French Mani w/ Red Tips and Flower Accents

For my first how-to, I decided to use the manicure I'm currently sporting.

First things first, the nail polishes that I'm wearing:
- ORLY Nail Lacquer in 'Bus Stop Crimson'
- Wet 'n' Wild Clear Nail Protector

I bought the red ORLY polish at Sally's Beauty Supply and it's really nice stuff. I usually don't spend tons of money on polish, typically buying from the local drugstore or WalMart, but we happened to be there and all ORLY products happened to be on sale. Anywho, I got the clear at CVS, I believe, and it only cost about $1.99, but it's pretty fantastic as well. It gets your nails nice and glossy.

The nail decals I'm wearing are of an unknown source since I think we threw out the packaging, but I'm sure that they're from either CVS or WalMart. That's usually where we get our decals.

The How-To
*It goes without saying that your nails should be pre-cleaned, clipped, and filed. From here on out it'll just be how to paint the designs. Thanks.
-Step 1: I didn't use a base coat this time around, mostly because I didn't have a good base coat polish (ORLY makes one, off the top of my head) and I tend to have the worse luck with having them cause my top coats to chip off. But if you have a base coat, paint it on.
-Step 2: Swipe a band horizontally across the tip of each nail with the red polish. The band should be about 1/8'' thick, to the top of your finger (more or less depending on the length of your nails/preference). If you don't have particularily steady hands, they sell stick-on guide strips at most places they carry nail car supplies. It sometimes takes practice to make a straight, even line. Refer to pictures for band thickness.
-Step 3: After red dries completely (throughness is important, as the clear can sometimes smudge the red), apply one coat of the clear polish to each nail, covering the entire nail.
-Step 4: After clear dries, peel off desired nail decal (I only use the stick-on kind, but the tattoo type would work to) and place towards top of nail. It should be over to one side and half or mostly on the red band. For this mani, I chose to put a decal on each of my thumbs and middle fingers.

Close-up: Thumb Decal


Close-up: Middle Decal


-Step 5: Apply another coat of clear on each nail. Pay special attention to nails with decals.

I think that this is a nice look for the holidays with a nice, deep winter color. I originally bought this color of red because I think that red is just such a classic and signature color. Every woman should have at least two shades of red polish: a lighter one for spring and summer and a darker one for fall and winter. I already have the cherry red for the light seasons, but I wanted a dark too, so I bought this. I hope you all enjoy my first design with it.