My Manicure

Taking hints from my Making the Most of a Sheer Polish technique post, I’m making a traditional French manicure more interesting by replacing the white tips with a colored nail polish, and using an interesting sheer in place of a nude-tinted or pink-tinted clear. 

My dark blue tips are OPI’s “Dating a Royal,” and I applied one coat of Sephora by OPI’s “Fancy Schmancy” over everything, to add a silver shimmer. I used French manicure guideline stickers to keep my smile lines sharp. 

I love looking at antique rings, and recently while doing so I was inspired to create a nail design themed around a common feature that many antique rings display. 

Here is an example of the style of which I’m speaking:  

The way the smaller stones surround the main stone is the specific part that interested me. I played around with that idea, but in autumn-appropriate colors:

The brown base is OPI’s “I’m Fondue of You.” I surrounded larger gemstones with tiny nail bullion beads to mimic the antique deco look.

Here is a close-up of the antique gem decoration:

While my nail polish was still tacky I attached the larger gems and encircled them in the nail bullion beads. Then I stuck the smaller gems around the main stone in a bit of a sideways stripe. I think this is one of my favorites. :)

Try pairing a dark purple French manicure with gold smile line accents for a simple yet slightly regal color scheme. I used “Juno” by Zoya for the purple tips, and metallic gold acrylic paint for the smile line accents.

I realize that this design relies very heavily on your ability to acquire star-shaped embellishments, but I’m posting it anyway because I feel you have several options available to achieve a similar look.

This is an easy design, and it’s very cute for a casual night out. You could substitute black nail polish for blue and still get the starry night look if you prefer something a little darker. All that this design entails is applying your blue, sticking on your stars, and coating everything with a clear topcoat.

As far as the stars go, you have a few choices. I was lucky enough to find tiny star-shaped gems in the beauty section of a Japanese Daiso shop, but I know they’re hard to come by. However - I have frequently seen star-shaped confetti in party stores and craft stores. Confetti works well on nails because it’s flatter than gems and therefore less likely to get caught on something and pop off. If you can’t find star-shaped confetti or sequins, try star nail stickers. Beauty shops, nail supply stores and even regular drug stores like CVS and Rite Aid sell nail decal stickers and luckily we’re searching for a relatively simple shape.

This might just be one of those designs you forget about until you happen to run into some star-shaped embellishements a couple of months from now. But then you’ll know what to do with them! :)

If your nails aren’t long enough for French manicure tips, try wearing this as a full nail design instead:

I was shopping the other day and noticed a tremendous amount of argyle tops around the mall. It seems to be a pretty popular print right now so I gave it a try on my nails.

I started with a solid brown coat of nail polish. I think a chocolate brown looks best. After a second coat of brown nail polish I applied my pink triangles with a light pink acrylic paint and a size two paintbrush. Try to keep your triangles as lined up as possible, because it will make the next step easier.

For the white lines I used a nail striper brush. A thin artist’s rigger paintbrush will work just as well. (They are the same. You’re looking to work with a ”liner” brush that has really long bristles, ideal for dragging out straight lines.) Dip your liner brush into white acrylic paint and drag out your lines through the center of your pink triangles. Do the same in the opposite direction. This way you’ll end up with white cross lines over the center of your triangles, correctly placed for the style of argyle. Don’t forget to give adequate drying time in between steps to avoid smears.

Seal all your nails with a coat of clear nail polish to protect your design, and you’re all finished. Black with grey triangles and white lines is another classic argyle color set. Wear this nail design with an argyle sweater and you’ll look adorable. :)