ColourVida: How-To: Tape Manicure Tutorial

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all are having a great week! For me, these next two weeks are gonna be ridiculously busy. I can't wait until the end of the semester! Speaking of school, as some of you may know, I bleed orange and blue. I'm both a UF alumna AND current student. So today, I have a Gator themed Tape Manicure Tutorial using OPI for you! And, of course, feel free to use whatever colors you want!
*WARNING this post is both picture and copy heavy!*

Here's what I used!

(L to R) OPI Germany Collection Unfor-Greta-bly Blue and Deutsch You Want Me Baby?

1. Get your tape ready! That means removing the stickiness. You can refer back to my first tutorial to see how!

2. Base Color: Do your manicure as you normally would! I have 1 coat of base coat and 2 coats of Deutsch You Want Me Baby? Allow your manicure to really dry. You don't want the tape to leave smudges. Skip the top coat for now! That will go on at the end.

3. Tape: After your manicure is completely dry, carefully place your tape at whatever angle you please. I make sure the tape is gently pressed done especially around the cuticles. You want it placed down enough to make sure your next color does not go under the tape. It may look like it, but I do not completely wrap tape around my finger. If you do so it may be harder to take off.

4. 2nd Color: Add your second color over the tape. Don't use too much nail polish! You don't want it to flood under the tape! I used 1 coat here and still got perfect opacity.

5. Remove tape: I give my nail polish a few seconds to settle before removing the tape. However, wait to long and you won't get a crisp edge. I really carefully, and slowly, peel off the tape going towards the line that separates the two colors. I find that peeling across causes jagged edges.