Nailing It

This past year, fingernail accessorizing went through the roof in terms of accessibility, variety, and novelty. OPI introduced the Shatter collection of topcoats, Sally Hansen pushed press-on nail designs, and countless other companies began selling images, rhinestones, and other adornments for our fingernails.

However, despite these flashy, complicated options, I’ve found a new personal favorite that’s easily do-able, fun, and original.

AKA, it’s a new take on French tips. Instead of coating your nails with a pale, neutral pink, go for a fun color such as peach, blue, silver, or even pink or black. After applying one to two coats (depending on how intense you want the look to be), let them dry and then apply tips in a complimentary glitter color. Either choose chunky glitter that’s in the same color as the base color that you used on your nails, or choose a polish with smaller sparkles that add color variety.

Here are two of my recent favorites:

1.                    Love Shack by Laura Lippmann (Lippmann Collection) as a base color. (It’s a peachy pink color) with Don’t be Eggnog-ious by Sephora by OPI for the chunky glitter-tips.

2.                    Del Sol’s Marvelous Metal as a base with Rock Mania by Nabi Nail Lacquer for smaller sparkle tips. This combo is interesting—and quite entertaining, actually—because the brand Del Sol specializes in making products that change color in the sun. Thus, by using these two polishes, you get two looks out of one! Indoors, you’ll have sleek silver nails with purple, magenta, and blue-sparkled tips, but outdoors, you’ll have a magenta-purple base tipped with bright sparkles. If you’re planning to spend a lot of time outside, I recommend this combo; never underestimate how fun it is to watch your nails change colors before your eyes!

An example of the new way to do French tips.