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| Celtic knot manicure |
This design seems appropriate with St. Patrick's Day coming up, but I don't think of this strictly as a holiday design, which is why I'm sharing it now and not in a few weeks.
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| Celtic knot manicure |
I started with OPI My Vampire is Buff from the new Euro Central collection. I'll have swatches and a review soon-ish. I then did a layer of top coat before doing my design. The studs are 3mm squares that I got from the Born Pretty Store (see my review here). The Celtic knots were done freehand with, as I mentioned, Models Own Green Tea.
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| Celtic knot manicure |
To do the knots I just worked carefully and slowly. I actually did each design three times. First, I laid out the design with very thinned down polish, using nail polish thinner. That way if I messed up it wouldn't be too difficult to cover up. Then I went over it again two more times just to define the lines and make them darker. Each time I had to add a bit of thinner to the polish. I found if I used the polish straight from the bottle it dried too fast and would not do a neat line.
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| Celtic knot manicure |
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| Celtic knot manicure |
But I ran into a few challenges along the way. I messed up on my ring finger - I originally tried a design that was too intricate and wouldn't fit on my nail. So I had to try and cover my mistakes, which is why that design looks a bit blurry. But overall I'm happy with how it turned out. I was really nervous to start the design in the first place, and it could have been a complete disaster! So maybe you'll see more Celtic knot work in my designs in the future! :)
So what do you think? Any tips or advice for doing intricate designs?
*Some of the products in this post were provided for swatching/reviewing purposes.*
