Border Nails... And More

I was walking in a mall one time when the MAC poster in the department store caught my eye.  I loved the look! It was basically black and nude, and the model was sporting a very high-fashion manicure.  I didn't know what it was called then, so I searched "nails with frame manicure" on Google.  I later on found out that this look is called Border Nails, and has been in fashion in the US since August of 2012. Below is a picture of MAC's poster that I fell in love with:

Picture taken from http://www.jamegackie.com/2012/10/simple-nail-trends-101.html

I immediately got intrigued and wanted to try this new manicure, so I searched tutorials on it.  The tutorials I found basically instructed to paint the nails with the central color before drawing on the borders, then cleaning off the excess from outside the nails.  I hate cleaning up though since I find it hard to get a really polished and clean look around the edges, so I tried this other technique that I will share with you. It's so easy you won't even need any tools!!

 Ready? Let's go!

Materials:

1. Nail Prep
2. Base Coat
3. Top Coat (Items 1-3 all from Dazzle Dry's Trinity Set)
4. 2 opaque nail lacquers of choice (I used DD Blueberry Snocone and Cotton Candy)

Procedure:

After sanitizing with nail prep and applying top coat, paint all nails with your color for the borders.

Leaving a thin margin along the edges of the nails, paint on the central color.  You may need 2--3 coats to get a really opaque quality.

Paint on a very fine French tip, about at thin as the margins.

Add top coat, and you're done!!

Let's take a look at more shots of my first attempt on Border Nails:

Holding my 2 color choices: Cotton Candy and Blueberry Snocone, bothe from Dazzle Dry

I was so happy with how my Border Nails turned out that I tried them in nude and black, just like in the MAC poster.  For this look I used Joan's Armor, a very dark pewter grey that almost looks like black, and my favorite, Girlishly Giddy, both from Dazzle Dry too :)

Nude (DD Girlishly Giddy) + Very Dark Pewter Grey (DD Joan's Armor)

While doing it I realized it would look so much more sophisticated if the centers looked like lace, so I stamped them.  Here is how they turned out:

In yellow light:

In sunlight:

This look is really easy.  If you're used to applying polish and have quite a steady hand, this should be no problem.  

Thanks for reading!!

Helpful Tips:

• This look works best with contrasting colors.  Pick lacquers of opaque consistency.
• It may be tempting to apply a thick layer for the center right away - DO NOT do this! Having too much lacquer on the brush will make strokes difficult to control, and would also create a bumpy texture.  Instead, layer on thin coats at a time.  Might take longer, but slow and steady wins the race ;)
• Be creative with this.  You may switch up the colors of the borders and centers for the accent fingers, or have a different color altogether.  :)