Today's mani is a mint green funky french in honor of St. Patrick's Day. My base color was 2 coats of Sally Hansen Green Tea, which is a slightly dusty mint green. This one can be problematic, and I did notice a little bit of dragging and streaking during the first coat which (mostly) improved on the second coat. I did still have a little bare spot on my index finger, which I chose to leave alone with just a topcoat rather than adding a third coat of color. (You know how sometimes the more you overwork something the more noticeable the mistake becomes?)
I taped off my tips and added Zoya Verushka. Verushka is a simply gorgeous forest green matte polish with little flecks in it. I really wanted the contrast of the matte tips with the glossy base, so I did not apply a topcoat over this step.
Then I tried out the nail striping tape I got from Dollar Nail Art. The tape comes with a slightly sticky back, but I wasn't sure it was enough to hold it down so I applied a thin coat of a slow drying topcoat to the back and pressed it onto the nail. After you apply it you use cuticle nippers to trim the tape to fit the nail (please be careful with this step as nippers are very sharp and I actually took a tiny bit of nail off the sides of couple fingers!)
Have any of you ever used nail striping tape before? Keep reading for my experience with it...
Elegant isn't it? I just loved how this looked. Below is a pic of what it looked like before I applied the tape.
And here is Green Tea by itself
So shortly after I applied the tape I noticed the ends lifting. So I took a tiny bit of SV and applied it under the ends to stick it back down. No Bueno - it wouldn't hold. So I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and just topcoat over the entire mani and headed to the beach for lunch. You would think the topcoat would seal the tape in... Nope. the tape continued to pull up at the ends on several fingers throughout the day. I wore this mani about 5 hours and it looked like this...
I could not wait to get home and remove it. So sad - I really liked this one too! So what is your experience with striping tape?
I love this! Classy and neat. I've never tried nail art tape before, too bad it went right of!
ReplyDeleteSuch a gorgeous mani! Real pity about the tape though :(
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happens to me every time I use stripping tape. It always looks so great, and no matter how much SV I use it still peels at the ends. I have like 12 different colors of stripping tape I never use for this reason.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I've used stripping tape it's done the exact same thing as it has for you. It was such a pain in the ass! But I love this mani :)
ReplyDeleteSuper cute too bad the tape has to be such a pain!
ReplyDeleteReally cute! Striping tape was one of my "wishlist" items but don't think i'll bother now if it won't stick!
ReplyDeleteI use the tape sometimes. I always double top coat it. I have had a manicure with silver tape that lasted for two days but the corners do always come up after a short bit.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a shame...the look with the shiny tape is so elegant like you said! I don't think I will be putting this on my order list.
ReplyDeleteLooked cute at least! I've only used striping tape for tape manis so I always pull it off right away.
ReplyDeleteThat's such a shame that the striper didn't hold. The mani looked great!
ReplyDeleteI only use the tape as guides to make stripes or something. it never holds
ReplyDeleteThis looks SO awesome!
ReplyDeleteWow! I love the sophistication of this look! What a refreshing take on St Patrick's Day nail art. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to submit this to a contest we're holding, for St. Patrick's Day nail art. We hope you'll join! You could win a Dazzle Dry Nail Polish System kit and a bottle of your favorite nail lacquer, in a shade of green, from our collection.
Visit us here! http://www.facebook.com/dazzledry?
Have a great day!
This look is so classy!
ReplyDeleteI did nails about 22 years ago, when nail art/design was just coming in. I had tape stripes of all colors! I have always used a "nail art sealer". It will last a week for you. Obviously if you use your hands for work, such as cleaning etc. simply apply a fresh coat every day.