Pink & Purple Argyle Nails for Valentines!

The Back Story (feel free to skip):

After taking a bit of a hiatus from nail art I got back in the mood for something extra fun for Valentine's Day.  Not that I'm a high-maintenance die-hard Feb 14th devotee, but I like that my husband and I both make an effort to get each other just a little something and plan a nice dinner out (but never on the 14th, which is too crowded for my taste).  

I checked out some of the art vids on YouTube, but nothing jumped out at me.  I had the hubs pick out my colors and attempted to do a water marble.  However, these polishes weren't having it.  (Some polishes won't spread in the water and don't lend to marbling at all--some just don't get along with certain others.)  It's always trial and error there.  But I wanted to stick to the colors he picked (ever take the time to help someone out and then they never bother to incorporate your input? - you eventually stop helping). 

So what to do? I was playing with the idea of pink hearts and remembered seeing argyle done with hearts substituted for the diamonds and thought, perfect!  I Googled argyle pattern images and figured out the color scheme.  I did some tests on my nail wheels and decided to forget the heart part - it wasn't coming out right.  And now I'm extra glad I did. It was pink & purple enough for the 14th, but not so Holiday-centric that I needed to take it off this weekend.  

The pics and tutorial (with step-by-step pics):

I practiced on my nail wheels with my LEFT hand until I felt confident in my technique.  (I needed to know I could do it well on both hands before investing too much time.)  The tutorial is below these "final result" pics if you are interested.  I recommend waiting until you have a whole afternoon, so your one hand can dry prior to starting the other hand and you won't have to worry about ruining your work.  I also start with painting my right hand first to the get the hard part over with, but that's me.

Not bad, right? There's probably an easier way, but I'm not very good at keeping things the right size and in a neat row when free-handing, so I used a striping technique so that the diamonds basically formed themselves.

From left to right: ORLY - Royal Velvet,  FLOWER - I Lavendare You!, &  FLOWER - Cosmos-Politan
(FLOWER is Drew Barrymore's new makeup line, which so far I love.
Unfortunately, it's only available at Wal-Mart , one of my least favorite places.)

Ideally one would start with the light color as the base.  I already had the pink on for a base, which meant thicker layers (more drying time) to get the colors right and more light purple diamonds than pink.  So if you notice the light purples and pinks are swapped out in the tutorial pics, that is why.

On left: How the brush is when purchased.
On Right: How the brush is when I'm through with it >)
Seriously, you need a teeny tiny brush to do clean detailing.

I painted the design using inexpensive art brushes (purchased at a craft store and trimmed til just the tiniest bit of brush is left) dipped into the polish, which I dab a glob of onto a paper plate (above right).   Sorry for poor picture quality on the brush close-up (left).  Sadly, my phone camera is the best one I own  :P

After your light base color dries, start by making a big "X" - thin lines at first - on each nail with the indigo-violet (which ends up being the most frequent diamond color and serves as the background color).  Carefully thicken the stripes of the "X" until happy with the width.  The thinner your stripes are, the more diamonds you'll end up with:

              

Then, using the original "X" as a guide, paint the rest of the nail with diagonal stripes in both directions, trying to keep the light purple spaces between stripes the same width as the stripes themselves.  [Also try to keep the paint layers as thin as possible to keep dry time to a minimum; it's okay if the colors are a little sheer...these are basically just a guide for now.]  I did 3 lines in each direction, adding one stripe above and one stripe below each "X" stripe.  If you do the same, you now have 4 light diamonds in a whole lotta indigo.  Let this dry a titch:

 

Now for the pink.  Notice that at each place your diagonal lines cross, they form a diamond.  It's probably easy to see the diamond outline due to it having 2 layers of polish at those intersections.  Carefully paint these diamonds with the pink, using the light purple diamonds to the left/right/top/bottom as a guide - the points of your light purple and pink diamonds should touch.  I outlined them first for illustration purposes, but it's not strictly necessary (although it does help to keep your paint in the lines when filling them in):

Now that all of the diamonds are outlined, go in with each color and carefully retouch any wobbly lines/mistakes and add more polish to any see-through areas until the color is to your liking (I put a repeat of the last pic above to illustrate the difference)  Let this dry a bit:

The last part is what makes it iconic argyle - the thin lines forming diamonds between the diamonds.  A contrasting color works best.  I liked silver (I used China Glaze - Icicle) better than white, which was so much contrast that I felt it distracted from the main design.  I also used dots rather than attempting to stripe - dots allow more color to show through and mask crookedness well.  I used my teeny dotting tool, but a sharp toothpick is also perfect for this.  Start by placing a dot in the middle of each diamond, then connect the dots with diagonal lines:

    

Alternatively, I ended up just placing 5 dots in each diamond: one dot in the center and one dot centered along each edge (NOT the points - see the left pic: the dark purple diamond toward the lower right).  I found this made the spacing more consistent, but both techniques work:

After a few minutes of dry time (you don't want this to smear!) apply your favorite top coat and Ta-Da!!  Argyle!

I actually went with 2 good coats of topcoat and have been rewrapping the tips every other night.  I'm currently using Out the Door.  I used to used Seche Vite, but I hate the Toluene (which is a neurotoxin; to which most people are exposed via inhalation...so no, the fumes causing that potent, horrid smell aren't exactly benign).  I don't love love Out the Door...it requires more dry time and doesn't do as good a job at "leveling" the polish .  But it does protect well against chipping and still dries more quickly than a typical topcoat.  I think I will be trying Essie's next time, even if it is a little pricier.  A good base and top are worthwhile investments.  Your thoughts on topcoats are of course always welcome!

Hope I didn't ramble too much and I hope you find this fun!  Next blog: SpectraFlair! Enjoy!