off center plaid nail art

To achieve this look I used "topless & barefoot" and "wicked" from essie, and painstackingly cutting 40 little strips of scotch tape!

1. Prep your nails by cutting, filing, buffing, etc. 
2. Cut out thin strips of scotch tape so they're ready when you are! (This is easier to do with dry nails!)
3. Use a clear base coat to protect your nail beds.
4. Choose a base color that will show through as the thin lines of plaid. I went with "topless & barefoot" by essie.
5. Use a quick-dry top coat to seal the base color. Wait a few minutes so that it is dry and you don't remove polish with the scotch tape.
6. Create a cross-hatch of tape on the nails of one hand. 
• Before you lay the tape on your nail, lightly press it on your palm to remove some of the adhesive, this will help to avoid removing polish. 
• First lay down the horizontal strips of tape, then lay down the vertical strips.
• I chose to do an off-center pattern. 
• Using an orange stick, lightly press the tape so that the edges are adhering.
7. When the tapes are all ready on one hand, use your top color and paint across your nail. Don't paint too roughly because polish can seep under the tape ;-) I used "wicked" by essie for this.
8. Be patient! Wait about ten minutes for the top color to set.
9. Slowly peel back each piece of tape individually.
10. Cover your nail with a top coat.
11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 for your other hand.

Polish slipped under the tape :( This is still a work in progress, as you can see. When I finished I cleaned up the skin around my nails using a little brush and some acetone!