nail art: friendship bracelet nails

I’ve been serving on a jury for the last couple of weeks, and with extended jury duty comes a lot of time sitting around and waiting. One day last week one of my fellow jurors and I had an idea. Friendship bracelets! What could be better. After I summoned the bracelet-making manual I tucked away in my brain back in 3rd grade (and consulted the trusty internet, of course), jury duty craft club began.

And then my thoughts turned to nails, as they often do. Textured nails like the caviar manicure are trendy right now, so why not friendship bracelet nails?

I began by cutting several small pieces of embroidery thread about twice the length of my nail. I painting a line of top coat onto my already-painted nail and pressed a piece of thread into the wet top coat. Since it would be too tricky to perfectly measure the thread beforehand, I left myself a tail off the tip of my nail and cut it to fit after it had adhered.

Polish: China Glaze Gaga for Green

I continued with my remaining pieces of thread, painting on a new line of top coat and pressing lightly on the threads to adhere them to my nail.

I cleaned up the tip of my nail with a nail clipper, making sure the threads fit my nail as well as they could. I like the look without a top coat, but I wanted to add one to help this mani last a little longer.

with top coat

The top coat darkened the threads a bit, but it created a hard seal which will make this mani last longer without fraying. Like the caviar manicure, it’s not something you’re going to keep on for days at a time – I don’t think it would make it through multiple showers or dishwashing. That said, it is an unexpected, conversation-starting look!

Have a great Monday! I’m heading back to the courthouse with a pocket full of thread…