Stars 'n Stripes 2011

I know I said I'd do video...but I what can I say? I was catching up on The Bachelorette while I did these (it's my husband's fault I got hooked - he went out with the guys one Sat. night, and it was on, and I just kept watching...yeah. Annoying, I know. But I digress...).

Anyways...I used my favorite Seche Vite base/top coat, along with Sparkly Nails red striper, Avon's "Splendid Blue" and Pure Ice "Platinum". I really waffled with whether to use the stars or not, because if those little points don't get pushed into the polish pretty well and coated heavily with topcoat, they can be uncomfortable to work around. Dangerous even. In the end, it just didn't look right without them, as you can see.

I started with two coats of Pure Ice "Platinum", which isn't the right color white, it's too pearly. Pretty, but cheap polish - I'm tossing all of this stuff out, I think, as it bubbled on me too.

I topped that with diagonal stripes with a red striper brush courtesy of Sparkly Nails. They sent this to me quite a while ago, but the polish was still nice and thin, and applied very easily. I was actually very impressed by the quality after so much time has passed. Great red color too.

Then I applied Avon "Splendid Blue" diagonally across the stripes, covering about half the nail. I'll get a video of this technique eventually, but I start with a single line across the center of the nail, and work out to the edge from that. Two coats, to cover all the polish underneath.

I liked the way this looks, but I'm sure you can see why it needed stars or something...the blue is just too overwhelming otherwise. So a thick coat of top coat, then press the little stars in firmly, then two more good coats of top coat to seal.

I cleaned up with an orange stick in the shower (the Pure Ice was hard to get off too), and clipped any errant star corners with a fingernail clipper to ensure the safety of myself and those I might brush against. And voila! A very patriotic manicure, I'd say.

I had a little tip pull - also the Pure Ice, I think, and my neglecting to wrap the polish around the edge.

Hope you had a fabulous holiday - until next week, Happy Polishing!