So, the gunmetal mani lasted exactly two days before I took the polish remover to them....date night warranted a more "conservative" mani. This pleased my husband-plenty. Here I want to show you how you can use a full nail design for your tips only. 
You don't have to purchase the fancy tip plates for a tip design. Plus, this way you can use any full design or design that is dense enough to cover the tip. You can try this same technique with any tip color & any stamp color. I'm using my NEW s9 image plate...THANK YOU KATHLEEN from OCnailart.com!
What you'll need:
Prep nails by base coating THE TIPS ONLY. you will have to clean off extra image from smile...so base over entire nail is not needed.
3. Clean tip, remove overlapping image from bottom 1/2 of nail....make a nice arch @ smile. Don't work too hard, this too will be covered by the glitter polish later. Follow by painting the bottom 1/2 with a sheer blush pink color. I make mine. to make your own, start with a clear polish, dump some polish out, add a few drops @ a time of burgundy and an opaque peach/light tan. Mix, and add more till desired color is reached.
You don't have to purchase the fancy tip plates for a tip design. Plus, this way you can use any full design or design that is dense enough to cover the tip. You can try this same technique with any tip color & any stamp color. I'm using my NEW s9 image plate...THANK YOU KATHLEEN from OCnailart.com!
What you'll need:1. Tip color
2. Sheer pink for bottom 1/2 of nail
3. Silver polish for image designs
4. Glitter pen polish for smile line detail. i used silver here
5. Gems
Prep nails by base coating THE TIPS ONLY. you will have to clean off extra image from smile...so base over entire nail is not needed.1. Paint tips free hand using a horizontal motion, inside edge to outside edge of nail. It doesn't have to be perfect, as you will wipe this clean on the smile with a flat brush dipped in acetone.
2. Apply stamp to tip of nails. Some of the image will cross the tip, and cover your bottom 1/2. OK you'll clean that next. :0)
3. Clean tip, remove overlapping image from bottom 1/2 of nail....make a nice arch @ smile. Don't work too hard, this too will be covered by the glitter polish later. Follow by painting the bottom 1/2 with a sheer blush pink color. I make mine. to make your own, start with a clear polish, dump some polish out, add a few drops @ a time of burgundy and an opaque peach/light tan. Mix, and add more till desired color is reached.(below see a review of steps 1-4 on each nail)
5. After the pink sheer has dried, apply flower stamp to bottom 1/2 of nail. I used silver here.
5. After the pink sheer has dried, apply flower stamp to bottom 1/2 of nail. I used silver here.6. Finally, add a little gem to the center of the flower....I did the thumb...but heck do them all, that would look cute too! After all you just spent a few minutes doing your nails...go crazy.
Some of you may be wondering if these mani's take a while....the only thing that makes the process longer is the drying time of base polishes.
So try some tip, & layered designs using the same process.