Spring Manicure on the Cheap!

While I would generally consider myself one of the artsy-fartsy types, I have yet to be able to master any aspects of nail art. I wistfully admire other bloggers who come up with the cutest nail designs ever and even with instructions I'm hopeless... These lades must all be ambidextrous goddesses with endless beauty budgets to afford all of the pricey tools/colors that they get. Thankfully as I was browsing Target a few days ago I saw that they had the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails on sale for $2 a piece and the little french manicure strips for only a buck! (Now, I admit, I'm generally an OPI snob, but $8.99 vs $2 was kind of a no-brainer.) I had been loving on some lilac polish that two of my coworkers sported this past week so I quickly picked that up as well as a salmon shade because it's my favorite summer color.

I wanted to do something fun but I wanted it to be easy too. Geometric patterns are totally in so I decided to do color on a diagonal. Now I definitely don't have a steady hand, especially when using my left hand so those french tip strips were the bomb!

Check it out:

Paint a base coat, let it dry completely... a good 15 minutes or more. Apply the french tip strips on a diagonal (I'm not sure what else would work just as well, but I'm thinking small pieces of painters tape would be great)

Apply the second color being sure not to go completely over the strip

Carefully remove the strip when the color has set for about a minute or so. There will be a tell-tale line that has a bit of an indent, but no worries about that. Apply 1-2 coats of a top coat and it'll all be glistening and smooth!