Fourth of July Splatter Explosions

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I'm very excited to be writing my first holiday post. I decided to try a splatter mani because I figured it would be fun & capture the spirit of Fourth of July fireworks. This is a mani that kids could have a lot of fun with - with parental help & clean up of course.  I'm going to warn you this is a messy mani & if symmetry or every nail looking the same is important to you this isn't the mani for you.

Since it is the Fourth of July I used red, white, & blue of course! I chose to use this red & blue because they both were a shining, sparkling color. The colors are Sinful Colors Show Me White & Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue It & Red Carpet. I chose to do one color as a base & slather the other two. If you like you can splatter all three colors either on your own nail or on an addition base color such as black. You will need as many straws as you will have splatter colors - one straw for each color. I used Starbucks straws because I love going there but any straw will work. I would imagine different straw sizes would create different splatters. The paper plate is to drop your splatter polishes onto.

Start by painting your base color. A lot of people like to use white as the base but I didn't want that much white on my nails.

Once your base color is completely dry tape up your fingers because this mani is going to get messy! You can also use Vaseline but I couldn't find mine so I taped.

I dropped small amounts of the white & red polish onto the paper plate. I used a little because I'd rather have to add more than waste polish.

Now for the fun part! Dip the tip of your straw in the polish & blow it onto your nails. This required a strong breath, little blows did nothing at all. I also found that just lightly painting the polish onto the straw between nails worked better than the dipping for me. I think this really depends on what straw & polish you use so experiment. Use lots of paper towels on your counter! I vastly underestimated how far the splatters would go & ended up with a counter covered in paint spots. If this happens just put a little bit of acetone on a paper towel & wipe it up.

Now you see why taping is strongly recommended for this mani! I had a bit of trouble getting the red to splatter, I think the glitter in the polish changed the texture & made it a bit tougher to use than the white.  Once the tape is removed spot clean up if you have to & enjoy this fun, unique look.

Thanks for reading! I wish you all a happy & safe Fourth of July!