While I'm in total support of bold nail art (I mean, just look at our mugs and manis gallery), it's not for everyone. Now that I'm a busy (read crazed-to-borderline-insane) mom in my thirties, I still like to have fun with my nails, but I keep the overall vibe classic.
For those of you who are there with me on the subtler side of nail art, I came up with a couple of "party nail" ideas for spring 2014—they're festive and playful but low-key enough to wear anywhere, from a wedding to work. First up and maybe my favorite: these dove-gray "studded" nails.
I've long loved the idea of subtle, sheer metallic polka dots on nails, so I took my iPad to my local nail salon, pulled up my Pinterest, and asked the ladies to help me pull off my vision (only on my sister-in-law's hands—I had mine done in another nail scheme you can check out next week: multicolor neutrals!). They used glitter instead of metallic polish for the dots, which gave them the cool raised effect.
Here's the how-to:
1. Apply two coats of of a soft gray; this is Essie Master Plan.
2. Dip the pointy end of a wooden cuticle stick into gold glitter nail polish (one with finely milled glitter particles will work best). Make tiny dots in your desired pattern. Put on enough so the dots look slightly raised, almost like studs when viewed from afar.
3. Patiently let dry (always the hardest part).
See, I told you it was easy. Obviously I could have done this design without going to the salon, but my SIL and I were in dire need of some pro cuticle cleanup too!
Have you ever done dots on your nails? Would you try really tiny dots like these?