Before this week’s nail tutorial, I want to address the recent debut of Christian Louboutin’s nail polishes lacquers — specifically, the outrageous $50 price tag. Nail polish costs mere PENNIES to produce, which means consumers are paying a premium for luxe packaging, expensive marketing and inflated brand perception.
Stop the madness.
I’ve done my nails +150 times in the last 3 years — and the BEST polishes come from the drugstore and cost less than $10. When choosing a polish, you should only be concerned about the formula. This is where the “prestige” brands fail: Butter polish ($15 per bottle) gets air bubbles. Chanel polish ($27 per bottle) chips after two days. Deborah Lippman polishes ($18-$20 a pop) require multiple goopy coats for opacity.
My advice? Don’t pay the premium. Sally Hansen, Essie, OPI, Revlon and even $2 Wet ‘N Wild polishes have superior formulas — and they have the same colors, too.
But back to the topic at hand:
Today’s nail art is a 1920s pastiche. There are dual inspirations: Art Deco artwork and a psychological phenomenon known as false nostalgia — i.e., fond memories for a time I never experienced. This design is my lucid dream of a vintage, non-air conditioned Miami Beach hotel lobby. (Think potted palm trees and chipped floor tiles.)
I prefer my nail art to retain a hand-painted, watercolor-esque aesthetic. Luckily, that means there’s no perfection required. Here’s how I did it:
1. Swipe on a base coat and paint 2-3 coats of neon yellow polish.
2.Swipe a thin “french” tip of kelly green across the top of each nail.
3. Using a blue polish and a thin striper brush, draw a straight line from the green border down the center of your nail. Draw 2 diagonal lines on either side to create a triangle.
4. Using a striper brush and the green polish you used for the nail tip, surround the blue lines with green lines. Use a light touch so it looks feathery.
5. Extra credit: Add a layer of turquoise glitter across the design for a tiny bit of sparkle. Swipe with quick-dry topcoat, and you’re done.