Saran Wrap Mani Tutorial

And yes, I am alive! Haha, you can tell that school has officially started again and oh boy... 18 credits = hectic schedule! Haha, I didn't know there was so much reading involved! Well, that's okay because I enjoy being busy. :) So thank you for joining me today for a Saran Wrap Mani Tutorial! I am going to warn you, this is a LONG post. But it's mainly going to be a lot of pictures and explanations. :) (I currently do not have a YouTube channel for videos and I'm so sorry about that! I just currently don't have the time and equipment for quality videos. :/ But hopefully this EXTREME pictorial will make up for it all. :)) So take a look below at my saran wrap nails and let's see if you like them enough to try them yourself. ;) 

These are saran wrap nails. :) They're not really a design, but more of a technique that you do in order to get a different colored background. I think it almost looks like granite or some type of rock on it's own, but it makes a great background for other nail art too!! Don't worry, it is SO easy to do and I think it looks pretty cute. ;) So press "read more" for the tutorial if you're interested!

You will need 2 different nail polishes, a clear top coat, scissors, and of course saran wrap (or actually any plastic such as a plastic bag or even aluminum foil works). Stuff to clean up is highly suggested as well! I used just some nail polish remover and q-tips. (Learn how to clean your cuticles HERE).

Start off by painting your nails your base coat color. I decided to use a light lavender called Prickly Pear by Barry M. It's one of my favorite polishes! So pretty!

Now, I'm going to show you this tutorial on my thumb but unfortunately, because it has so many photos, I couldn't condense it to one pictorial, so we'll just keep scrolling, huh? ;) So 1. Paint your nails any base color you want. Make sure they are COMPLETELY dry! You can't do saran wrap nails if your base isn't dry. :(

2. Cut a small square of saran wrap (or whatever material you're going to use. Like I said, leftover shopping bags work perfectly! Some girls have also used tin foil. I don't know if just regular paper would work as well... but I'm sure it would be okay if you didn't have any plastic at all. Sandwich bags are good too. ;)). You don't want it too small though because we are going to scrunch it up next.

3. You guessed it! Now scrunch up that plastic! Just enough to make it into a little ball.

(Just like this! Okay... it's not really a ball... But that's okay xD It work haha!)

4. You want to do this quickly now! Once you've decide your second color for your mani and once your base has dried, apply the second color on top! Hurry now! Before it dries!

See how I've basically covered my entire nail again? Don't be a perfectionist on this coat! (Hard to hear I know!) But we're going to "mess" it up anyway. Make sure that it's still wet!!! Hurry go to step 5!

5. Now smack that saran wrap onto your wet polish!! Eh... Don't smack it. I suppose you have to pat it gently. :/ Keep scrolling for a better idea of what you're going to do.

See how I'm patting my nail? Pat your nail several times with the saran wrap. Haha, I'm making a mess but don't worry, I'll show you how to clean it up when we're done. Just pat enough times until you have the desired amount of dark purple showing. If you pat too much, all the dark purple will be gone. :/

This is how my saran wrap looks now AND my awesome thumb. :) I don't really know how many pats to "pat", but just enough until you're satisfied. I love how the dark purple looks like it's blended in with the light!

6. Now add that clear top coat onto your nail! :D This will smooth out your design, make it shiny, and preserve it. :)

This is how it looks like after I add the top coat! Isn't it pretty? ;) Now time for clean up! Once again, do read best way to clean up for more details but this is the basic way.

7. Clean up time! I just poured some nail polish remover into the cap and dipped my q-tip into it.

And then I rubbed around my cuticle to get that extra polish off. If you like this technique, go ahead and repeat these steps on the rest of your nails or they'd make super cute accent nails! :D

And here is how all my nails look like in the end! I love using a light and dark color of the same shade (for example, I used purples! But I like it any light or dark color :)). Or try being super bold and do contrasting colors like pink and orange or red and yellow!

Another thing that I like about saran wrap manis are when they're "matte-ified". xD See, they're not shiny? I just used the matte topcoat Matte-ly in Love by Hardcandy. I got it for $4 at Walmart! Some people find matte nails ugly.. But I'm sorry, hehe, I like them like this. :)

Haha, and I eve tries to compare these 2 styles. Which one do YOU like? ;) (Don't worry, I won't be offended if you don't like them. ;))

 

Well, thank you for joining me for the saran wrap nail tutorial! I hope that it helped you enough so that you can make your own if you want!:D I'd love to see your saran wrap nails if you try them! Upload them to instagram and hastag them #polishpalsinspired OR email them to me at yaypolishparty@gmail.com :) Well, I hope this makes up for the 2 weeks that I've beem busy with school. xD So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)