DIY Minty Fresh Chevron Manicure

I've been having some fun with trying my hand at nail art recently. I LOVE the way my Stars and Stripes Manicure turned out for the 4th of July, so this time I thought I'd play around with some of the things I've been seeing a lot of lately; chevrons and the mint and white color combo. I pictured this as a perfectly summery manicure, and I was right. I like the way this one turned out too!  

TOOLS & SUPPLIES:

• 2 colors nail polish
• clear top coat nail polish
• sticky labels
• ruler / straight edge
• pencil / pen
• scissors
• toothpick (optional)
• tweezers (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

First paint your nails as you normally would with two coats of the color you want to use as your base. (I used Essie Mint Candy Apple). Let this dry completely. Overnight is best, but at least let the polish cure for several hours so you don't mar the surface.

Next, cut a strip of sticky label about 1 inch wide and 5 or 6 inches long (depending on how many stripes you want to make, and how thick). 

Use the ruler to find the midpoint and mark it, then draw a straight line up the middle of the length of the strip. 

Draw a line from one of the corners to meet the midline at an angle of your choice. The more sharp the angle, the more dramatic. Draw a similar line from the other corner to complete a triangle.

Decide how thick you want your strips to be. Remember, the strips represent the negative space, or the base color that you have already painted on your nails.

Copying the angle of the first chevron, draw your lines the rest of the way up the strip. I just eyeballed it but you could use a ruler, or even cut the first piece off and use it as a template to trace.

Cut all your chevrons out before you move on and start painting. I used 2 on each nail, so I cut 20 strips.

Peel the back of one of your chevron pieces and place it on the nail as near to center as possible and press down firmly. Make sure the point is stuck down well, and that the part of the strip that overlaps is pressed down into the cuticle. You can use a toothpick to help push it down into the crease.

Apply all the strips to all your nails before you begin painting so you don't have to fiddle with peeling the backs of the labels with wet nails (please...learn from my mistake :)

Paint two coats of your accent color (I used OPI Alpine Snow), painting over the label. Paint normally, along the length of the nail as if the stickers weren't even there; it's too awkward to paint side to side and you can get strange streaks.

Remove the labels while the nail polish is still wet. I use tweezers to grab the ends and pull them off to prevent ruining the finish.

When the second color has dried, finish with one or two coats of a clear top coat of choice.

That's it! I hope you'll give this a try and have fun playing around with different colors. Which ones will you try first?

Want to learn some more nail art tricks? See my Stars and Stripes Manicure and my "Mint Chocolate Chip" Nail Art Tutorial for some new techniques!