mani mondays: firecracker nails

So, I've kind of become obsessed with nail art, and I'm definitely way too poor and frugal to constantly have some really awesome nail guru design a work of art on my cracking toenails, so I've had to get creative on how I decorate my tips to turn some heads.  That's why I love The Beauty Department and the wonderful tutorials they have to offer.  Even though I usually end up bombing them, I always love to try new and simple techniques to make people "oooh" and "ahhh" over my nails.  I found a technique that I really wanted to try for the Fourth of July, so I set about try to recreate what the amazing nail artists at TBD designed.

This is what the tutorial over at TBD looks like:

 

 Of course I could only dream to have my nails look half as good as what is pictured, but I decided I would try some stars on my toes (on the big ones, because there is more room for me to mess up).

I started with my clean, unpolished nails and applied my Essie "First Base" base coat (I can't get enough of it).  I painted all of my toes with OPI "Sparkle-icious" and painted my big toes with Sally Hanson's "White Out".  I used my Seche Vite for a top coat (side note on Seche Vite: I hate it and really miss my Out the Door, but whatever).

After everything was good and dry, I used the TBD method of creating stars, using the same OPI color on my white toes.  I'm not quite as savvy as whomever created this little tutorial, though, because I used a ballpoint pen instead of a mechanical pencil.  Let's just say I ended up writing all over my pretty white nails and the ballpoint was way thicker than anything pictured on TBD.  Honestly, I'm just proud that I was able to finish in less than an hour, because using a pen instead of a mechanical pencil was about the dumbest thing I could have done.  Other than that, the process was not difficult at all.  I drew five points from a starting circle and created my version of a star.  

So, using this technique I was able to create this:

It is by no means perfect, but I received plenty of compliments when I wore my new sandals and sported my cracklin' toes on the Fourth.  Even my mom was impressed.

I hope you all were able to enjoy your Fourth of July, even if you had a rainy one like I did.  A thousand thanks to The Beauty Department for all of their wonderful tutorials!