The Lite Side of Life: Mani Monday: Black on Nude Mani

Hi, you lovely folks!

This week I went with the classic combo of black and nude, however I made sure to add some fun twists to it with a different technique on each nail!

I used x1 coat Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, x3 coats Essence Black is Black on index and ring fingers and x3 coats Essence Nude Glam Hazelnut Cream Pie on the other fingers, and Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a top coat.

To get this fun mani, just follow the steps below!

You will need:

Base coat nail polish
Two colour base nail polishes (I used black and nude)
Sticky tape
Scissors
Sponge
Orangewood stick / dotting tool
Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Apply base coat nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply x2 - x3 coats of alternating base colour nail polishes, I applied the black nail polish to both ring and index fingers as the accent nails and the nude nail polish to the rest of my nails, wait for it to dry completely

3) Practice the dotting design on a piece of paper first to ensure you don’t mess up your nails if you’re not yet confident with the technique

4) Pour a small bit of black nail polish (if working on thumb nail) onto a piece of paper (I always practice before applying nail art to my nail…there is nothing worse than waiting hours for nail polish to dry and then spoiling it with an unsteady hand due to an unfamiliar technique), using the orangewood stick dip the sharp end into the black pool of nail polish and then carefully apply a small dot on the piece of paper. When you are ready to start applying the dots to your thumb nail, you will be applying the dots in a straight line at the diagonal on the nail…4 diagonal rows of dots

5) For the dots on the index finger, pour a small bit of nude nail polish on a piece of paper, using the orangewood stick dip the sharp end into the nude pool of nail polish and then carefully apply dots around the edge of the nail…you are basically making an outline of the nail with the dots

6) For the middle finger, I used two pieces of sticky tape. I placed the first piece of sticky tape at a diagonal on my nail…so that one end of the sticky tape started at the middle of my nail and the other end of the tape ended up at the opposite edge of the tip of my nail, this technique is also described here (point 3-4). I then applied black nail polish starting to paint over the sticky tape and then onto the nail. While the black coat of nail polish was still wet I quickly but carefully pulled off the sticky tape, to reveal a black diagonal edged nail. Now for the top part of the diagonal on the nail, I cut a thin piece of tape and placed in on my nail at a diagonal making sure that there was a gap at the top of the nail where the black nail polish would be painted onto. I then very carefully applied the nail polish onto my nail, however instead of painting downwards on my nail, I painted upwards towards my cuticle and was very careful to start painting on the thin piece of sticky tape…so that when I pulled off the sticky tape the excess nail polish was on the sticky tape and had not accidently been painted onto the middle of diagonal nude stripe on the nail


Well done, you've got the first diagonal down...the result! Just one more diagonal design on this nail to go!

Voila! (I did accidently paint some black polish onto the middle nude stripe...but I covered it with nude polish...moral of the story...be careful when painting on that second black diagonal stripe, it's tricky! :P )

7) The ring fingers have the trending gradient technique on them, I used a dishwashing sponge that I had cut up into manageable smaller cubes (I’ve found this works better as compared to make-up sponges). You liberally apply the nude nail polish to a small section of the sponge and then gently but firmly press down the sponge onto a piece of paper first (not only to practice) but also it gets rid of any excess nail polish…I do this about once or twice and then I gently but firmly apply the sponge to the tip of my nail…gently pressing the sponge onto the nail in different places on the nail tip in order to get the desired effect, only apply the sponge with the nail polish at the tip of the nail and build up the design by pressing the sponge onto your nail as far up your nail as you choose

8) The pinky finger, I cut up a piece of sticky tape and carefully but firmly applied it to my nail (as one would with a french tip guide sticker). I then painted on a coat of black nail polish, applying the nail polish over the sticky tape and onto the nail…while the black nail polish is still wet I quickly removed the sticky tape. This technique is also discussed here (point 4)

9) Wait for all nail art on nails to dry then apply a top coat and admire your uber classy but funky black on nude mani!