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DIY Nail Trends

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Erin Appenzoller Student Contributor, Emerson College
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Emerson chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

I love the transition between November and December where decorations change from rich, fall colors to deep, wintery hues.  The burnt oranges and burgundies give way to dark blues and luscious silver.  Celebrate the holidays with DIY nail trend ideas in seasonal colors!  

November—CHEVRON REVERSE FRENCH

Rock the reverse French nail trend with a chevron design!  It’s a little intimidating, but once your manicure is finished, you’ll get tons of compliments.  Pick two awesome fall colors that scream Thanksgiving and go for it!  This manicure is adapted from this tutorial on Refinery 29.

What you’ll need: two nail polish colors of your choice

  1. Pick any color for your base.  I used a rich navy, teal color that I have been obsessing over this fall.  Paint a thin layer of your base color on each nail and let dry.  Take your second color and draw a diagonal across each nail.
  2. Repeat Step 2, but this time draw the diagonal in the opposite direction.
  3. Coat the top half of each nail with your second color filling in the area above each diagonal.  Let dry.
  4. Apply top coat and let dry.

If you don’t feel like being too bold, copy the Glitter Nail tutorial (below) and only paint the chevron design on one nail.  I’ve done the design on each nail before and it’s loud, but you will definitely stand out in a good way!

December—GLITTER NAIL

December is all about snow, holiday lights, and frosty ice.  Try putting a little sparkle on your nails too.  This DIY nail trend is super easy to do, but still fun to wear.  Four easy steps and you’re done!

What you’ll need: a nail polish color of your choice and a glitter polish

  1. Cut your nails on the shorter side.  This will help your manicure last longer and prevent a lot of chipping.  Smooth out rough edges with a nail file, and if you’d like try a cuticle cream for the full manicure experience.
  2. Start with your base color—I chose a darker color that is on trend for fall/winter (Essie’s Power Clutch).  Paint two coats of your solid polish and let dry.
  3. For the glitter polish, you can pick up an inexpensive brand since it doesn’t necessarily need to go on smoothly.  I bought a $1 bottle of silver glitter polish at CVS.  Take the glitter nail polish and paint a few coats on each ring finger.  Make sure an equal amount of glitter is on each nail, and don’t worry if you put the polish on too thick!  The more glitter, the better.  Let dry.
  4. Apply topcoat to your nails, dry, and your manicure is done!

This trend also works well with a metallic nail.  Instead of layering a sheer glitter polish over a base color, use an opaque metallic polish.  I love deep teal blue with rose gold or silver metallic polish on the ring finger.  Sephora by OPI’s My Personal Serpent and Orly’s Rage look awesome together!

Erin is now a senior at Emerson College in Boston, MA pursuing a degree in Print & Multimedia journalism. Originally from West Orange, New Jersey, Erin enjoys fashion, baking, hiking, traveling, and sharks. She is currently Co-Campus Correspondent of Emerson's Her Campus branch, and recently worked as an Editorial/Web Production intern and freelancer for Details.com at Conde Nast in New York City. Follow her on Twitter @appenzo.