Pinteresting Summer

Challenge Two-At Home French Manicure ala Office Depot

In response to my husband's witty Facebook comment about my blog, I promised that not all of my Pinerest projects this summer would be food based. I don't think our waist lines or our budget could handle all of that yummy food (especially with my habit of pinning all things Nutella). So I decided my second adventure would be a foray into home manicures. I came across this picture and thought that was a brilliant idea. Like using painters tape on the wall when you paint, you use hole reinforcement stickers to create the arch of a french tip manicure.

The first red flag to this pin was that it was only a picture, not a link to blog with step by step instructions. I should have learned by now that when I go off the cuff on stuff like that bad things happen. I usually don't color my finger nails due to a terrible habit of tearing my finger nails and a constant need to pick at the paint. I usually keep my fingernails paint free and let the lovely ladies at Celeste Day Spa at Hulen Mall give me a $25 pedicure if I want any of my nails painted. However in the spirit of trying new things I bought the needed supplies at Target and heading to my bathroom and let the experiment commence.

First mistake was painting a base coat first. I thought it would dry quickly and then I could apply the hole reinforcers to do the tips. Mind you I put on a fairly thin coat of base and I used the hair dryer to speed up the process, but even then I was able to play 3 different games of DrawSomething on my iPad before my nails felt semi dry. Then I attached my hole reinforcer and used my white nail polish to make my sophisticated at home french manicure. After waiting for the white paint to dry I then peeled off the sticker and this was the result.

(The tip part looks awesome though)

(Getting ready for attempt #2)

Obviously I had to start over (which was OK because the base coat looked terrible, another reason I don't usually paint my own nails). I cleaned off my nails, applied the stickers to my clean, dry, and unpainted nails and then applied the white paint again.

After giving the white paint sufficient time to dry I carefully peeled off the stickers to varying results. Just like the frustration when pulling off painters tape and seeing spots that had leaked past the sticky barrier, I was greeted by a few spots underneath the sticker. However, this was a relatively simple problem to fix with some nail polish remover and a Q-tip. I threw a quick coat of top coat on and viola they were done. In the end, someone at a distance wouldn't notice the small imperfections of a relatively novice nail painter but up close it is a bit jacked up. I would recommend this to someone who is good at painting nails and wants a french tip without paying $25 at the nail salon. However since I am not good at painting nails and I like the ladies at Celeste, next time I want a french tip manicure I think I'll just go see them.

My next post should be Sunday and it will be food, however I have been waiting for an excuse to make my next recipe and I finally have it. Stay tuned :)