Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Stenciled Star Nails (+ Tutorial)

Happy Independence Day! To celebrate the Fourth of July, I came up with this stenciled star manicure. And guess what? It's not freehanded or stamped! This is actually a tape manicure that you can DIY at home with a couple of simple supplies.

Read on for the tutorial, as well as about a few more pics of this manicure!





You will need:
  • Blue painters tape -- Scotch tape will NOT work for this!
  • A small star shaped hole punch (or other shape of your choice), I got mine at Michael's for $6
  • Wax paper
  • A triangle makeup sponge


Start by sticking a strip of your tape to wax paper. Using your hole punch, punch a bunch of stars into the tape, leaving some space between them.

Using the wax paper is a tip that was actually bestowed upon me by my roommate's man! I was trying to punch the tape by itself, and it kept sticking to my hole punch. I was getting really annoyed. He suggested sticking it to the paper, which allows you to punch freely and easily and then just peel it off later! So you all can thank Taylor for that bit of genius!


Once you have enough stars punched to cover a nail, peel the tape off of the wax paper. Go very slowly, or the wax paper will rip where the punches were made.

Place the tape over a completely dry painted nail. This is important, as you have to push the painters tape on very firmly to assure a clean edge.


Once your tape is secure, grab your makeup sponge and sponge two colors on over the tape. If you need help with this step, check out Sammy's tutorial. You can repeat the sponging more than once if necessary (I went with twice). Slowly peel the tape off and revel in your stenciled design!

I found that I got best results using a different punched piece of tape for every nail. It's kind of a pain, but helps keep things clean and crisp.



This is a great full nail design option for those of you that don't feel comfortable freehanding and who don't own a stamping set. 

The base here is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. The red is OPI The Color of Minnie, and the blue is China Glaze Splish Splash.


I think my thumb looks the cleanest. By the time I was ready to do my thumbnail, I had really gotten comfortable in the technique. Don't forget, you need to push the painter's tape down HARD for the cleanest edges!


This manicure looks mega eye catching from far away. Full nail pattern? Check. Gradient? Check. Sarah loves it? Check.


I can't wait to debut these at our BBQ today!


The cool thing about this technique is that you could also get a heart shaped hole punch, or a diamond, or whatever! The possibilities, the possibilities...

Hope you all have a great holiday!
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104 comments

  1. WOW! It looks amazing. Will be trying this.

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  2. Thanks for the tutorial, it's seems easy to do but the outcome is so beautiful!

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  3. this is the smartest nail art technique I have ever seen!!!! THANK YOU <3

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  4. Oh wow! I want to take off what I'm wearing right now so I can try this out!

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  5. I absolutely love this idea, your nails look so cool!

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  6. This is genius! I might have to try this sometime.

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  7. Wonderful! I have seen the tape done before, but not a a full nail image, so cute

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  8. Thanks Taylor! This looks amazing. :D

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  9. Wow, even tho I really liked the yesterday's "4th of July" mani, this one is SO SO SO freaking awesome! How do you come up with the ideas, seriously?!? Love!

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  10. They look awesome! That's a great idea to make your own stencils instead of having to buy them. You can position the shapes exactly how you want them this way. Scheduling another trip to Michael's on my calendar...lol.

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  11. Wow! Beautiful!!!
    And thanks for an amazing idea!!
    Happy 4th of July!

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  12. That is absolutely GORGEOUS! I love love LOVE it!

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  13. One of my faves by you yet, your skills blow my mind woman!

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  14. What a great idea! I was looking at punches at the craft store over the weekend and didn't find anything small enough for what I was hoping to do; I'll have to check again soon and try this :)

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  15. That is gorgeous! Definitely going to look for some shaped hole punches

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  16. Super cute, I did this stencil once before I just have the hardest time finding smalle cute hole punches at the Michael's here :(

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  17. Totally awesome!
    Totally in love with them.
    ♥~~~~

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  18. this is a great idea! i love the creativity for people who don't have stamping sets!

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  19. wow! Great idea and I love the mani! Thanks for sharing!

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  20. looks fantastic! i love doing stencil nails, i need to get some more punches!

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  21. Soooo sticking the tape to wax paper to get a clean hole punch is FREAKING GENIUS! Thanks Taylor!!

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  22. sooo adorable, love the color gradient

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  23. So. Perfect. They are very eye-catching! Thanks for sharing your technique!

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  24. Beautiful! Happy 4th of July Sarah!

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  25. Beautiful mani and great tutorial!

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  26. omg! i would've never thought of using tape or hole punchers like this!
    very unique! thank you~

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  27. This looks amazing! Will be trying this out soon, thanks for the tutorial..

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  28. This is so Awesome! Great tutorial!

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  29. this is really clever! way to go sarah :D

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  30. Amazing!! I love that you share so many creative techniques that are easy and have a big payoff. I hope the rain stopped so you could enjoy your barbecue.

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  31. WOW! looks lovely and the idea is great!

