The Digit-al Dozen does Blue Week: Acid Washed Jeans

So here is the last post in blue week. Have you enjoyed seeing the different blue manicures? I have sure enjoyed myself and this has been a great chance to challenge myself.

Anyway the last manicure I am going to show you is inspired by a post I saw over at The Crumpet although a few  other bloggers I know have also done this technique.

 

This is the acid wash technique and it is so simple to achieve yet looks really great. All you need to do is simply paint your nails until the are opaque in your base colour (I used two coats of OPI Fly from the Nicki Minaj collection) and let it dry. 

Then seal this was a top coat, this is so when you remove polish in the new step you have a bit of a barrier before you start to eat through your base layer (therefore exposing the bare nail).

Then paint another layer of polish onto your nail in the second colour. You don't need to be very neat with this step. I used Barry M Matte White for this step/ (The Crumpet uses more than two colours in her post but I wanted to create a jean effect so kept it simple).

The next step is to soak a cotton bud in acetone or nail polish remover and slowly and randomly remove patches of the white polish to reveal the blue underneath.  Don't go overboard with this, less is defiantly more and don't press too hard or you will eat through the layer of top coat and base colour exposing patches of bald nail yuck!

 

I finished my design with a layer of Seche Vite and then added a stitch pattern to my accent nail with a black nail art pen.

 

I love this effect it really does look like acid-washed jeans. Next time I want to experiment with more colours! I think the effect is really quite grungy and reminds me alot of Emma Watson's nails for Elle Magazine.  I think if you used nude colours you could create something really chic.  

So that brings blue week to a close. I will be back tomorrow with a round up post and next week I have another theme week (although this time I am doing it alone) that I am excited to share with you all!

Until then,