Summer Stripes Nails II

This is my attempt at a stripey-neon mani, first posted by the Sally Beauty Nail Blog found here:

Sally Beauty Blog

It came out a little messier than I'd really like, but you only notice that in close-up, like for pictures on blogs etc. (Ugh.) Just looking at them from a foot or two away, it looks pretty cool.

This is a pretty easy mani. The hardest part about it was putting the watermark on the pic. I will get better at that, hopefully. I am just not that much of a perfectionist to go back and re-watermark an original copy. I think it looks okay, right?

Here are the steps to achieve this look:

1. Base coat (I like Seche Vite Base).
2. Paint each nail to opaque with a variety of fun colours: remember that neons can sometimes take up to 4 coats to get rid of that pesky white nail line! *hint: do not go right to the cuticle or edge with these colours, or they might show through after you put the white coat on.
3. Top coat! I like Sally Hansen Good-to-Go for mid-mani top-coats: it is thin and dries super-fast.
4. After about an hour, once you've let that top coat get good and hard, get out your striping tape! Using sharp scissors to cut and tweezers for positioning, lay the tape in a design you like over the first nail.
5. Once the tape is positioned, use a nice thick white polish to cover up the nail and tape. Make sure the white is thick enough so you don't see the colour beneath it.
6. Using your trusty tweezers, quickly remove the tape at a 90 degree angle to your nail. Fast and smooth and straight up, while the white is still fresh and wet.
7. Carefully move on and do the same for each remaining nail. Plop on a big ol' layer of Seche Vite or Poshe quick-dry top coat, being careful not to put too much pressure and smudge the white. (I waited ~ 30 minutes between hands to avoid ruining the one I did first.)
8. Do one more top coat if you want your nails to feel smooth instead of lumpy! If you like lumpy nails, that's your thing, I guess. Personally, lumpy nails are my nails on a chalkboard. *ick*

* Aesthetic consideration: I made all the stripes diagonal, and tried to focus/anchor them on the top 1/3 of the nail bed. Hopefully this creates some level of continuity in an otherwise varied design.

What's on your nails this week? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!! xoxo