Playing with Polish

I am in a bit of a nail polish phase right now. While I like to wear a classic red, pink, or neutral shade once in a while, I tend to gravitate toward the more unusual colors—gray, orange, blue... I wore a beautiful bright yellow a few months back without a protective base coat, and it stained my nails. They have been slowly growing back to normal, but I’ve been keeping my nails covered ever since. Not that I minded all that much. I just got to play with nail polish more often.

When it comes to mani/pedis, I’m a DIYer. I’ve gone to a parlor only once to get my nails done by a pro. It was fun, but not something I would do on a regular basis. I’ll leave that for special occasions. I have too much fun doing my own thing anyway.

I was fooling around with polish the other night and experimenting with different patterns and effects. This is some of what I came up with. Nothing really groundbreaking, but fun all the same. I tried to keep them simple since it can be hard to do anything too fancy when you’re painting your own nails. Depending on the amount of contrast and saturation in the shades you use, these methods can be as subtle and sophisticated or as funky and loud as you make them. If the idea of duplicating an effect on ten nails is too daunting, try creating just one or two accent nails.

Plaid

Materials:

-1 plain polish for the base color; This works best with a lighter shade. That way you can see your pattern.

-2 permanent markers, one thin tip, one thick

-clear polish

1. Apply 1 or 2 coats of a base color.

2. Once the polish has dried, draw a grid on the nail with the thin tip marker. Make sure there is enough space between the lines for the thick lines.

3. With the thick tip marker, draw another grid in between the thin lines.

4. Once everything has dried, finish off with a clear coat of polish.

Antiquing effect

Materials:

-1 plain polish for the base color; Darker shades work best, as this lets the top metallic shade stand out more.

-1 metallic polish

-cotton swab

-nail polish remover

-clear polish

1. Apply 1 or 2 coats of a base color.

2. Once the base coat has dried, apply a layer of the metallic polish. Let this dry.

3. Dip one end of the cotton swab into the nail polish remover. Rub this over the nail until some of the metallic polish starts to come off. Continue until you have the desired effect. Don’t rub in one spot for too long or the base coat will start to come off too.

4. Finish off with a clear coat of polish.

Polka Dots

Materials: -1 plain polish for the base color

-1 polish OR permanent marker in a contrasting color

-clear polish

1. Apply 1 or 2 coats of a base color.

2. Once the base coat has dried, create polka dots with the polish or marker. Polish tends to create larger, more irregular dots. A marker will make smaller, more precise dots. Alternatively, you could use a nail art pen if you have one.

3. Finish off with a clear coat of polish.

Stripes

Materials:

-1 plain polish for the base color

-polish OR permanent marker in contrasting color(s)

-clear polish

1. Apply 1 or 2 coats of a base color.

2. Once the base coat has dried, create stripes with contrasting polish or marker in however many colors you want. Alternatively, you could use a nail art pen if you have one. Again, as with the polka dots, using polish creates larger, more irregular stripes. A marker can create thinner, sharper lines.

3. Finish off with a clear coat of polish.

Bonus! Make your own nail polish colors!

Part I: Clear polish + makeup pigment

One day I thought, “I wonder if you can make your own nail polish?” and then I Googled “make your own nail polish” and found this ingenious idea. There are a number of articles, blogs, and YouTube videos that cover this same concept. Of course when I came across it, I just had to try it. I had been searching stores for a good navy blue, but could not find one, so I decided to try that first. I was pretty happy with the results.

This is a good way to use up old makeup you have lying around. Or just go buy some in the shades you want. I bought a cheap-o eye shadow palette on clearance with tons of colors to play with.

Materials:

-1 bottle of clear or light-colored polish

-makeup pigments, such as powdered blush or eyeshadow

1. Take the desired pigment(s) and, if it is not already, crush it into a powder.

2. Add some to the nail polish bottle. Start off with a little as you can always add more. Add more than one color pigment to create your own unique shade. You can create a simple funnel with a rolled up piece of scrap paper.

3. Shake the bottle until everything is well mixed.

4. Test the polish. Add more pigment until you reach the desired shade.

Part II: Mix Polishes

Take two different colors of nail polish and mix to your heart’s content.

Part III: Layering

Another way to create your own color without any mixing is by layering sheer colors over a base color. For instance, a top coat of pale pink (the same type usually used in French manicures) is a good way to mute down a bright or metallic color for a more sophisticated look.