Thursday, November 15, 2012

Orange Rays

Wow, looks like I had a couple of extra Halloween nails hiding that I didn't get to share with you. That's ok, though, because this is a lovely technique you can use with any colors you like, to create something soft and subtle or bold like I'm showing.

I started this nail using a Milani's High Speed Fast Dry Polish in Jiffy Orange, an intensely pigmented orange creme that does indeed dry quickly. Once it was dry, I added strips of nail striping tape radiating out from one spot on the lower left of the nail. I made sure to cut the tape long enough to leave excess on the end so that I could remove it easily once the next polish was on, and I pressed all the strips down carefully to make sure they were solidly adhered.

Again, let me repeat that it's crucial that your polish be completely dry for this step. If it isn't, you end up with some really funky stuff that needed to be removed so you can try again. It's not worth trying to rush it.

Once the striping tape is applied, I went over the top of the whole nail using Wet n Wild's Black Creme, which is unsurprisingly a black creme polish. As soon as the polish was applied I pulled each strip of tape off one by one, leaving crisp orange lines across the nail. Once again, I let this dry for a few minutes.

Because I felt the nail was still lacking something, I decided to add a spot of glitter. I used Milani's Gold Glitz, which added a bit of glam to the design. After giving this a couple of minutes to dry I then topped the whole thing off with a couple of coats of ProFX topcoat and called it a day.

I've put together a few examples of different color combinations to show just how versatile this design can be. I think it would be fun to do a rainbow ombre for the base coat, with an opaque creme on top. Or you could do the base coat in a dark glitter like Milani's Silver Dazzle and a bright gradient on top!  Hopefully you'll see something that inspires you to play!




Some polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.
See my disclosure statement for more information.