One of my (blogging) New Year’s resolutions was to do at least 20 nail art posts this year – that’s just under 2 a month, and I have just realised that the end of January is fast approaching! I actually did this particular manicure about 2 weeks ago, but got distracted writing my 2014 Year in Review post and my 4 Year Blogiversary post – apologies! You will also notice that my nails are particularly short in this post – I had a low break over Christmas and decided to cut them all down and start over. Somehow that always feels so refreshing! (Anyone else?)
Anyway, I dug out some old nail vinyls that I haven’t used in a while, and decided to play around with them. I fancied something angular so out came the lightning shapes.
I’m always dead chuffed with the clean lines given when you use nail vinyls!
For this manicure I used:
- Picture Polish Grace (base colour)
- Zoya Maisie (blue/green flakies)
- Ciaté Power Dressing (top colour)
- Nail Stickrs Lightning Nail Vinyls (they make the zigzag lightning shape!).
Because conventional is way too boring, rebellious old me decided to put each vinyl in a different direction for each nail, so that the zigzag shape was roughly in the middle but coming from different angles.
In the most basic terms, here is how you use a nail vinyl (you can read my more thorough review and instructions here).
- Start with a dry (as in rock solid dry) base colour.
- Stick the vinyl down firmly, covering the area of base colour you want to preserve. Make sure there are no air bubbles or gaps lifting the vinyl up at the edges.
- Paint your top colour over the whole nail. Add a second coat if needed.
- Wait til it’s DRY! And by this I mean really leave it 15-20 mins, or longer.
- Peel off the nail vinyl, and finish with a coat or two of topcoat.
I think I need to use the vinyls I have more often… I think they are literally the most easy nail art I’ve ever done. The trick is making sure both base and top coats are fully dry before fiddling around with them. Otherwise you will ruin your manicure (trust me…!).
Let me know what you think of nail vinyls in the comments – I keep meaning to get more but perhaps from a UK supplier like She Sells Seashells. I have my eye on the Valentine’s Heart Burst one. 🙂