Nails of the Week: Feelin' Beachy

Hello Friends!

As you might have read/heard, I have had an obsession with teal and I really love it in combination with white and nude. Teal and nude have been a long time favourite combination of mine and teal and white just seem so perfect together for summer. So I thought what if I combine the three of these colours to make a nail look? Seems like a good idea and winning trio to me!



The combination of these colours just scream "a day at the beach" to me. The nude is very sandy and the teal are different colours of the ocean. I wasn't sure what kind of design I would want to do and thought that  once I've picked the right colours it will come to me. It didn't. I grabbed my "Vestral White" (Hello Kitty Collection), my "Pistachio Cream" (Baking Beauties Collection), my "Ocean Dip" (Surf, Baby! Collection), and my "Hangin' Loose" (Surf, Baby! Collection) and I still couldn't decide on a suitable design. I have been seeing a lot of nail looks where finger nails were painted a different colour, either in combination or as an ombre look. I thought that it looked so chic and this combination of colours would be perfect for that type of look.

Don't get me wrong, I have also seen photos of this type of nail look and it was not so pleasant. I think the real key here is to make sure you pick the right combination of colours, otherwise it could look juvenile or crazy. A good way to make sure that you pick the right combination of colours is to create a theme, and pick 3-5 colours that suit that theme. Do not paint all ten finger nails different colours! This is what I found that makes it seem very juvenile, the rotation of 3-4 colours is what makes this type of look sophisticated. Also another tip I found is that to make sure you incorporate either white or black with your theme, the neutral black or white colour is what makes this look chic!



(Photos are curtesy of bellasugar.net & Dressedupnails.com)









Once I had the colours picked out, I was very diligent to make sure that I make a pattern for the colours. I thought of how the beach colours are layered and which colours would look best on which finger nails. My pattern is this: nude-white-light teal-dark teal-light teal-white-nude-white-light teal-dark teal-light teal and so on.

I got my hands prepped for paint by washing them and making sure they were clean. I had filed my nails down a bit as they were getting too long for my liking. I also like to put petroleum jelly (Vaseline) around my nail beds as it protects the skin from the nail polish and makes it easy to clean up excess polish around the nail beds.


Once I knew my pattern, I started painting. My first coat...

A second coat...

And a third...

Top coat is optional of course, if you would like some added shine. I opted not to use a top coat this time.

I like to make sure that these colours are nice and opaque with no streaks. It's up to you how many layers you would like, I'm pretty consistent with three coats. I made sure that I let each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next coat and let my nails sit for at least 20 minutes to completely dry before doing anything with my hands after the last coat.

And voila!

Super cute and easy summer manicure that anyone can do!  This warm weather has gotten me in the beach mood and this summer manicure will help hold me off until I can get to the real beach! I love how this turned out and I can see myself having this manicure a few times during the summer. You can use any combination of colours that you think means beach to you, you don't have to use the same colours as I did. The beach is the inspiration, I want to see what combinations you come up with! Show me what colours scream beach to you in a manicure and tag #makeupmasochist on Instagram or Twitter, I would love to see your work!

I hope you try this manicure for yourself and I hope that the tips and tricks might help for making future manicures easier. If there are any manicure ideas you would like to see me try, leave me your suggestions and requests in the comments box below! I would love to hear them!

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Now to get myself to a beach...

xoxo
Ashley