By Danielle Silvia
Columnist
No matter the time of the year, I love painting my nails. While spring and summer typically call for pedicures, giving yourself a manicure is appropriate in every season. Since manicures can be expensive, as a college student, I have found that painting my own nails is a cheap, fun alternative. It’s a meditative activity that allows me to be creative and experiment with the latest nail art trends.
While there are many nail kits you can buy that teach you how to paint different designs, sticking to the basics and adding to current trends is the best way to give your nails a personalized spin. Here are simple tips and tricks I have learned for my favorite designs.
- Stripes. This is a pattern that’s in style every season and simple enough to do on your own. To keep the pattern simple, I tend to stick to three matching colors that vary depending on the time of year. For instance, you can use pastel colors during spring or shimmery gold hues for the holidays. To make painting on the stripes easier, you can use tape to cover sections of your nails to create even stripes. Start at the top of your nail and then move the tape as you go stripe by stripe to avoid smearing.
- Sparkle. You can purchase colored nail polish with sparkles or just go for clear sparkle polish to coat the solid colors you already own. While sparkles add detail to your solid nails, the extra layer also protects your nails from cracking. To increase glamor, apply sparkle stickers to a few of your nails to make your design stand out.
- Polka dots. Since I started watching hundreds of DIY nail videos, I’ve fallen in love with this trend. You have the freedom to change the shape, size and color of each dot, depending on what you’re feeling. Although this is a tricky design that takes time to learn, it can be mastered with a smaller brush and tons of practice. Rounder, bolder dots on your nails pair well with heavy sweaters and yoga pants, whereas plain pencil skirts and tank tops tend to match smaller polka-dotted nails.
