Burberry Mani Two Ways

Hey everyone! Today I want to share with you a mani that I have wanted to do for a very long time. I have always wanted to do some sort of plaid or Burberry mani, however I thought that it would be impossible to do the stripes by hand and still have it look nice. So for a while I had been searching for water decals or nail vinyls, something to make it easier. Well no luck, so I decided to just go for it with a striping brush, and it turned out to be way easier than I thought it would!

So let’s get into how I created these two manis.

1. For both manicures the technique is the same: paint your thumb, forefinger and pinky any colour, and your middle and ring fingers a neutral shade. For the first manicure I used KL Polish Mindy (deep purple) and Orly Country Club Khaki (taupe). And for the second manicure I used the KL Polish Ace (red) and KL Polish Graham (grey).
2. I started by applying my favourite base coat (Orly Bonder) and 2-3 coats of each shade. I then let those dry and added a fast drying top coat (I use Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat).
3. For the stripes, I used the Berkeley Detail Art Pen (Long), which is just a very long and narrow paint brush. I purchased mine through Nail Polish Canada, but I am sure you can get something very similar from different companies and retailers. Last time I checked, Sally’s, in fact, sells a set that includes a longer striping brush. Just look for a long (like an inch long) and thin paint brush.
4. The key to painting on the stripes is using acrylic paint, not nail polish. I have tried time and time again to use nail polish with brushes, and it just never works. For one, the nail polish always ruins the brushes, and I can never get them clean properly, with any level of acetone. Two, it is very difficult to work with nail polish in this way, since it is so thick and viscous. You get around many of these problems by using acrylic paint. Acrylic paint can be watered down, and it can be more easily controlled when thinner. You can also clean the brush easily with water. And most of all, if you make a mistake, you can literally use a cotton swab or a cotton round to clean up or wipe off the design with water without ruining your whole manicure, if your nail polish is completely dry underneath. Winning.
5. To paint the stripes I followed a tutorial on this website. You simply start by using slightly diluted white acrylic paint to draw on two vertical white lines and three horizontal white lines on your neutral nails. The best way to paint on the lines accurately is to keep the brush as level and parallel to your nail as possible. Go slow. If you make a mistake, simply wet a cotton swab and wipe it off.
6. Next paint on three vertical stripes with diluted black acrylic paint, and five horizontal black stripes, all surrounding the white stripes.
7. Lastly, paint on one vertical and one horizontal stripe in coloured diluted paint. For this shade I mixed paint colours together to get approximately the shade in nail polish I used on the rest of my nails.
8. Let the paint dry completely (it should dry pretty fast) and add on a top coat. I’ve noticed that the quick dry top coat can distort the paint very slightly when it’s drying, but it usually looks just fine after it has finished drying completely. If you have a non-quick dry top coat, that may work even better.
9. If you want a matte finish for your mani, as seen in my red Burberry design, add a matte topcoat once everything is completely dry.

Overall, I am so happy that I decided to just jump in and try this design! So happy, that I created it twice!

Which is your favourite? The purple and glossy Burberry, or the red and matte Burberry? Let us know down below!