Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Zig Zag Tape Manicure Tutorial

Here's another mani using U-Concrete-Me:




I created the zig zag pattern by using tape and included a step by step tutorial after the jump:


Step 1: Base Color
  • Paint the first color and let it dry completely or use a quick drying top coat like Seche Vite
Step 2: Add Tape
  • You can use painters tape or Scotch tape, whichever you prefer; I like painters tape because I think it's easier to cut and curves better over the edges of my nail
  • Make sure you stick and unstick the tape against your palm a few times to make it less sticky, then cut the tape into the desired shapes
  • Apply the tape to your nail carefully and remember to leave a little bit hanging off the sides so that you'll be able to pick up the tape later on
  • Smooth your finger or tweezers over the tape to make sure there is no air between the tape and your nail, otherwise the second color may seep under the tape
Step 3: Second Color
  • Paint the second color over your entire nail (including the tape) and try to be quick; if your polish needs more than one coat to be opaque do it immediately without letting any of the polish dry
Step 4: Remove Tape
  • As soon as you've painted the second color, carefully remove the tape by lifting up the edge (use tweezers if necessary)
  • The tape needs to be removed before the second polish becomes tacky or dry, so I generally recommend doing each nail one by one
    If you haven't used tape for a manicure before then this might take a little bit of practice and experimentation.  I've found that some polishes don't work well as second colors because they dry too quickly or they're too sheer--it's just a trial and error process.

    Hope that helps!

    2 comments:

    1. Thank you! This helped alot and the colors you used are so pretty!

      ReplyDelete
    2. Thanks for the tutorial! I'm going to try this out :)

      ReplyDelete

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