Mmm, watermelon!

Here's a tasty manicure perfect for summer! I was inspired to try these after seeing a lot of different versions on Pinterest. My version came out a little messier than I would've liked, but it gave me a few ideas on how to clean it up for next time! This is going to be kind of a tutorial version since I remembered to take pictures at each step!

Step one: base coat! This would make a nice Christmas manicure, too. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet and Zoya Holly, one coat each. 

It still looks mostly neat here, haha.

Step two: add stripes for the watermelon outside (ring and thumb) and add the rind part to the other three nails. For the stripes, I mixed in a bit of Zoya Seraphina (silver), to lighten the green of Holly. (For some reason I neglected to bring home a basic opaque white polish...)

Here's a closeup of the three nails that are easy to photograph (haha). I freehanded the stripes and used hole protectors (those donut shaped sticker things used to reinforce binder holes on paper...) to mark off the tips (because I can't freehand french tips for beans, I've tried). 

I should've used the hole protectors again...

Step three: add stripes to the rinds, seeds, and the lighter stripe to the rind. Usually that's done in white, but I had to improvise again and use Seraphina. The black was Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black-Out. 

The right hand!

Tada! All finished! Delicious!

The left hand! Messier stripes but nicer seeds, I think.

I also added a matte top coat (NYC brand) which is not the strongest matte top coat, but is pretty cheap. You get what you buy! I freehanded the silver stripes, which I think next time I will use the hole protectors. The seeds were also surprisingly hard to do! But overall, I think I need some brighter summer colors! These look a lot darker in real life. Anyway, thanks for reading!