Mix 'n' Match: Ruffian & Striping Tape

A ruffian is something I've been wanting to try for a while, and like most things it took me forever to actually do it. I thought just a ruffian would be a little plain, so I decided to do some striping tape on my middle and ring fingers. 

I started with Nail Envy as my base coat, of course. Then I put one coat of NOPI - Positive Energy. It's my absolute favourite silver! I'm on the hunt for more silvers so if you have any suggestions let me know! Next I put two coats of Orly - Tiara on. I love how sparkly this looks! I do it quite often for my friends. 

I did the ruffian on my thumb, first and pinky fingers. The middle and ring fingers got some striping tape designs. The light periwinkle is Pure Ice - Bikini. Now that I see it on, I think it's more of a dusty blue. I wasn't a big fan of this at first, but after a couple hours I really do like it. I wanted a mani that was a palette cleanser of sorts so I chose my new Pure Ice polish. It's very light and I thought it would look great with silver. 

I really like how a ruffian is very simple yet still has a little flare to it. I'll probably do these more often, I need some practice with making the line smooth though! 

XO Natasha 

First Striping Tape Designs

I don't know why it took me so long to order striping tape, but I finally did about 3 weeks ago, and I finally got around to using it today. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it, but if not it's just a teeny tiny roll of tape. You can put it on top of your designs and paint over it or you can peel it off to reveal a colour or design underneath. I don't personally like the look of striping tape on the nail so I opt to peel it off. 

I had no specific design in mind, I just wanted to experiment with the striping tape as much as possible to see what I could create. Some of these designs I saw online but some of them I just went with the flow and tried to create something cool. 

I don't really like the look of random lines, but I love geometric and symmetrical designs so I tried to do that as I was experimenting. My favourite nails on my left hand are my pointer finger, middle finger, pinky, and on my right hand my thumb and pointer finger. 

I didn't find placement too hard. Maybe that's because I'm very OCD with straight lines and placement of things on my nails. The only thing I found annoying was cutting the tape. For my right hand I cut it straight off the roll, but for my left hand that was more of a hassle since I'm right handed, so I just cut a long strand and stuck it to my desk and cut from that. Too bad there's no dispenser for striping tape because that would be perfect! 

Do you guys like working with striping tape? Do you plan out your designs ahead of time or just design whatever comes to mind when you have your tape out? 

XO Natasha