MANI MONDAY: WASHI TAPE GLITTER HEART

photos/post/design: Kristin Ess

It’s almost Valentine’s day!! Whether you’re celebrating or not, a heart mani always looks simple + sweet. After trying to get a perfect heart a million different ways, I finally figured out the best way to do it. Washi tape! You can order it online, find it at a stationery store, or I’ve even seen it at Target in the stationery section. Washi tape is much less sticky than regular tape so you don’t have to worry about it adhering and pulling off your base color so much. Okay, here’s how we got the perfect heart!

1. You’ll need a red, a metallic gold + a gold glitter. I used this for my red, this for my metallic gold + this for my gold glitter.
2. You’ll also need washi tape and small scissors. I used the kind for trimming brows.
3. Paint your nails with the red and let them dry for a few hours. I like to let the base dry overnight just to be safe.
4. Cut a 2-3″ piece of washi tape, fold it in half but leave the ends apart like you see in photo 4.
5. Place the open ends of the washi tape on your pointer finger on the opposite hand you cut with. Cut out a half heart that is a little less than half the width of the nail you’re putting the heart on.
6. Gently peel your washi tape open to see the full heart.
7. Place it on the nail and press the edges with a soft, dry, clean paintbrush.
8. Paint the metallic coat first. This will give you the perfect heart shape, which you can’t get when using glitter polish alone.
9. Now add the glitter polish on top of that.
10. Peel your tape off slowly while the metallic and glitter polishes are still wet. You don’t want them to dry to the washi tape.

You can use a detailing brush to add more glitter to the heart if you want to. Add a top coat once the glitter heart has dried. xo