Love Those Beach Sunsets

Hello Lovely Lacquer Lovers,

I hope you all enjoyed the laser mani! I have a couple days off of work & I got that itch to paint something but since I just took so much time on the laser mani I thought why not do a pedi! It is summer after all - the time for sleeping in, sandals, & spending time at the beach. Back in my first or second year of college my best friend was taking a Spanish class at the same community college I went to. Every now & then if class was cancelled (I know, I'm not fooling anyone) we would go down to the beach to use the swing set by the pier. Once the sun started going most of the families would disperse & we would swing our little hearts out while watching the sun set over the water. So for my summery beach pedi I decided to do a sunset theme.

To capture the essence of the sunset I used Orly's Beach Cruiser & Melt Your Popsicle along with a glittery gold Stripe Rite nail art polish. For this pedi I am going to use a taping technique on the big toe, my others toes are so short I figured I would leave it to the big toe for now. If you have a mani on your fingers that you won't want ruined I was recommend using gloves if you plan to do any clean up - I didn't have gloves & I got lucky but I wouldn't recommend taking the risk. I do recommend spacers for your toes but they aren't a necessity. Just like the fingers, don't forget the base coat!

Based Up & Spaced Out!

I chose to alternate the two colors on my smaller toes & paint the littler color, in this case the pink, on my big toe.

After my experiments with the laser mani I decided to sandwich my top coats again so I top coated all my toes & made sure they were completely dry before applying the tape. Lay the tape however you like, I went for a diagonal line halfway across.

Make sure your tape is pressed down securely so none of the top color can seep through & make a mess. Once you are sure your tape is secure, paint the second color over the exposed part of the nail.

Messy I know, but I was making sure to cover up every bit of pink & clean up is simple.

Let the top coat dry completely & then take the tape off. You should be left with a nice, straight stripe. Mine was a bit messy so I did it over again.

I did this over to get a cleaner line. For the final step, I took my striping gold paint & drew a line right along the tape divide. If you have minor imperfections in your taping line it is possible the gold can cover it up & you won't need to redo it. I also chose to do a little stripe along each little toe since I was excited to try out the striping brush. It was easier than I thought! Once finished striping, seal with your top coat.

I hope you enjoyed these! They aren't perfect but I had fun trying out a couple new techniques & making my toes look pretty for my sandals.