Nail Art: Phases of the Moon Nails

So here's the story of how I came up with this nail tutorial:
"I see the moon, the moon sees me. God bless the moon, and God bless me." Have you ever heard that saying before? I used say it when I was a kid. I even hand stitched the saying onto a cloth for my Granny Sugar as a little girl. It hung in a frame until she passed away. It's in my room now. I say this because I've always had this fascination with the moon.

I love this bracelet, and it inspired the tutorial. The moon's phases have always been a reminder to me that things will change. Nothing is permanent, and you can rely on that. So the bad moments in life won't last, but the good moments won't either, so don't take them for granted.

I wanted to do some nail art featuring some of the phases of the moon, but every time I have, I've done it differently, at least a dozen ways and with a few color combos. I wanted to make this as easy as possible, so for those of us who can't draw fancy nail art, give this technique for my phases of the moon nails a try.

You'll need:

• 2 polishes--I chose a white base coat and Essie's Penny Talk, a kind of copper/rose gold, but as stated above I've done this with plenty of other combos
• print out of the moon phases
• toothpick
• plastic
• top clear coat

Many moons ago (see what I did there?) I came up with this technique. I would stick something into the clear front pocket of my binder. I'd paint over the design with polish, peel it off, and stick onto my nails. Years later I still use this! In fact, you can see it in an old St Pats nails tutorial here.

And that's the technique--we're going to make peel-able decals. 

1. Print out your design.
2. Place it under a piece of clear plastic. The sturdier the better.
3. Fill in the design using your polish and a toothpick (or something similar).
4. Allow to dry, and depending on the thickness of the polish, repaint until it will be thick enough to peel off.
5. Paint base coat, and while base coat is still wet, place the decal on the nail.
6. Paint over with a clear top coat to seal in the design.

And that's it! I've done this a dozen ways, seriously. You can alter this technique to paint a long rectangle onto the plastic, and then using nail scissors, cut out the designs you'd like. Stamping, stenciling, Sharpies, lots of options!

What's on your nails?

Do you ever try nail art?