A Guide to Using Striping Tape - Humbug Nails

Nails Inc Polish. Left - Colville Mews. Right - Richmond Terrace

Striping Tape

Arranging the striping Tape

The finished result - Left hand 

The finished result - Right hand

Price I Paid
These are the mini versions which would have come in a set.  I have no idea how I acquired these but I have a feeling they are both my mum's nail polishes.  The full size products retail at £11 each.

The striping tape is very easy to get hold of on ebay and costs about 99p for a whole roll of it which would probably last 10 or so manicures so worth it!

Application

1. I applied Colville Mews nail colour and let this fully dry.  I had actually been wearing it a few days but I was a bit bored and supposed to be doing revision so ended up doing this over the top of it.  You can use any colour nail polish underneath or even leave it as your own nails if you want.

2. Cut the striping tape (you could cut thin strips of sellotape instead but as the tape is 99p on ebay so it isn't worth trying to cut it straight) into short lengths and rest them on the side on a table so you can easily grab them without ruining the nails/hand you have already painted.  Make sure theses are quite a bit longer than your nail so that you can easily remove them when you need it as that part will have to be a little speedy.

3.Place the strips of tape along the nails in a design you like.  It doesn't have to be too perfect as I have found it tends to just look good however you do it.  As you can see from the photo i just used a mix of vertical and horizontal stripes.  It is best to do one hand at a time.

Note: I recommend you do steps 4&5 for each nail separately rather than do all your nails at once for each step.  This is because when the polish dries even slightly it becomes quite hard to remove the tape.

4. Use your second colour, I used Nails Inc Richmond Terrace to paint over the whole nail and striping tape.  You need to use a contrasting polish that is quite thick because you won't have time to do a second layer.

5. You now need to quickly peel off the striping tape.  You have to do this within the first 30 seconds or so of applying the second polish over your design because as it dries it will seal the striping tape and you will end up with the polish dragging and it will leave a messy design.  Nails Inc polish was perfect for this design as it takes a little while to dry.  Fast drying polishes do not work well at all for this.

It is easiest to remove the striping tape with a pair of tweezers because it will be covered in wet polish and if you use your fingers it can get quite messy.

Keep in mind that if you layer the stripes such as in the boxy designs I used, when you remove these strips you will have to remove the ones you applied last, first.  This stops the first strips underneath being pulled.  I always apply the horizontal stripes first and then the vertical ones.  Then peel the vertical ones off first, and then the horizontal so I don't get confused.

7. Once the polish is dry it is probably a good idea to set it with a top coat as the design will feel lumpy where the striping tape was as there would only be the undercoat on those parts.  I don't have a decent top coat at uni so I did not do this.

Overall Reaction 

I really like this design - the stripes remind me of humbug sweets! This didn't take too long to do and is a fun way to spice up polish that has already been on for a few days.  

9/10