For the 4th of July, I thought about trying to recreate the flag. When it comes to the American flag, however, I really think that Betsy Ross did it best. Creating tiny, intricate stars and perfectly balanced stripes is no easy task, especially if you’re downsizing it to your fingernail. There are so many options when it comes to red, white, and blue, but I decided to go with an easier – but still patriotic and pretty! – manicure. Want to see how I got the look? Read on!
I actually have the perfect red (China Glaze’s Poinsettia), white (Zoya’s Snow White), and blue (China Glaze’s Frostbite) polish for the American flag, and I couldn’t wait to use them. I couldn’t help but add in a little glitter with Color Club’s Disco Nap.
After all the filing, buffing, and base coat (thanks, Nail Tek II for being amazing!), I added two coats of China Glaze’s Poinsettia to my pinky, pointer, and thumb nails.
Next, I used Color Club’s Disco Nap to add two coats of glitter polish to my middle fingers. See? Easy, you’re already more than halfway done.
Apply two coats of white (Zoya’s Snow White is perfect) to your ring finger and let it dry totally. You’ll be using tape to create the stripes, so you don’t want to ruin the polish. You can use Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dry + Go Drops if you’d like to speed up the process.
Once your nails are totally dry, cut out skinny strips of tape (I used masking tape – couldn’t find my painter’s tape anywhere!) and carefully place them on your ring finger. Make sure to press the tape down all the way so the polish doesn’t bleed through. Once the tape is set, cover your entire finger with your blue polish (China Glaze’s Frostbite). Let it dry for a little before removing the tape so the polish doesn’t smudge.
Finish your manicure by taking a skinny brush – a regular watercolor paint brush does the trick – and creating the heart detail on your ring finger using the red polish. You can also create a heart or star on your thumb using the gold to tie the look all together! I did this, but you can’t really see because of the way I take my “manicure claw” photos.
Share your patriotic manicures with us by tweeting @Collaboreight!
Check out more great manicure tutorials:
The Collabor-eight 
This is the cutest manicue.
Thank you!
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