I used two coats. This scent was pretty subtle, but nice and sweet.

This is 50 Shades of Love, a topper with metallic red and pearl white heart glitters in a clear(ish) base. You can see how the color on the red hearts has flaked off some and infiltrated the base. I actually like how the red bits look in the base but I wish the hearts didn't look scratched. I had to kinda place the hearts on, but this is one coat over Seal It With a Kiss. This one says it smells like "candy" but it's a very lightly scented one.

Next is Red-Handed, a cool red crème. This is pretty basic, but a staple kind of shade. It had a great easy to apply formula. This is two coats. It's labeled as smelling like "cinnamon" but I didn't smell anything except nail polish on this one.

This is On Cloud Nine, a squishy white jelly crème. It was still a bit streaky on two coats so I used three. This has a "white chocolate" scent, it was probably my favorite of the scents.

And last is Jitters, my favorite shade of the collection with my least favorite scent. It's a rosy pink and silver holographic microglitter with full coverage in two easy coats. I love the way it looks! Unfortunately the "bubbly" scent they put in it, which I'm assuming is supposed to smell like champagne, just overpowers me and it actually gave me a headache. To be fair, I'm pretty sensitive to a lot of scents, but I had to mention it.

These are available on the Color Club website for $8.50 each. I also know they are stocked at some e-tailers like Llarowe and HB Beauty Bar (though I have never ordered from HB). What do you think of these colors? How do you feel about scented nail polish?

Have a fly day!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Color Club Ticket to Paradise Mini Kit Swatches & Review

Hey there! Are you enjoying your day so far? I hope so :) Today I wanted to show you a new-ish collection from Color Club called Ticket to Paradise. I received the "mini kit", which includes four of the seven from the collection in a small size. I was happy to see them because Color Club minis are seriously my favorites, next to China Glaze's. The bottle is substantial and the brush is really nice for it being small.

Press Sample

First in the set is Frozen Daiquiri, a fruity red crème. This had an amazing formula, it was almost opaque in one coat but needed two to cover the nail line completely. This isn't super summery, but maybe it's the name that makes me think of sitting on the beach in the summer sun!

Next is Sea-ing Blue, a vivid sky blue crelly with turquoise shimmer. This is on the sheer side. I read that the sheer-er colors in this collection are meant to be worn that way or used in a gradient. I know a lot of people, including me, prefer a more solid look so that's the way I applied them. I used three coats here.

This is The Islands, a very sheer limey green with subtle crystal-y shimmer. This was the least opaque of the four I received, but still a fun unique color. I used four coats here and you can still see through to my nail in some spots.

And last is Tiny Umbrella, a cutie crelly peach with sunny gold shimmer. I love this shade, it's very Spring-y! Even though it's more opaque than I expected, I still needed three coats.

You can purchase Color Club from their website www.colorclub.com for $8.50 for a full size bottle or you can get this set of four minis for $12.95. I am glad I got to try this collection, it makes me crave summer! Or, at least a vacation ;) What do you think of these? I have a few more Color Club collections to show you soon so stay tuned for those!

Have a great week!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Color Club Look Don't Tusk Review & Swatch

Hi there! I wanted to show you a polish I bought a few months ago but haven't tried until the other day. It's from the Color Club Safari Garden collection that came out for this spring. Look Don't Tusk is an off white crème with a beigey yellow tint. I imagine that it's inspired by an elephant's tusk. Sort of streaky on the first two coats but the third layer mostly fixes it. Not the worst pale crème I've used and not the best. I do really like the color though, very pretty.

You can purchase Color Club on their website for $8.50 per bottle. What do you think of this buttery cream color? I know it's quite basic, but it's very chic and would be a great alternative to white under some nail art. Until next time, have a good one!

❤ Kellie

Color Club Summer 2014 Poptastic Collection Swatches & Review

Greetings my fine friends! I'm still hanging on to the edge of summer with this collection from Color Club, it's their Summer 2014 Poptastic colors. Six neon lacquers that will make you want to grab your sunnies and hit the beach!

Press Sample

First in the collection is Kapow!, the quintessential neon pink with a slight purple shimmer. I adore pinks and this is just right up my alley. Great formula, thin but not too thin and easy to manipulate. This is two coats.

Next we have Bell Bottom Babe which looked out of place in this collection to me at first, but I think it ends up fitting in pretty nicely with that shimmahhh. It's a medium purpley blue with purple shimmer. Thin formula, I needed three coats here.

My favorite of the collection is Foxy Mama, although the name is pretty corny haha. This retina-searing neon orange is so perfect, with awesome golden orange shimmer it just screams LOOK AT ME! Thick-ish formula, two coats.

This is Right On, a pretty neon purple with a blueish purpley shimmer shift. Really lovely, I adore this and I don't usually love purples. Thinner formula, but opaque in two coats.

Not So Mellow Yellow is right, it's anything but mellow! Another blinding neon, this one is a classic highlighter yellow with some added shimmer. Kinda thick but not unworkable.

And last is Peace, Love & Polish, a slightly coraly light/medium pink neon with awesome warm gold shimmer. Instant love! Also on the thick side, this is two coats.

I love that a white base coat is not needed for these neons! The three thicker ones take a light touch for application but the thinner ones are pretty easy to apply. These can be found on Color Club's website for $8.50 each. What do you think of these hawt neons?

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Color Club - Beyond

This is Color Club Beyond. Stunning. Sickening. Sexy. I am loving Color Club's Halo Hues collection and this one comes from the newest group released earlier this year. I reviewed another polish from this collection a while ago, Over the Moon. This one might top my excitement over that one though. This black explodes in a rainbow of holo! I might prefer if it was a tad darker overall, but the effect in real life is just beautiful. This is two coats.

Press Sample

You can get this polish and other Color Club polishes from their website for $8-10 each. What do you think of this holo black beauty? I'm loving it!

Product samples were provided for consideration. Disclosure Policy