Gelish Mani Monday | Let It Snow!

It's December! And even down here in Southern California it's quite chilly. This month is absolutely packed for me, between office holiday parties, birthdays, THE HOBBIT, shopping, card-writing, THE HOBBIT, and the EPIC cookie-making weekend I have planed for next weekend, I'm pretty much BOOKED. Not to mention we're leaving on Christmas day to travel out to the midwest and visit the in-laws... and eat at Cracker Barrel and Steak N Shake. I'm simultaneously sad and glad we don't have either of those in California.
In really exciting me-news... I WON SOMETHING!!! Gelish Mini on Facebook was running a fall nail art competition. I submitted my fall nails for consideration... and I ended up winning!! The award was Trends polishes and a Mini kit (perfect timing - I'm almost out of Foundation and Nourish). If I end up getting Trends colors I already have I'm seeeeeriously considering running a giveaway! :)

And now on to this week's mani: snowflakes!
I've been so excited about getting into holiday and winter themed nails! I knew a few weeks ago I wanted snow flakes and I decided to go heavy on the white. Omg. I love these white nails. I'm going to have to force myself to use other colors besides white for the rest of my holiday nails this month. There actually is a coat of Rough Around The Edges on the gradient nails, but it's SO hard to see in the pic. Here's a close up:
You can kinda see some flecks on the right side of the nail. I'm actually less and less impressed with that particular polish. If you just brush it on like you normally would, most of the little mylar flakes brush right off, so you kind of have to goup it on the nail to get a noticeable effect. In the end the effect is very, very minimal - but if minimal is what you want, Rough Around the Edges might be the polish for you.

For the above manicure I did the following:

Thumb Nail:

1. • 2 coats Sheek White, cure all coats
2. • 2 coats Up In The Blue, use a small piece of sponge on the uncured polish to create a gradient effect, cure all coats
3. • 2 coats Caution, use a small piece of sponge on the uncured polish to create a gradient effect, cure all coats
4. • 2 coats Rough Around The Edges on whole nail, cure all coats
5. • Dabbed Gelish Structure onto the polish and pressed the studs in, cure
6. • Finished with 2 coats of TIO, cure all coats

Index Nail:

1. • 2 coats Sheek White, cure all coats
2. • 2 coats Up In The Blue, use a small piece of sponge on the uncured polish to create a gradient effect, cure all coats
3. • 2 coats Caution, use a small piece of sponge on the uncured polish to create a gradient effect, cure all coats
4. • 2 coats Rough Around The Edges on whole nail, cure all coats
5. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint snowflakes using white Folk Art acrylic paint. Let dry completely.
6. • Dabbed Gelish Structure onto the polish and pressed the stud in, cure
7. • Finished with 2 coats of TIO, cure all coats

Middle Nail:

1. • 2 coats Sheek White, cure all coats
2. • 1 coat TIO, cure
3. • Wipe tacky layer. Lay down striping tape in criss-cross pattern
4. • 1 coat Sheek White, cure
5. • 1 coat Matte TIO, cure. DO NOT WIPE TACKY LAYER.
6. • Using tweezers, slowy and carefully pull the striping tape off. It helps to keep the tweezers close to the nail as you pull, grabbing both the tape AND the polish that's covering the tape as you pull the tape off.
7. • Once all tape is off, wipe tacky layer

Ring Nail:

1. • 2 coats Sheek White, cure all coats
2. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint snowflake using silver Folk Art acrylic paint. Let dry completely.
3. • Dabbed Gelish Structure onto the polish and pressed the studs in, cure
4. • Finished with 2 coats of TIO, cure all coats

Pinky Nail:

1. • 2 coats Sheek White, cure all coats
2. • 2 coats Up In The Blue, use a small piece of sponge on the uncured polish to create a gradient effect, cure all coats
3. • 2 coats Caution, use a small piece of sponge on the uncured polish to create a gradient effect, cure all coats
4. • 2 coats Rough Around The Edges on whole nail, cure all coats
5. • Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cure