Friday, February 21, 2014

Black & White Nails: Stripes and Polka Dots

I had high hopes for today's nails, as I prematurely boasted yesterday on my Facebook page. As it turns out, even with the aid of nail stickers, the "stripes" aspect of my "stripes and polka dots" nails didn't turn out perfectly. My stripe game needs some work! But my polka dot game is pretty on-point in this mani, if I DEW SAY SEW MYSELF, so hopefully you'll still enjoy it:

Black and white nails, polka dots and stripes







For these nails, I used:
  • Snow Me White by Sinful Colors
  • Stiletto by Revlon
  • Quo by Orly dotting tool
  • Quo by Orly detailer brush
  • Essence nail art stickers (featured here)
  • tweezers

For anyone curious, the dotting tool and detailer brush were part of a Quo by Orly set called Instant Artist. I bought it last year in this haul.

Black nails with white polka dots, white nails with black stripes


I started by painting all of my nails black, except my ring finger, which I painted white. Then I added the white polka dots to all of the black nails using my fail-safe method of making polka dots. After trimming down a few of the nail sticker strips, I lay them carefully across my ring finger and pressed them down firmly to (TRY TO) make sure that no polish would bleed around the edges. Then I used the black polish to paint over all the exposed white stripes on my nail and quickly used my tweezers to remove the strips before the black polish could dry or become tacky.

Black nails with white polka dots, white nail with black stripes as an accent nail



After removing the strips, I wasn't really super pleased with how my stripes looked. There was some bleeding, and the polish had apparently become slightly tacky before I'd removed the strips, so there was a tiny bit of "string-age" going into some of the white stripes.

Black nails with white polka dots, white nail with black stripes as an accent nail


Guys, I've never spent so much time on detailed clean-up of a mani. I know you wouldn't know it by looking at the final product, but I really did spend awhile trying to make that striped finger look better! First I used the detailer brush dipped in white polish to try to clean up the white stripes. Then I spent foreverrrrr using that same tiny detailed brush dipped in acetone to try to clean-up all around the cuticles on that nail. It's really hard not to make a mess all over your nail edges when you're using the striped lines tape/sticker method. If you know a secret to keep it clean, please share with me.

aka Bailey: Black and White nails, polka dots and stripes







David is gone today and tomorrow, off on a hiking and camping trip with a friend. I'll have to keep myself entertained the next day or so, which shouldn't be too much of a problem. There is probably a solid amount of ice cream, laundry, take-out, writing, photo-editing and YouTube-watching in my near future. SHOULD BE A SOLID TIME.

What are you up to this weekend?

Know any good movies I should try to Netflix/RedBox?

What's your favorite YouTube channel?

Random update on 2/24/14: I completely forgot to mention that this mani was inspired by a fashion blogger's outfit! Alison over at Get Your Pretty On did a blog post where she was rocking a white-with-black-stripes top with a black-with-white-polka-dots scarf, and I thought the combo of the two B&W looks with two different patterns was so cool! I pinned Alison's outfit onto my Nail Polish board here! Sidebar, follow me on Pinterest for a good time. ;)

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15 comments:

  1. My weekend looks much like yours. And I kind of hate you for how perfect your polka dots are in this. I just keep staring at them. The stripped finger detail looks good to me. I have SUCH a hard time with stripped details too. I got so fed up with the whole sticker method that I've just gone straight to winging it with a striping brush--they don't come out as straight but it's less trying on my patience haha. Happy weekend friend!!

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  2. Cute! Love black and white combos, just so classic!

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  3. The black and white colours together are a good choice, and I think the stripes look fine - its a shame you had so much trouble with them

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    1. Oy, those stripes were a pain! I just need to practice them more. Thanks for the comment!

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  4. Black and white is a classic combo for a reason…it's gorgeous!! I'm shocked that you were able to get such perfect dots. No wait. That's not right. You're the QUEEN of the dots! And this mani is the proof, why! I'm with you that striping tape creates more work than it saves. I always get bleeding, it's just a matter of how badly it bleeds. I saw on Pinterest that some people use an exacto knife to cut up painter's tape and I think I'll give that a go because I prefer super-straight lines to a freehand. You know, because I'm a glutton for punishment. Haha!

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  5. The stripes only look off in comparison to the perfect dots :-) However, you've articulated the reasons why I rarely attempt nail art beyond dotting - I lack the patience to fix mistakes. I want perfection with minimal effort! And why yes, I am completely unrealistic in my expectations.

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    1. Shucks, thanks :) You know, normally I don't have much patience to fix mistakes but something has come over me lately and I find myself re-doing things that I'd normally let go.

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  6. This is such a great DIY mani! I agree with the commenter above that the only reason the stripes look a bit less perfect is because your dots are literally perfection!

    xo Jackie
    Something About That

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  7. Bailey, I know I posted on your FB already, but I do believe you should get the gold medal in dotticures!! Your dots are beyond perfect! I have the essence striping tape too, and haven't tried it yet.

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  8. I've been really liking black & white lately.
    http://therantingsofadramaqueensmum.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Me too! Plus B&W looks great next to any other color!

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  9. Great nail design love the black & white color

    xo,
    Cha Cha
    http://www.chachathefashiongenius.com/

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  10. Totally love it and i must try this
    Will you like to follow each other?
    New Post Fashion Talks

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