Last summer, one of my favorite nail designs that I did on myself was Summer Lovin’. This is a design I just did for my mom to help welcome in this summer. I used the same color combinations as I did for the other design, but changed it up a little bit. Here’s how I did it . . .
Note: I will be providing instructions on how to achieve this look with plain polish, along with Gel Polish.
Step 1: Prep Nails
View my post on Nail Polish Prep.
Step 2: Paint Color onto Nails
Paint all the nails, except the ring fingers, with two coats of blue polish. I used the Shellac color called, Cerulean Sea. Paint the ring fingers with two coats of coral polish. I used the Shellac color called, Tropix.
Gel Polish: Apply two coats of polish. Cure 2 minutes in the UV light, or 1 minute in an LED light.
Step 3: Stripes
I free-handed painting stripes with a very small stylus as I did here, but I used white acyrlic paint instead of gel polish. Note: If you don’t feel comfortable free-handing the stripes you could use tape as a guide as I did for this design.
Step 4: Flowers
Now on the ring fingers, I painted a 5-dot blue flower and pulled the paint from each dot to the center. Once the paint is dry, add a small white dot for the center.
(Note: I did the flowers with acrylic craft paint. . . Some polishes can dry almost transparent which makes the image hazy and you won’t get the wow factor you are going for. View my tutorial on how to paint flowers.)
Step 5: Top Coat
Apply top coat to all the nails. Make sure the paint is completely dry before adding top coat to help avoid smearing.
Gel Polish: Apply top coat polish. Cure 2 minutes in the UV light, or 1 minute in an LED light.
Step 6: Allow to Dry and Apply Cuticle Oil
Allow your polish to dry completely. Apply a cuticle oil just around your nails on the cuticle and rub into the skin.
Gel Polish: Remove sticky residue on top of nails with a little alcohol or polish remover and apply cuticle oil.
Remove gel polish after 2-3 weeks, check out Gel Polish Removal for the quickest, easiest and best way to remove gels.
