Nail Art Week, Day #1: Duo Color Studded Manicure

I'm on my own personal quest to become better at nail art. And in order to become better, I need practice! Since I have no one to practice on, I have to practice on myself. SOOOO this week, I am replicating a bunch of designs I saw online (I have no refrences, because most of the time it's 3AM and I'm taking screen shots on my iPhone haha. I also am going to include step by step instructions on how YOU can replicate them!

NAIL ART WEEK, DAY 1:

Check the jump for more pictures and the tutorial!

I remember seeing this on someone's blog, not sure who (let me know if you know haha) but here is how I slightly replicated it. These are the tools I used:

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 different shades of nail polish (Revlon Blue Lagoon and China Glaze First Mate)

- Top coat

- Nail gems, studs, beads, pearls - something roundish. I got mine here.

- Scotch tape

- Orange Stick (or something similar)

STEP 1: Paint the lighter color on the inside side of each of your nails, the half closest to your thumb. You can paint the entire nail if you want, but I don't see a need. Make sure this dries really well.

STEP 2: Once the lighter color is entirely dry (if it isn't the tape will leave pulling marks), tape off the inside part of the nail you just painted.

 STEP 3: Paint the un-taped part of your nail. (Should be the closest part of your finger to your pinky)

STEP 4: Remove your tape and it should look something like this. You don't need to wait until the darker color dries. As you can see I have SOME pulling marks from the tape because I am impatient. It doesn't really bug me because I know I'm going to cover that area.

STEP 5: Dab some top coat onto some paper to use to apply the rhinestones to your nail. I used a cheaper top coat so I wouldn't waste my Seche Vite.

STEP 6: Draw a stripe with the top coat along the dividing line of your two colors. Then, wet the end of your orange stick to pick up the rhinestones and stick them on your nail. I put a rhinestone at the base and tip of my nail first, so I could judge how much space I wanted between the rhinestones. Then finish off with a top coat!

Here is your final product! :]

What do you think of today's nail art? I really like how simple this looks, but with a little bit more added to it. I really like how tape can be played into a manicure, I wish I wasn't so impatient though! Let me see pictures if you try to do this :] I can only imagine some awesome color combos!

Check back tomorrow for day #2 of my nail art week :]

Until then,
Lacey