So, I’ve been seeing a lot of half-moon manicures all over the nail polish blogs that I love. So I just had to try it for myself. I stopped at the office supply store on my way home for supplies (you’ll see where this comes in) and set to it. If you’re wanting to try this, set aside a couple of hours. Now that I’ve got the routine down, I should be able to do it faster but there’s no cheating drying time – and that’s a crucial element of this manicure.
You’ll need to start with your regular routine. I use a hydrator from SEPHORA by OPI and Seche Clear as a base coat.
And make sure you have some of these:
I applied a single, even coat of China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway, a nice dark blue creme.
And then I let it dry. And let it dry. And let it dry. Make sure your polish is really, really, really dry.
Take a reinforcement and cut it in half. And stick one half of it to your nail, where the half-moon should be. Make sure there are no bubbles. This is why it’s so important for your base color to be dry dry dry – if it isn’t, it’ll pull up with the sticker.
Now, polish it! I’m using Bahamian Escape, a light creme blue – this is opaque in one coat which is kind of important.
Now, patience. I’m bad at patience. So bad. But I’m trying to learn.
Continue to stick half stickers of reinforcements on your nails.
When the half-moon is dry, peel off the sticker. This is what you get:
Add a shiny top coat and you are SET. I used Seche Vite:
Now, you can see that some of my edges are… less than crisp. See my lack of patience, as mentioned above!
I’m having a hard time photographing this stuff but I kind of love it in person.
My right hand is MUCH neater because I waited for the polish to dry. See, patience is super important. Now I need to go clean up my edges!
spacedcowgirl | 24-Mar-09 at 10:29 pm | Permalink
OK, I LOVE this. And the color scheme is inspired.
Thanks for turning me on to Seche Vite, by the way. I was using OPI Top Coat, which wears really well but “crazes” in a very weird way like old enamel. Seche Vite is great. I don’t do my nails a lot, so I can’t justify experimentation, so thanks for doing the work for me!
MissPrism | 26-Mar-09 at 5:54 am | Permalink
That looks lovely – really cheerful! I’m often put off nail varnish because I keep (ok, I admit it, bite) my nails short, so it’s good to see a look that works well even on shorter nails.
Do you have any particular hints or colour suggestions for painting short nails?
Swellanor | 26-Mar-09 at 7:55 pm | Permalink
Wow- how cute! I love the blues together. I’ve seen some purpose-made stickers at Sally Beauty for doing this effect, but I would much rather re-purpose office supplies!
BTW, MissPrism, all the magazines and blogs I’ve read on the topic say that very dark nail polishes look their best on short nails- so you’re already half-way there to that look.
I used to think that keeping my nails short meant I couldn’t wear polish, but lately I’ve been playing with lots of colors and enjoying them!
Marianne | 26-Mar-09 at 8:48 pm | Permalink
Thanks for the comments, y’all.
Miss Prism, one reason I am so into polishing my nails is that it’s the only way I keep them out of my mouth. I got my first manicure kit when I was 7 and it didn’t so much cure me of biting my nails as it did give me something else to keep me occupied.
Short nails are awesome. I don’t really subscribe to any rules system but the general rules consensus is that dark colors look better on shorter nails anyway. I love brights on short nails – it’s just such a pop of color. I love a lot of the really on-trend neons on short nails, too. And doing funky french stuff like this half-moon thing is just perfect. In fact, I just posted another manicure, a gradient thing, that I think looks really hot on short nails.
Julie | 26-Apr-11 at 1:26 am | Permalink
I found it easier to apply the lower color first as a base coat and then use the outer lining of the stickers before adding on the next color that will cover most of the nail.
I have a nail blog and just posted about my retro brown and gold half moon manicure, check it out here;
http://sp4rklingnails.blogspot.com/2011/04/retro-half-moon.html