Following the trend doesn’t always have to cost a lot. The “caviar” manicure sets or even just microbead sets from the store can cost anywhere from $10-30. This variation of the trend is created using simple, household, items. With some patience and creativity, you can have yourself a fun and trendy manicure for next to nothing at all!

Project estimate:

Nail polish, on hand or $1 and up

Salt, on hand

Total: Free and up

For my nails, I used the following polishes:

Basecoat (Essie Grow Stronger)

2 nail polishes (Revlon Sweet tart and Bubblegum)

Topcoat (OPI Topcoat)

1. Prep your nails. I started off by filing and buffing my nails, making for a nice clean canvas. I then applied a base coat to all of my nails. Now you are ready for some fun.



Pick out 2 nail polishes. For this, I chose 2 different shades of pink, one lighter and one a shade darker. You can either do it that way, or choose 2 completely different nail polishes.



Paint your nails. First, decide which nails you want to apply the salt on. I chose my thumb and ring finger. After you’ve decided, paint the remaining nails with one of your chosen colors. I painted these nails the lighter shade of pink.

Start salting your nails. Paint the remaining nails with the second polish, but one coat at a time. Once the first coat is dried, paint them one nail at a time, and sprinkle salt over the wet polish. I recommend doing this near a sink or outside, as it can be slightly messy. After evenly coating your nail with the salt, shake your nail around to remove the excess salt.

Apply a top coat. I love the finish of my salted manicure after applying a top coat, my nails glistened! Be sure to not only apply it to the top of the nail, but the tip of your nail and sides. This will just help the salt stay on even longer.