O, Christmas Tree: Nail Art & Tutorial

Okay, be nice--here is my first tutorial. I whipped this up just to see if I could do it, then it actually turned out alright so I thought I'd post it! I like this nail art because it is quick and easy, but still festive and fun. I've seen these scotch-tape trees around but I had not tried it yet, so I decided to do just one accent nail. I do this for new techniques I want to try so it isn't so overwhelming and I get a result I am really happy with. The last thing I want to do after a long day at work is fight with nail polish, amiright?

First I want to show you my little Christmas Tree. Isn't it cute!

For these nails I used:
Base Color - Liquid Sky Lacquer White Christmas, I used three thin coats for this beautiful silvery white linear holo.
Tree Base - Essie Going Incognito, perfect Christmas emerald green. Seriously you must own this.
Tree Glitter - Liquid Sky Lacquer 'Tis The Season, a perfect matte and satin Christmas glitter!
Star Topper - Wet n' Wild Fergie Hollywood Walk of Fame, I let my bottle settle and dumped out half the base. I keep this around for fishing embellishments out of it.

Direct lighting to show off the holo in Liquid Sky Lacquer White Christmas

Click on this image to get a larger visual of the steps, please note I fail as steps 3 and 4 are mixed up...

1.) Paint on your base color for your mani and topcoat (you know I used HK Girl!). For your tree you will need:

--Two pieces scotch tape

--A green creme base for the tree

--A glitter that will fit inside your tree (I avoided the large glitters from Tis The Season)

--A "topper" (you can fish some glitter out of a bottle or use a gleequin, rhinestone, or a stud)

--A scrap piece of paper or foil

--Tweezers to apply topper

2.) Use two piece of tape to create a tall triangle. I placed my tape at the corners of my free edge and had them meet at the top about 1/3 to 1/4 of the way from my cuticle. Tape can be a little too sticky and pull up a fresh base, dab it a few times on your fingers to remedy that. It's not an exact science and if you really want to be on the safe side wear your base for a day.

3-4.) I mixed up steps three and four which I just realized (fml), please forgive me! 

Paint your green creme from the top of your triangle to your free edge in one thick coat, wrap your tip as well. Immediately pull the tape off and stick it to your scrap paper or foil... I'm telling you this step so you don't end up with polished tape and no where safe to set it. Not that that's happened to me a million times... 

In my pictures number 4 shows the first step, number 3 shows what it will look like when you pull the tape off. 

5.) Once your tree is dry, dab on some glitter and push it around to fill the tree in.

6.) Fish for a star (if you are using a shape from a glitter polish) and dab it on a piece of paper. 

7.) Grab the star with your tweezers and place at the top of your tree. 

8.) Time for a nice thick topcoat, I used KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

9.) Enjoy your tree!

Perfectly easy and festive!

I can see doing these in pop colors like pink, green, and white. Or maybe green, blue, and silver! So many possibilities.
What do you think of my first tutorial? I promise I won't rush and mix up my pictures next time haha. Will you be giving this a try?

Selected Products:
Liquid Sky Lacquer

Love your cuticles today!