With the multitude of nail designs available nowadays, selecting interesting manicure styles has become a lot easier. Although complex nail designs might be to show off, frequent visits to the manicure salons can really add up and cause a significant drain in your budget. However, creating cute manicure styles in the comfort of your own home is entirely possible if you are willing to spend a little time learning and perfecting the required techniques.
Checkered nail designs are a fairly popular nail design among teens and even some celebrities as they are easy to create and are fairly complex. However, checkered nail designs have a multitude of variations that can range from simple or very basic to more sophisticated patterns that can compliment women from various age groups. Nonetheless, regardless of the preferred style, all checkered nail designs are based on a set of techniques that must be used.
To a certain extent, the techniques used are the same as in the case of a classic, DIY French manicure. First you will need to apply one or two coats of clear nail polish as a base coat. After five minute or so, you can begin applying the preferred light color. In the beginning, it is advisable to stick with a basic black and white pattern as it is the easiest one to create. In this case, you will apply one or two coats of white nail polish.
After the nail polish has dried properly, it is time to move to the next stage. Using a nail polish pen you will begin to draw vertical and horizontal lines for the basic pattern. After that, it is time to fill some of the squares created with a darker nail polish hue. Wait for the nail polish to dry and then apply a top coat to make your manicure last longer.
Another method to create checkered nails involves using a white marker and a thin black Shapie marker. Just like in the previous method , you will begin by applying two coats of nail polish to protect your nails. Then, using the white marker you will begin to draw squares for the checkered pattern, filling the ones that will be white. Next, using the black Shapie marker you will fill the remaining squares. Wait until dry and then apply a top coat and you are done.
Once you become fairly skilled at creating the basic pattern, you can begin to explore several variations to mix things up and avoid unpleasant style ruts. One of the simplest ideas you can try is using the checkered pattern only on a few fingernails and painting the others with one of the shades you used for the checkered nail design. Painting each nail with a different shade and then drawing the checkered pattern is another fun and simple variation. A more challenging variation of the checkered nail design is the plaid nail pattern which is created using similar techniques, yet is a little more complex. Have fun experimenting with these fun patterns and you’ll definitely become an expert in no time.
