Wednesday, September 12, 2012

31DC2012: Day 12, Stripes

Stripe nails! I actually got like 90% of the way through a completely different design for this theme before I realized it was failing and not turning out even remotely similar to what I had envisioned. So I scrapped that and just started improvising. This is what I ended up with!


The colors I've used here are all Lime Crime polishes. I had been seeing swatch after swatch of these and just couldn't resist their bright pastel shades. The polish really doesn't disappoint in person -- they are bright and opaque, with a really surprisingly nice formula. Unfortunately, with all of the colors in this photo, some of them suffered color-balance-wise. The pink color in particular is pretty off, it's much brighter in person.

The specific color names are Parfait DayPeaches and Cream, Crema de Limon, PastelchioOnce In a Blue Mousse, & Lavendairy. The black is OPI Black Onyx.


The technique here is not too complicated. I painted the rainbow stripes on my bare nail first, not worrying about where the lines ended on the sides (since I knew they would be covered). Then, I topcoated with Seche Vite to make them dry quickly. Once they were dry, I put a stripe of scotch tape down the middle of my nail. I painted the black over the whole nail, covering the tape. After removing the tape slowly and carefully, this design remained!

Some of my tape lines did need a little bit of correcting with a striper brush (removing flaws with acetone, or straightening lines with more black polish). However, if you are not a perfectionist, you could probably get away with just stopping after the tape removal and not correcting at all.


Anyway, not too shabby for a plan B! I still wish my first idea had panned out, but I'm totally enjoying these nails, too.


31 Day Challenge prompts are here, and last year's stripe nails are here (also a tape manicure!).
Share:

52 comments

  1. These are really neat, I like your peek-a-boo stripe plan B! =P

    ReplyDelete
  2. These are very striking! I scrapped my plan A for striped nails as well and glad I did. Love your plan B

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well I don't know what you were trying to do but I really like this. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks amazing :) I have to try that one Day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. These are some of my favorite nails I have seen in a while. You are SO flippin talented. I couldn't do those thin stripes in a million years. Keep on doing your thing, girl, cause you got it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are fantastic! Love.this.look!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very cool- some of the best ideas come when you just wing it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awesome best one 2day ;) It reminds me of a dress i've seen once

    xoxox
    gin

    ReplyDelete
  9. I lurrrve these, the combo of those awesome bright pastels with the black is striking.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lovely colors, This manicure is really impressive!! We are following you.
    nailistas

    ReplyDelete
  11. I looooove this mani! More than perfect for a plan B lol! I was thinking about buying these polishes for a while too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I looooove this mani! More than perfect for a plan B lol! I was thinking about buying these polishes for a while too!

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is so cool!! I love the colours!

    ReplyDelete
  14. LOVE. Too bad I don't have enough pastels for this, maybe I'll try with some neons ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. this is so beautiful!!!!!! good job!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I can't express how much I love this! It's so awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is amazing- so much fun to look at! And I imagined it was really hard to do, but the way you described (using scotch tape to make clean lines) makes this slightly less daunting to attempt. Stunning.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I completely love these and I am dying for the Lime Crime polishes!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Girl is there anything that you do that's ugly? This is perfect, always beautiful nails.

    ReplyDelete
  20. These are seriously gorgeous, the balance of warm pastels with the black really catches the eye!

    ReplyDelete
  21. These are awesome!! I really love how they turned out. Fantastic job!

    ReplyDelete
  22. These are really great ! I always get so annoyed when painting stripes and blocks of colour with my nail art brush, they never come out as opaque as I'd like ! Any tips ? :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Lol. When I first saw these I thought they were supposed to be Smarties candies. So cute!

    ReplyDelete
  24. What the Heck! These are soooooo freakin AWESOME! OMG I'm gonna die.

    ReplyDelete
  25. You realize thus considerably when it comes to this matter, made me personally believe it from so many varied angles. Its like women and men don’t seem to be involved until it is something to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your own stuffs outstanding. Always care for it up!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Ahhh, those are gorgeous! The pastel stripes remind me of the little notepads we used to get at the elementary school bookstore; I had forgotten all about those! I LOVE this...and now *I* need some Lime Crime polishes, ROFL...

    ReplyDelete
  27. It's such a graet idea!! Fabulous !! Great colors, great design...

    ReplyDelete
  28. omg! i love it +.+ it looks a pastel rainbow <3 i'm following you, follow me to if you like :) kisses

    ReplyDelete
  29. These are freaking awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
  30. As everyone has already said, these colors are amazing! I know it sounds so dumb, but I never think to do horizontal stripes beyond just the tips. This is great and I am really impressed by how many stripes you managed to get on there!

    ReplyDelete
  31. This is so pretty and unique! you're a genius :-)

    ReplyDelete
  32. I just keep coming back to these...so amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Maybe you should use Scotch Magic Removable tape so that it doesn't strip your colour off your nails. Love the look though and if you teamed it up with eyeshadow done in stripes it would be a really unique look.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My tape didn't strip the color off my nails because I did it when they were dry.

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to comment! Please avoid link dropping and spamming. I reserve the right to remove any comments that I feel violate this policy.

© Chalkboard Nails | Phoenix, Arizona Nail Artist | All rights reserved.
Blog Design Handcrafted by pipdig