‘Love You’ Nails for Valentine’s Day / Wedding Manicure Nail Art

Inspired by Valentine’s Day and my engagement ring, I created a soft pink manicure with silver hearts and crystals that spells out ‘LOVE YOU’ when held next to each other. What’s great though is that from far away, it just looks pretty and sparkly, but those close enough to you will get the message.

It’s not a difficult manicure, but it does take patience and a steady hand. Longer nails work a bit better for it as well so you get a little more “canvas” to work with. {NOTE: these nails were not easy to photograph together. I got the best results shooting a single hand with my iPhone ~ which is basically to explain that they look even better in person ;}

Also note: it’s been 4 days and my manicure is still going strong. However, If you constantly have your hands in water, It may not last as long.

Here’s What I Used…

* Soft pink nail polish {or any color you like} I used Pure Ice “Tickle Me Pink”
* Various sized nail art crystals: I used 2 small hearts, 2 large hearts {from a NailRocKits}, dots & baguettes
* Nail art tweezers
* Seche Vite fast dry top coat

Here’s How I did it…

Give yourself two coats of polish and let dry. If you have a thicker polish that is more opaque or matte, you can get away with one coat. But this is a somewhat transparent polish and I didn’t want my nail to show through.

Get your crystals ready by spelling out LOVE YOU or whatever phrase you wish to use with your various shapes so it’s easy to re-create on your nails. Take into consideration the size of your nails as well.

Prep one nail at a time by applying one last thin layer of pink polish…

And while it’s still wet, carefully place your crystals on your nails with your nail art tweezers. Be careful not to move your hand too much while it’s still setting or your design will shift.

My thumbs were the cutest <3

Do each nail individually, then wait for one entire hand to set and add your fast drying top coat to really set the stones in place.

 

And… Voila!

Have Fun!

* Find all my nail art tutorials here
* Find all my Valentine’s Day Nails here