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  32. The painters tape is the best tip ever! And the nails are amazing :D

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  33. Happy 4th July. These look absolutetly fantastic! Thanks for sharing with us that really cool technique too. :)

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  34. I need to try this out stat!!

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  35. how come scotch tape doesnt work? also I WUV THIS!

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    Replies
    1. Scotch tape is just too weak to hold up to all of the structural damage you are doing to the tape with the hole punch.

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  36. This is such an awesome idea and manicure! Happy 4th!

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  37. That is so cool! Love it! I really want some shape hole punches.

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  38. BRILLIANT!! :D I just wrote up a mini shopping list for Michaels next time I'm there I HAVE to try this! Awesome tutorial and manicure! :)

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  39. This is a great tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

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  40. Looks great! Thanks for the tutorial- I'll be trying it sometime!

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  41. I LOVE it. This is exactly what I wanted to do for my patriotic mani, but my Michaels's was out of star punchers, so I got stickers :( I even went 2 different times to find it!

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    Replies
    1. And yes, I got the heart puncher instead. Hope mine turns out as good as yours. Thanks for the tip about the wax paper, I was wondering how to solve that dilemma!

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  42. Really cute and clever idea! :-)

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  43. This looks amazing, such a great idea. I definitely want to try this out!

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  44. Thanks so much for sharing this, Sarah! I'll definitely be trying these out! This is so awesome!

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  45. Another great tutorial. I'm so excited to have learned a new technique for making stencils for my nails. I've been playing with a couple ways at home but this idea is much better than anything I've hit upon thus far! Thanks and I hope you had a great bbq!

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  46. This looks so awesome, I adore it!

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  47. What a great idea! It turned out really well.

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  48. I love it! What a great idea and so super cute! Thanks for sharing with us and for the tutorial :)

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  49. This is genius! I'm gonna go raid my mum's punch collection now!

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  50. Wow, this looks so so good!
    Definitly try it out and thanks Taylor for the good idea with the wax paper ;D.

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  51. that looks amazing! perfect for the 4th of july

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  52. Oh my goodness. One of my favourite manis I have ever seen :D Must try this!!

    I've also been thinking of experimenting with trying the gradient directly on a full nail image. Like, paint the stripes of polish on the image, swirl them together like you normally would, but instead of then dipping a sponge in it, scrape and stamp... Perhaps it would create an effect like this. Must try.

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  53. Oh that's a great tip! I tried cutting out with a puncher last year but had the same issue. Need to try it again with waxed paper. Great mani with the gradient.

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  54. awesome!! im totally going to try this with neons over white with stars...or hearts would be cute too. im going to definitely head over to Michael's when i have the chance and get these punchers.

    i have to say this is my favorite 4th of July mani out of all the blogs i've seen. great job! =D

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  55. I just ordered hole punchers off eBay,, 3 for $9 just so i could try this design,, I'm excited.. I love this!!

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  56. This is great! I tried punching through tape and got nothing but frustrated. Brilliant idea to stick it on wax paper :D

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  57. Wow, this is a great tutorial! Love when ppl take the time to talk through their nailart as I love to try out new techniques. Your end result is fab!

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  58. the ... I ...... oh ... and ..... um ..... SPEECHLESS !!! LOVE IT XXX

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  59. awesome tutorial and beautiful design! thanks for sharing this with us!

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  60. Hey I'm a spanish nail art lover too! I love your blog. It is so creative. I follow you now!!!!!!!

    It will be could if you could check out my blog and my nailart at www.andreateira.blogspot.com and we could share and follow each others ideas!

    hope to see you over www.andreateira.blogspot.com

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  61. Wow! I LOVE these!! Thanks for the tutorial, I'm now itching to try this out too :)

    Jem xx

    brushupandpolishup.blogspot.com

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  62. These are awesome! Great idea!

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  63. That look is Awesome & Very Clever!!! Love it!!!

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  64. Omg the ingeniousness of this just blows my mind!!

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  65. So cool!
    Combining the stencil with the gradient was genius!

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  66. Salut ! Trop cool comme idée ça donne envie d'essayer merci !

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  67. Replies
    1. Scotch tape is just too weak to hold up to all of the structural damage you are doing to the tape with the hole punch. It will rip.

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  68. Mind. Blown. Need to get some hole punches!

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  69. I wanted to do something like this, but I didn't know where to go for the star hole puncher.

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  70. Livebreathe NailArtAugust 18, 2013 at 1:17 PM

    I love these! So creative! Wish I would have seen these before the 4th of July!

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  71. This is a great tip! Thanks for sharing!


    This is how I utilized it for the Olympics --> http://syh2.blogspot.com/2014/02/go-canada.html

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  72. This is so cute! I was going to try a similar thing a while back with hearts instead of stars but couldn't find a whole punch with such a tiny punch... might have to go back soon for another look :)

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  73. This is awesome! Beautiful job! You're a doll for sharing! Hey, thanks Taylor!

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