Add a Pop of Color to Your Day!

Hey Everyone!

So today I wanted to talk to you all about a new up-and-coming nail trend...moon nails! It was quite a hit in the mid 1900's, and it's now making a comeback! Celebrities from Lady Gaga to Kendall Jenner sport these fun moon styled nails out on the town. If you can see, the bottom half of her nail is actually painted different color, it isn't just chipped polish. Want to find out the secret? Well we aren't called sparkly little secrets for nothing! ;) Keep reading to find out more. :)


***Now, I am not a professional nail stylist so in these pictures you will find mistakes, and I apologize in advance, but it takes a lot of practice to get the crescent to look just right on the nail!***

If you want to re-create this look the first thing you are going to want to do is get some supplies. For this tutorial you are going to need a top and base coat nail polish, as well as your 2 favorite color polishes. (I use 4 different colors just to show different color combinations). You are also going to need any type of hand lotion.(This softens your skin so if you get any polish on your skin through the process it will come off easier later if your skin is soft and moisturized. I am using the EOS hand lotion because I love the way it feels on my skin and it leaves my hands feeling really soft and silky.) The last-and probably most important thing- you will need for this tutorial is reinforcements. These bad boys are the key to making the crescent moon shape on your nails look perfect. Now, it's hard to see in my pictures because my reinforcements are clear, but I'll explain exactly how to apply them when the time comes.

In this tutorial I'm using 3 of my favorite spring colors. On the left is OPI Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot, then in the middle is Essie Need A Vacation and finally on the right is OPI in A Grape Fit! Fun and Bright and perfect for the spring time!

So the first step is to trim and buff all of your nails to make sure they're nicely shaped and don't have any rough edges. Next, quickly paint a sheer base coat just to smooth out any cracks you may have on your nails. This will leave an even base to have the polish be applied to. Next, apply 2-3 thin coats of your favorite lighter polish evenly across the nail. To the left you will see I have 2 different colors...again that is only to show you guys different color options. You need to make sure you let these coats dry so the nails are brittle. You want to put enough color on the nail so it isn't streaky, but not so much that it seems goopy on your nail, because that will cause problems when you stick the reinforcement on it later. Let them dry for a good 20 minutes to make sure they're brittle for the step.

Does this picture seem similar? Well it's practically the same, except for the fact that I added reinforcements to the bottom halves of my nails. I actually added them at different lengths to show the different style of moon shapes you can have. You can put it right near the bottom of your nail like Kendall had it pictured earlier, (that is the classic crescent moon shape) or move the reinforcement higher to make it look like a thick, bright french manicure! I did it both ways to give you guys options.

After you have chosen a length that you would like your reinforcements to be placed at, the next step is to paint over your nails again in a second color. Preferably a darker color then the one you painted your base with. For the light pink I added a darker magenta and for the teal I added a pop of royal purple! If you get some nail polish on the reinforcement that's ok. Just like in the picture to the left, it looks really messy, but that is only because I got some of the polish on the reinforcement.After a few minutes of letting that dry, You can peel the reinforcement off. Leaving *hopefully*nice clean, beautiful crescent moon design on your nails! If the paint peels or sticks to the reinforcement, that's ok. A little touch up with a carefully applied coat will clean that right up. Don't get discouraged it happens to the best of us. It takes a lot of practice to master ;) As you can see the final picture has colors of all different lengths, now when you do this on yourself you would want to make them as close to the same length as possible. And you would probably stick to the same 2 colors on each nail...but feel free to go all out! This is such a fun, easy look so feel free to experiment with different color combinations and glitters and textures! Leave pictures in the comments below if you decide to try this look out because I would love to see new color combinations and any other fun tricks you guys use to paint your nails! Thanks so much and I love you all :)


xoxo-


Kristin :)

p.s. Want me to let you in on another sparkly little secret? If you are anything Like me, you don't enjoy paying upwards of $7 for a nail polish. What if I told you there was a way you didn't have to...but still were able to get the colors you wanted. WELL NOW YOU CAN! Click this link right here to get all of your favorite Orly, Essie, and China Glaze polishes for about half the price! :)