Holiday Makeup Archives - Chic Creative Life

DIY Candy Cane Nails – A Holiday Manicure Using Color Dots

Dec 14, 2011 | DIY

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of trouble drawing straight lines with my non-dominant hand. Whenever I attempt some nail art with straight lines, my efforts on one hand turn out perfect, and the other hand looks all wonky and wiggly. I figured a template or stencil would be the best way to combat this – so I thought why not DIY? These candy cane striped nails are actually a cinch to do, and if you’re using sticky color dots (found at any office supply store), they’re also cheap! No striper brushes or special nail polish required. Here’s how:
You Need:

*sticky dots (or you can using sticky labels, or even tape…anything that will stick to your nails will work)

*base nail polish color (I’m using Essie’s Russian Roulette from my Secret Santa Miranda from the Portland Blogger Meetup)

*contrast nail polish color (I’m using white, from a Rimmel French Nail Polish Set)

*glitter nail polish/topcoat (I’m using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Disco Ball, which contains little holographic flecks)

And…

*scissors
How-To:

1. Paint the base color onto your nails. I had to do two coats to achieve uniform coverage. Allow to dry completely before going on to Step 3). (I couldn’t wait, so ended up making things a bit messy.)

2. Remove 5 dot stickers from the package. Cut each of them into a fringe, stopping the cuts before the edge of the circle. Fold every other fringe strip under itself…this will become the stripe stencil for your nails.

3. After your base color is completely dry, place the dots onto your nails, positioning the stripes how you like. For my shorter nails I made my stripes diagonal, like a candy cane, and for my longer nails I used an uncut dot to create the curve of the tip, and then placed the cut dot with the stripes going up-and-down on the tips only. Have fun with it and mix it up!

4. Use your contrasting color of nail polish to paint the stripes. You may have to do two coats for complete coverage. Make sure the stripes are strongly stuck onto your nails or else you’ll get leakage around the edges!