Candy Striped Nails Tutorial

Now that it’s officially spring people are ditching their monotone fall ensembles, and are opting for brighter outfits.  The color of our nail polishes are no exception to the trends.  In fact, I feel like these days more and more people are actually taking the time and making the effort to do their own nails at home in fun, unique ways.  There’s so many nail trends and just fashion trends in general that it’s hard to decide on a look sometimes.  That’s how I came up with this idea for candy striped nails.  I was going through all my nail-polishes trying to find a nice “springy” shade, but I couldn’t decide on just one color so I picked 5 colors instead.  After all, variety is the spice of life right?

For my colors I chose light yellow, pink, purple, mint green and sky blue.  The brands I used for the yellow and pink were NYC (New York Color) “quick dry” polishes.  The purple and mint green were Sally Hansen “Insta-dry.”  And last but not least the sky blue is by Forever 21’s “love & beauty” line.

Prep your hands by washing hands and clipping cuticles if possible.  If you do not have cuticle cutters, or are uncomfortable snipping your own you can instead massage some exfoliating sugar or salt scrub onto your cuticles in order to buff the dead skin away.  If you chose the sugar / salt scrub option then make sure to wash your hands again after wards in order to remove any oils or residue that may be left on your skin or nails.

Now, most people recommend base coats…I on the other hand, don’t care for them too much as I feel like they cause my nail-polish to chip faster, but don’t let that stop you if it works and is right for you.  So first apply your base coat, or if you’re like me and prefer not to use that then skip straight to the painting.  It’s best to paint one coat at a time and then allow it to dry before applying another coat on top.  In between coats you can shorten the amount of time you have to wait before reapplying by dipping your drying nails into a bowl of iced water and letting them sit in there for about 30 seconds.  Repeat that process until you get the desired intensity of the colors.  Hold your hands in the ice water to speed the process of drying up, because the candy stripes have to go on while your nails are dry.  I wanted to keep it simple so I spaced the stripes out a bit and made 3 thin stripes diagonally across my nails.  Do whatever you like though, make as few or as many stripes as you want.  For the white stripes I used a nail art nail-polish by L.A. Colors called “Art Deco.”  I used white because that’s what reminds me of the old fashioned hard candy ribbons, but you can use any color that contrasts and stands out against the colors underneath it.  Once the stripes have finished drying apply a clear top coat to seal the deal.

Happy Springtime everyone!