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!

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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.

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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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blue, china glaze, fourth of july, gradient, opi, red, sponging, stencil, tape, tutorial, white