Eye Manicure DIY

"Eye"ve had my "eye" on this manicure for a few weeks now, and I was so ridiculously excited to try it out that I just couldn't wait any longer. In case you haven't "seen" what I'm talking about, eyes have been super trendy over the last year, and I'm totally hooked on them—winking eyes, sleeping eyes, regular ol' eyes...I love them all. I've noticed a couple of really cute nail ideas with them recently, but this one where the eye is at the cuticle of the nail is my favorite. And, if you aren't a home nail professional, don't worry, I replicated this look the most foolproof way I could because I find tiny nail art to usually be difficult for me too.

Supplies:
-nude, white, and blue (or whatever color of eyes you want) nail polish. I used Essie "Topless and Barefoot", Maybelline "Porcelain Party", and Sally Hansen "Blue-Away".
-French manicure half moon tip guides (I like these a lot)
-black nail pen (I used these)
-small hole punch (I used the medium hole on the crop-a-dile)
-fast dry top coat

First, you'll want to use the nude color as the base coat for your manicure. Allow the polish to completely dry, and then use the tip guides to block off an oval shape that mirrors your rounded cuticle line. Paint the exposed cuticle oval with the white polish, let it completely dry, and slowly peel off the tip guide (you can even use a coat of the fast dry topcoat here to ensure that it's cured). Once the white has dried, cut your tip guides in half and use your hole punch to punch small holes into the guides. Peel the guides and position the hole in the middle of your white ovals. Use your colored polish on top of the hole. Let the polish fully dry, and peel off the tip guides. Use your polish pen to dab a small dot of black on each eye center. Once the black is dry, finish your look with your quick-dry topcoat.

If you don't have a small enough hole punch, you could use a small paintbrush to dab a dot of eye color on instead, but I like how precise the circles are with the punched-out guide method. I think this mani choice is totally pure fun and I can't help but think of eye-related puns and songs every time I look at my hands. For some reason though, I always feel like somebody's watching me...xo. Laura

Credits // Author: Laura Gummerman, Photography: Janae Hardy, Laura Gummerman, and Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.