Hello! My name is Tessa and I blog over at tessacotton. I’m pleased as punch to be contributing today at White Lights on Wednesday. I’ve followed Julie and her fantastic blog for quite a while now, and I’m really excited to get to share this mani with you, her lovely readers.
Green is one of my absolute favorite colors, and I think it’s just perfect for this time of year. So many of the things I love about summer are green – I’m thinking picnics on the grass, frozen margaritas, sea glass at the beach, and key lime pie. I see nothing wrong with wearing bright colors all year long, but if you can’t rock some fabulous green nails in summer, when can you?
I’ve designed a little manicure featuring the fabulous color green in a color-blocked style. All you’ll need to recreate this look is polish in three shades of the same color, some tape, and a bit of patience.
My personal preference for doing nail art is to use painters tape. I’ve tried scotch tape and masking tape but painters tape just always gives me the cleanest lines and never peels away the underlying layers of nail polish. It makes sense, since painting clean lines is what painters tape was designed for! Go ahead and cut all the strips of tape you need (and a few extra just in case!) before you get started. Nobody wants to deal with tape and scissors while your nails are wet!
For this mani: starting with the darkest color (in this case ULTA Lime Light) paint all nails with a solid coat or two of polish: whatever it takes to achieve opacity. Thinner coats dry faster so I tend to favor two thin coats over one thick coat.
After the base coat is completely dry, tape off the bottom third of each nail. Keep in mind that the part covered in tape will stay the original color. Now, painters tape isn’t super sticky, so make sure you press it down really well. The next bit is the only tricky part : I suggest painting quickly and then removing the tape before it dries – I’ve found that this makes a really nice line and a smoother finished look. I used Essie ‘Navigate Her’ for the second, medium color.
Once the second coat is dry you can repeat the process with the top third of the nail. Your third color goes here, I used Urban Outfitters ‘Slime’. After peeling off the tape and waiting a few seconds, top with a coat of quick-dry polish. Seche Vite is my all time favorite, but the Ulta brand X-Dry is really great as well. If you’re like me the edges will be a bit messy – I always find that the polish on my skin comes off with soap and water. If you’re in a hurry nothing beats a Q-tip and some nail polish remover.
And there you have it! Thanks so much for reading, I had such a blast creating this mani. If you recreate this look I’d love to see it, tag me in Twitter or Instagram so I can check it out!