Shabby Chic Green with a Water Slide Decal Accent

I’ve had a number of water slide decals sitting around for ages and for some reason had never used them. I’m kind of determined to tackle an overgrowth of untried polishes as well as untried techniques this year so I dove right in with this cute mani!

I started out this design by painting on my base colors. I used Barielle – Gondola Ride (one of my untried polishes!), OPI – My Vampire is Buff and Love.Angel.Music. Baby. Eash nail got two coats for opacity and gave them a few minutes to dry.

I used My Vampire is Buff to create the dots and then put a top coat on all of my nails and gave them about 15 minutes to dry. Once dry, I prepared to apply the water slide decal (which is actually a ridiculously easy process)! I cut the decal to the approximate size of my nail, removed the clear film on top and then dipped it into some water for 20 seconds. Using some tweezers, I gently removed the decal from the backing. I put a little bit of water on the nail I was placing the decal on and then carefully positioned it where I wanted it to go.

Water slide decal from Born Pretty Store

I used my finger to smooth down the wrinkles and then used a cotton round to pat away the excess moisture and then let it air dry for about 5 minutes before finishing it off with a coat of Seche Vite. I used acetone and a cleanup brush to quickly dispense with the excess.

Green shabby chic mani with water slide decal accent

I’m really satisfied with how easy these decals are to use! For some reason, I thought I would end up fiddling with smoothing it out like with a sticker, but the film these are printed on is so thin that it flattens out really easily, making this one of my new favorite ways for a fancy, no hassle accent nail!

POLISHES:

OPI – Natural Nail Base Coat
Barielle – Gondola Ride
OPI – My Vampire is Buff
OPI – Love Angel Music Baby
Seche Vite – Dry Fast Top Coat

I absolutely love how this mani came out and while I appreciate hand painted floral nail design work, sometimes you need a fast solution and this hit the spot! The entire mani took about 35 minutes start to finish! 🙂