The ups & downs of a Tape Mani

Today I did a "tape mani". You can see many variations of these all over the internet, it's considered one of the easier methods of nail art for those who may be artistically challenged. I actually find this extremely cumbersome & time consuming, not to mention you have to be quite artistic just to get the tape on straight. But I have seen some ladies who have mastered this technique & to them I tip my hat.

There are several steps to creating said mani & I find myself avoiding all the hassle & just sticking to what I know. However, I had a day old mani I wanted to spice up & a tape mani is a good way to do that since your base color is already completely dry, yay!

Here are the steps:

1. pick your base color & apply
2. allow to dry completely (I have done some that I've dried too short a time & it all comes off when you pull the tape, so it's good to do this manicure when you have plenty of time)
3. apply tape in desired design on all your fingers
4. apply top color choices (this part is a little tricky because you are painting with all these strips of tape stuck to your fingers, it's a little odd to maneuver, but just take your time & be patient)
5. remove tape (I haven't figured out if it's better to remove the tape when the polish is slightly wet or when it's dried a bit, so I don't know)
6. wait for this layer to dry before putting on a top coat or else you'll smudge all your hard work (done that!)

The upside is that the result is usually quite lovely, all the lines are perfect & everything looks so symmetrical, which is what every artist loves to see. I have lots of tape mani envy posted all over my pinterest board.

But anyhow here we go, it's very simple as far as tape mani's go, but I like it & I didn't feel like I was wrapped up in silly string, so to me it was a big success!