6 ways to pimp your nails in less than 10 minutes

What I love about nail polish is that it can really give that something extra to your outfit. But sometimes that plain layer of polish on your nails may even look dull. Worry no more! I’ve got 6 ways you can pimp that plain color in less than 10 minutes.

Over the years I’ve been trying out several nail arts that took quite some time to put together. But this way I’ve also learned some quick ways to easily pimp my nails. For some styles you’ll need some extra tools, but most of the times you might already have them and are completely ready to pimp your nails in less than 10 minutes.

I’ve linked to all blog posts and re-used the pictures from then. I wish I could have recreated all of the styles, but I’m currently typing all of this on my phone since my laptop died. 🙁 🙁 This also means I can’t edit any pictures from my camera, nor make sure the lay-out looks perfectly fine. Sorry in advance if anything looks weird; I can’t help it for now. 😉

Leopard printed nails

Lately I’ve been growing more fond of leopard printed clothing, but I’ve been a lover of leopard printed nails for a loooong time! 😀 And it’s easier than it looks! You start by dotting a bit around with a dotting tool (or a toothpick) and for example black poliss. Then you take that same dotting tool/tooth picker and you stripe another color next to the dots.

Gradient nail

Another easy and quick trick are gradient nails. You start with a base layer, which is usually a brightest color (unless you have really good pigmented bright polish), and then you take a simple make-up sponge. You have to put some darker polish on it, stamp it first on a piece of paper to get most of the polish off, and then you stamp the rest on the tips of your nails. Repeat a second time on the tip so that one gets really dark and that’s it.
If you have a little more time, you can start by polishing the tip in the contrast color, so that part gets really dark, but that also means you have to let that patch dry well first, or you might take away the not-dry polish while you sponge.

Add studs if desired.

Striping tape

Striping tape has been my best friend ever since I discovered it, so it’s a great tool to pimp your nails in less than 10 minutes. Why, you think? It’s both fun to wear on your nails, but also a great tool.

Striping tape on your nails

Even though I use striping tape mostly as a tool, I’ve regularly used it ON my nails as well. Back in the days I once bought 10 or so rolls of striping tape in different colors on eBay, and they all were holographic, i.e. putting them on my nails isn’t that much of a punishment. 😉 Combine with some glitter polish and you’ve got a glittery way to upgrade a (pink) manicure.

This one is harder if you don’t have the small striping tape at home tho. But for the next use of striping tape you can also replace it by regular tape, however it won’t be that neat.

Use striping tape as a tool

I used to use regular tape for my nail arts before I discovered and bought striping tape. It’s much easier to use and the biggest asset is that the width will always be the same. Unless you can cut regular tape like a pro at the same width this really is an advantage!

Basically you put a piece of tape on a base layer of (dried) polish. Then you put another color of nail palish over it, let it dry for 10-20 seconds and then you remove the tape so the striped pattern becomes clear. Instead of just a layer of polish you could also put a gradient nail art on top of the striping tape.

Marble nails

As easy as this type of nail art may be, as messy it is. Seriously, this is a nail art you can definitely finish in less than 10 minutes, but if you’re as clumsy as me: brace yourselves before trying this out. 😉 I’ve once made a full tutorial for marble nails, so let me just explain everyhing there instead, because this post is already becoming longer than I had anticipated. 🙂

Wiped off streaks

This one was inspired by the Belgian nail art queen Elfi. I liked this style so much I made a blue version one week, and a pink version the week after that. It’s super easy, and looks quite artsy at the same time. Again, you can find the tutorial for these wiped off streaks nail art on the blog, because this post is getting loooong! 😀

I started writing this blog post with 4 ideas in mind, but browsing through my past blog posts I realised there were even more ways to pimp your nails in less than 10 minutes than I remembered! 😀

Which one is your fave? 😀

xo Noor