I have a lot of things to do today, but in between all of them, I’ve decided to give myself a Union Jack manicure. I have also decided to live blog it. It will be kind of a long process as I’ll be using tape to help me with the lines, so I have to wait for each layer to dry completely before I start the next one. Plus, I need to do laundry, go grocery shopping, get my eyelashes filled, go to the shoe repair place, etc etc etc. So in between all of that, I’ll be popping in with little updates, pictures, and tips. Enjoy!

10:36 am

Lying in bed, filing my nails. They’ve been peeling a bit lately at the tips, so I want them short, and I think they should be squared off a bit for the flag look. No picture for this step, as I believe that posting pictures of yourself in bed is a slippery slope.

11:52 am

Nails filed, base coat applied. I love poshé’s nail strengthening treatment basecoat. It dries instantly and really helps your nails.

12:16 pm

I did an all-over coat with Essie’s Aruba Blue. I like to do my thumbs last, so I can scrape off the excess polish from the edges. Now I have to wait for it to dry before I start with the white polish.

1:50 pm

Ok, I’ve finished the first white stripe on all but two fingers, which are still too tacky. I wish I’d waited a little longer, even though I put the tape on my arm first to reduce tackiness, it still pulled up some blue polish. Easier to fill in a few patches than to paint the lines on freehand, though. Check it out:

I have to go get my eyelashes done now, so it’ll be a while before I post an update.

4:45 pm

Ok, so I’m back from my lash appointment. Unfortunately, I fell asleep on the table and woke up with blanket marks on the white stripes. Fortunately, it seems to be salvageable. On to the next step!

5:45 pm

Taped my nails up horizontally:

I painted the stripes, and after I peeled off the tape, I touched up the vertical stripes so you can’t see the parts I fudged up a bit. I also used my red polish (Dior 651 Merveille) to paint a couple of pieces of tape to use as the red stripes next. I’ll update again as soon as things are dry.

7:10 pm

Ok, I just finished the red cross pieces using the scotch tape. After placing the tape on the white stripes I pushed it down a bit into the still squishy white polish. I then hand-painted the edges and the overlap. Here’s what it looks like so far:

7:50 pm

Ok, I added the white diagonal stripes by hand with a wire needle. It requires a steady hand, but they’re really short stripes, so it wasn’t too hard. I’m not going to do the red stripes inside these, that’s way too much fine detail. Now I’m just waiting for the polish to dry, and then lots and lots of top coat!