Judas

I did this design because I'm going to the Abbey Medieval Festival tomorrow for a bit of fun, but every time I look at these nails Lady Gaga's 'Judas' pops into my head. Strange how our minds associate different things with one another.

I apologise for the sub-par photo. It's overcast today and the lighting is not my friend. The red reflecting in the studs is actually my camera haha.

I tried using the tape trick again, this time I used painter's tape instead of sticky tape (thanks to the 'fabulous Sam' for the suggestion. Men do come in handy for something). It worked! So if you want to use tape as a mask when doing your nails, I recommend you go out and get yourself some painter's tape. I got mine from Bunnings for $1, but any hardware store should have it. The label on mine says that it's 'low tack delicate tape'. Seemed appropriate haha.

So here's how I did it:

Step 1: Apply your protective base coat, then paint your thumbs, ring fingers, and pinkies in one colour (China Glaze's 'Custom Kicks' in my case), and your index and middle fingers in another colour (I used OPI's 'Light My Sapphire').

Step 2: Cut your painters tape in to 4mm wide strips (I did this before painting my nails) and apply them on your thumbs and ring fingers in a cross formation.

Step 3: Take the colour that you used to paint your index and middle fingers and paint over the exposed part of your nail on your thumbs and ring fingers. Wait 20 seconds or so and gently remove the tape. Unfortunately, as the painters tape isn't as sticky as sticky tape you may get a little leakage underneath, so touch up any areas with a nail art brush if you need to.

Step 4: Apply your clear top coat, and while it's still wet place your studs on (I'll tell you more about my studs in a second). I found that my rhinestone picker didn't work too well for picking the studs up, so I used one of my dotting tools dipped in clear polish to pick them up and put them in place. Once you're happy with their placement secure them with a second coat of clear top coat.

So now I want to tell you about these studs, because I've fallen in love with them! I had been looking for some studs for awhile, but ebay was for once failing me as they were all ridiculously expensive. Then I found the Born Pretty Store. Finally, studs that don't cost the earth! And free shipping too! Everyone loves free shipping! The studs I bought were the 2mm gold square ones. I'll definitely be buying some more. They're so easy to apply, they just go straight on your top coat and stay secure, and they're relatively flat so they don't catch on stockings or hair or anything else that nail art is notorious for snagging. They're extremely light (being made from aluminium) and smooth too, I don't even realise I have them on.

As a bonus, I just found out that Born Pretty currently have 20% off all their studs so you should definitely go check them out if you've been considering getting some. Click here to go straight to their selection of studs.  I'm not sure when the offer finishes though, sorry! Hopefully not too soon...

UPDATE: Just found out the 20% off studs finishes at 11:59pm CDT on July 10th 2012. For those of you on the East coast of Australia that's about 3pm on the 11th :)