manic MANI MONDAY: FLAME MANICURE

So I was looking for nail inspiration and I happened upon Lucky magazine's Pinterest "Nail" board. The rest is history! Ha, well for real I saw these nails and I thought the technique was amazing so I had to try it myself. What I love is that you can use the technique with any design but I figured since The Hunger Games is still the talk of the town I'd just give these flame nails a go but do my own color version. Of course, neon was involved! Read on for the instructions...

You will need:
Nail Polish Colors- White, Red, Orange, Yellow, and Black or Teal for the background
Baggie- Like a Sandwich Baggie or whatever size you have
Quick Drying Top Coat
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Draw ten very small flame shapes onto a baggie with a white nail art pen/brush. I used L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art lacquer in White. If you have a thin sharpie you could draw the flames with that first. Make sure the flames are small enough to fit on your nail with a little room left. Everyone's nails are different so you will have to estimate what is best for you.

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Fill in all the flame shapes and let dry for about 5 minutes. Use a hair dryer if you want to dry them faster.

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Line the edges of the white flame shapes with red polish. I used American Apparel's Neon Red. I did this by creating a blob of the nail polish and painting with a very small paint brush.

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Line the inside of the red with an orange polish. I used American Apparel's Neon Orange.

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Fill in the center with a yellow polish. I used American Apparel's Neon Yellow. After this step you have to let the polish dry for a while. I waited about 30 minutes just to be sure. Again, you could involve a hair dryer (on a cool setting.)

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In the meantime you can paint your nails the color you want them to be. Most of the Hunger Games manis use black polish in the background but I wanted to change it up a bit so I used Essie's Go Overboard. I also am just obsessed with this color. (I won't worry about my messy paint job until the end.)

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When the flames have completely dried, peel them off one by one. If they don't come off easily just wait a few more minutes.

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Place one flame on the center of your nail. If you misplace it, just softly pull it up and place it again. (At this point my background polish had already dried.) Rub the flame design into your nail and smooth out any bumps.

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Very slowly and carefully file away the part that hangs off your nail.

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Cover with a clear fast drying top coat. I used NYC In a New York Minute Quick Dry Nailpolish in Grand Central Station.

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When your nails have had a chance to dry a little, clean up the mess around each nail.

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And there you have it! Flames on yo' nails.

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I can't wait to try another design with this baggie technique. It makes it sooo much easier to create designs on my right hand. It always looks like I let a 4 year old paint my nails on that hand. Here's to great solutions!

30 comments

  1. so cool idea wow :)
    http://embraceoffashion.blogspot.com/

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  2. wow! thats great! didn't know you could make your own decals! awesome!

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  3. This is pretty much the best idea I've seen in my life! Oh the possibilities! Thank you for sharing, I'm loving your blog!
    Thanks,
    Jen

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  4. Oh wow! I had no idea about the plastic baggy trick! I'm so excited, you've just created a mani-monster in me! Thanks :)

    Ashley

    http://modernrococo.blogspot.com/

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  5. This is a great idea, love it!

    Zoe
    http://gypsiesister.blogspot.co.uk

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  6. Best idea ever! I will definitely be trying this.

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  7. You can use vaseline around the nail so when you mess up it will go on the vaseline which means the paint job witll be neat and no clean up time when the nails dry since the vaseline cleans rights off.

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    1. I've just discovered this technique too, but have yet to try it. I have to get some Vaseline first LOL.

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  8. So.. You follow Cutepolish too?
    http://www.youtube.com/watchv=CWTV9tNetC0&list=UUT8z80a4ESgO2Y4qajkiXw&index=3&feature=plp
    I'm sorry, but that's the exact same design, uploaded 1 month later..

    Btw. DOn't get me wrong, i loove your blog, just don't do this again. It makes me kinda sad..

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    1. Ummm did you see that we gave credit to Cutepolish. Hence why we said at the beginning we saw this here (here was hyperlinked). Read the whole post before jumping to conclusions.

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  9. Love this! I found it on Pinterest and shared it on my blog, and of course linked back :) Thanks for sharing.

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  10. what a cool ideal. i'm definitely going to try this. thanks for sharing!

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  11. eu já fásia na caixa de leite a gora vou testar fase no plastico

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  12. OMG had always thought that this idea was possible but never tried; now that I have seen this post sky's the limit :D Many thanks! :D

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  13. What did I do wrong, I made my shapes, let it dry overnight, it will not peel off the bag.

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    1. Oh man that stinks. I have no idea what went wrong. We've never had that happen before. It should peel right off.

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    2. Thank you for your reply. I'll try it again!

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  14. Such a cool idea! Thanks so much for sharing. I tried it just now and it totally worked! :D

    ahumblebumble.blogspot.com

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  15. Wow this is such a cool technique. I've never seen this before. Definitely going to try this out.

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  16. How long will they last? Do they wear off easily?

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  17. it didn't work for me either. i tried different brands of nail polish and it was completely stiff and stuck to the ziploc bag. i used the same nail polish from american apprarel Nail lacquer (the exact brand) but peacock color and after that i tried the O.P.I. brand. No success for me

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  18. This is amazing. Have you done any others using this method yet? I'd love to see them if you have.

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  19. I forgot to ask if this would possibly work on baking paper too. Has anyone tried it?

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