Holiday Nail Art for Short Nails

Here is a very simple design for a holiday party or other event you can do with just a few colors of polish. I am with my family for the holidays, so I don't have any stripers, nail art pens or dotting tools, and only the few colors I keep here when I visit. So really, this is the perfect traveling for the holidays manicure.
The colors I used are Revlon "Sure Thing" (the white), NYC "Chelsea" (the red) and Claire's "Tin Man" (the silver). I painted a white base, then added 3 stripes of the red polish to my nail, two on the left and right edges and one in the middle. Then I filled in the empty spaces with the silver polish. The lines can be varying lengths, it really doesn't matter if they're all about the same or not. It's also really helpful to use a pretty dry brush to have the best control when placing the polish.

Leopard Print and Red Wine Nails

Two of the biggest fashion trends at NYFW this fall were taupe shades, often accompanied by animal print, gold hardware and accents, and oxblood red. I decided to combine these elements into today's nail art.

To begin, I painted four of my nails white and one deep red- the shade I used was Pacifica's "Red, Red Wine." When the white was completely dry, I added NYC's "Brownstone" to a cosmetic sponge and added a variegated, light brown gradient effect to my four non-red nails. Then I added leopard spots using a pencil eraser I roughed up a bit dipped into Revlon's "Hot For Chocolate." On my accent nail, I took Orly's "Too Fab," a gold glitter polish and added a gradient to the tip of my nails. I just used the polish brush, adding glitter to the top 2/3 of my nail, then adding glitter only on the tip once the first coat of glitter had partially dried.

She-Rabbit nails

Oh dear! Have not published anything in over a month- this is because I can't find my SD card. I borrowed Boyfriend's today to get a picture of my nails.
First, my opinions on the while polish I used- this is "White On" from the Sally Hansen Xtreme wear line. A little thin, a little streaky, not great for painting nails plain white and leaving them that way, but a pretty great cheap nail art staple.
Anyways, I did the white stripes on the orange with some nail art striping tape, which is my new favorite nail art tool, and freehanded the bunny. I just drew a white bunny shape, filled in the ears with more orange (NYC's Times Square Tangerine) and drew the eyes with a black nail art pen. I guess a pastel would have been more appropriate, but who cares? Do what you want with your own nails.

Zoya- Dot

I guess I was a bit tardy to the "natural" nail polish party, but I'm back, and now actually have a Zoya polish. I've had my nails done with it in salons before, but I guess other brands always seem to catch my attention first. No longer! I saw this lovely color and thought maybe, just maybe I'd get a ynbb out of this that wasn't streaky, sheer and awful.
I love this formula. It's incredibly opaque, no streaks, and the thick polish hardens to a very glossy texture, kind of similar to Butter London's finishes.
Anyways, Dot is is a lovely color, and I did just that, created some dots on my nails that I turned into rosebuds- the flower kind, not the Citizen Kane variety. Somehow, black and white toboggan nails were never high on my nail art priority list.
The base coat is some random NYC polish I have and the little black bits are from my black Sally Hansen nail art pen. Stripers and dotting tools just weren't going to happen today.

NYC- Big Apple Red

Revlon nail appliques were still going strong at the time I took this picture, so I left them on because the red was a good compliment to them. Big Apple Red is one of the core NYC polishes, and retails for $ .99 USD. They are available at drugstores and most retailers with drugstores in them.
The formula on this guy is a little thick, which left pools of color on the sides of my smaller nails. This caused the color to be darker in some places on the nail. However, the polish is a really nice bright red that is a good staple for any collection.
with the right topcoat and basecoat, the wear is pretty long without fading and tipwear is pretty minimal. Since they are so inexpensive, I would recommend getting a few in some basic colors if you like doing nail art. They would be perfect to add little dots and stripes to a manicure.

NYC- Luxury Lime

This polish is from the core collection of NYC polishes, not the "Color in a New York Minute" line. It is a light Tinkerbell green shimmer that is very sheer indeed. All NYC core polishes are $1 USD per bottle. They are available at drugstores and mass retailers. Of all the cheap polishes, these might be my favorite.
The formula is a nice, thin consistency that spreads evenly on the nail, is easy to control and doesn't make a mess on the cuticle or growth channel. I suppose you could add a white base to make the color less subtle, but I wanted to show what it looked like without.
To add a little more interest, I added a coat of OPI Navy Shatter on a couple of nails I know crackle polishes are no longer really in vogue, so to keep it tasteful I never apply them to all of my nails, just one or two, maybe three at the most.

NYC- Times Square Tangerine

This polish is from the line of standard NYC polishes, which I actually think are great value for a dollar. You can find them at just about every drugstore and massive retailer and cost only $1 USD.  They're great if you need a color and you're out of town, and they are also great gifts for the younger girls in your life.
Times Square Tangerine is a creme finish orange that is not a neon. It is a bright orange, but not the type you would see a deer hunter wearing. The formula is a bit thick and messy, but I do like how it is not streaky like other similar price point polishes.
To do my spider webs, I drew a few straight lines with a black nail art pen on each nail, then went back and drew a few curvy lines horizontally through them.

Mystery polish #1

In my collection, there is a wide variety of brands both high and low end, textures, colors and effects. Most of these polishes have a name and a number, which is useful for organization and to talk about the particular polish. However, there are a few polishes in my collection which I have either lost the label for or never had one in the first place.
This particular polish is from NYC's "Color in a New York minute" collection. It's actually really nice for such a cheap polish and I really like the color. I put up a picture of the bottle and swatched it on my toes. Can you help me out and tell me the name of this color? Thanks.