Nail Art: 2014 Valentines Theme

Hello! Can you believe that Valentines is already this week?! I always think the winter season is the craziest/busiest of all the seasons. Now I don't know about you, but for me December through February always seems to be a blur. I mean, one minute I'm celebrating Christmas and then a few short days later I'm ringing in the New Year and the next thing I know it's Valentines! Chocolate galore and flowers to smell. Yay! ^^

For some of you, Valentines is the special day for you and your loved one. For others, you may be flying solo but that doesn't mean you can't have a stellar day. It's all about having a positive attitude. And maybe, just maybe, treating yourself to a mani/pedi is just the thing to give you the boost of happiness for this Valentines.

This year for Valentines, I'm rocking a red and lilac manicure with some cute hearts and sparkles. It was just the thing I needed to get me all pumped up to spend the special day in class and looking for jobs. ^^;; If you want to see how I created this look, please keep reading.

Valentines Manicure - Sorry for the flash and awful angle. ㅠㅠ
I'll try to take a better picture next time!

To get this manicure you will need:

left to right: L'Oreal 107 Royalty Reinvented,
essie 936 Snap Happy, essie 958 Set in Stones

• Scotch tape
• scissors
• at least 2 opaque nail polish colors
• 1 sparkle nail polish
• toothpicks
• a disposable plate or something you wouldn't mind putting nail polish on
• tweezers

*Side note: For this particular manicure I stuck to red and purple for my polish colors, but you can use any two or more colors you want.*

Instructions:

1. Apply a base coat and let dry. (I used OPI Natural Base Coat.)
2. Tear off 4 pieces of Scotch tape. Make sure they are each big enough to cover the width of your nail. (For example: 1-1.5 inch to be safe.)
3. Taking 1 piece of Scotch tape, fold the tape in half lengthwise so that the sticky part is on the outside.
4. Taking your scissors, cut along the middle/crease of the tape the shape of 1 side of the heart.
5. Unfold the cut-out to show the full heart shape and place it sticky side down on any nail of your choice. Make sure to press down on all the edges of the tape to help prevent the nail polish from seeping under.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 until you have 4 hearts on 4 different nails. (For example: I put the hearts on my ring fingers and thumbs.)
7. On four of your fingers apply one layer of your first color and let dry. (For example: I painted my pinky, middle finger, pointer finger, and thumb in red - essie 936 Snap Happy.)
8. On the remaining finger apply one layer of your second color and let dry. (For example: I painted my ring finger a soft purple/lilac shade - L'Oreal 107 Royalty Reinvented.)
9. *Optional: After the polish has dried, apply another coat of nail polish to every finger.*
10. Take your sparkle nail polish and pour some onto your plate. Then taking your toothpick, pick out a single sparkle and place it on the bottom right or left of one of your non-heart nails. Continue placing a single sparkle on the same nail to create 2 diagonal lines. (I used essie 958 Set in Stones.)
11. By now the nails with the heart shapes should be closed to, if not, completely dried. Taking your tweezers carefully remove the Scotch tape.
12. Once you're sure your nails are completely dried apply your top coat and you're done! (I used OPI Top Coat.)

This is my first time trying to explain my steps in how I create my manicures. Hopefully it wasn't too difficult to understand. Please let me know any suggestions on how to better the instructions sections. If you decide to rock this manicure, feel free to take pictures and leave them in the comment section below. I would love to see you're take on this manicure! ^^