Happy Sunday! Another weekend come and gone too soon. Sadly I spent the whole weeking studying (or rather, convincing myself I was studying...) but at least my procrastination means that I have some brand new nail art for you today!
I was wearing Mermaid's Tears this weekend from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection. I didn't want to let a great base colour go to waste so I decided this would be the base colour of today's nail art. I just can't get enough of this colour at the moment. I keep raving about it to everyone because it is actually THE BEST colour if you are in a hurry. Yesterday I had a lazy Saturday morning as I generally do because it's one of my only opportunities for some down time each week. After spending a good two hours cleaning my room with Sex and the City on in the background (yes, fun fact about me I like to clean my room in my down time - I find it relaxing), I realised I only had twenty minutes to get ready for work and, to my horror, my nails were BARE at this stage as I was planning on doing them before work and had completely lost track of time. So I reached for old faithful, Mermaid's Tears, from my shelf knowing that it is a guaranteed quick dry and easy application. It's also opaque enough to get away with one coat, which was all I had time for. Anyway, I guess you want to see the art by now?
So I thought today I have another play around with some striping tape. I've tried this once before (check out my checked nails here) but this time I wanted to try something a little different. Here's the finished product:
Striping tape nail art
A very simple and quick nail art idea. Here's a mini tutorial if you're keen on trying out this look for yourself:
What you need:
- A base colour (as I said, I've used OPI Mermaid's Tears)
- Scissors (preferably small/fine as the tape is quite fiddly)
- Striping tape (very cheap off eBay - I think this one was $1)
- Top colour (I've used OPI Black Onyx, above)
Step #1 - Apply striping tape in a pattern/arrangement that you would like
Step # 2 - Apply top colour on top of tape
(make sure tape is pressed down firmly at the edges)
(make sure tape is pressed down firmly at the edges)
Step # 3 - Once top colour is pretty much dry, gently peel up the striping tape from the edges
This is how mine looked after this step . . .
This is how mine looked after this step . . .
Step # 4 - Clean up around edges (can be a little messy)
I would recommend a nail polish corrector pen or you can use cotton tips and polish remover
Step # 5 - Apply topcoat for shine (I used OPI Start to Finish)
And voilà!
This was really fun and I'm keen to try this again! My only disappointment is that the lines look a little rough around the edges from when I peeled the tape off. I think it would have turned out better if I had done a thinner coat of Black Onyx but my Black Onyx is thickening up a bit from all the use it gets and painting the top colour coat was difficult because the tape gets in the way a little. I'm sure, like everything else, that with a little practise it will turn out better. It's funny, I prepared this nail art today and after I'd finished, out of curiosity, I googled "striping tape nail art" and one of my favourite bloggers, Sarah from Chalkboard Nails had tried this very idea. Check out hers here. Hers are a lot better than mine so this has given me something to aspire to next time I try this.
Anyway, study time now for me as I have my Spanish final exam tomorrow :S eep! Wish me luck! Until soon amigos :)
