Fancy Mani For My Birthday

This Saturday is my Birthday and I thought it would be fun to do a fancier than normal manicure to celebrate. I did a little bit of 3D nail art this time, which is not something I usually do. So Happy Birthday to me (and my son, who was born on my Birthday) and let's get started shall we?

To do this tutorial you will need:

• A base color. I used Ulta brand polish in the shade Peach Parfait, which is a lovely creamy coral color
• An accent color. I used Ulta brand polish in the shade Mint Condition, which is a pretty sky blue
• 10 small rhinestones, I chose clear ones but you can use a colored one if you want. These are available at any craft store.
• Tweezers
• A small paint brush
• Nail polish remover and q-tips to clean up the edges
• Clear top coat. I used my Ulta brand one.

Step one, as almost always, is to apply a few coats of your base color. I ended up doing 3 thicker coats with the shade I picked, it just wasn't as opaque as I wanted it to be. Let this dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Now you can do this next step two ways. You can tape off your nails with masking tape to create that perfect triangle, paint it in, then remove the tape. Or you can carefully with a thin brush hand paint in the triangle with your accent color. I used the brush, I like the more organic feel of the softer lines you get when you paint by hand. Let this dry completely before you move onto the next step.

You are going to apply one coat of top coat to your nails to act as a glue for the rhinestone. Using your tweezers pick up and position the gem right at the top of the triangle. Do this to all your nails. Let it dry carefully without bumping the gems at all.

Now apply a few more coats of the clear polish on top to really cement the gems down and protect all of your hard work. Clean up any over paint with the nail polish remover and you are done! I love the colors I picked, they feel so Spring time to me and the rhinestones make me feel super fancy. I'm guessing I'll be getting a ton of compliments on this manicure all week, and I hope you enjoy yours as much as I'm enjoying mine.