I was just going to wear a plain polish that day. Well, not that plain, it’s a hologram polish. It’s Cirque Vesuvius. However, every time I tried to wear this, there’s always something missing. Not quite right. I just feel the need to add something. The polish is beautiful, no doubt about that. But, I find it sort of blends in with my skin tone a little too well.

I tried to pair it with black polish, but it was okay, nothing too special. Paired it with a light blue (Essie Mint Candy Apple) and it didn’t go the way I had visualized.

Then, it came to me, something incredibly simple and yet effective: striping tape.

It’s super easy to do! Just paint two coats of Cirque Vesuvius (or any base color). Let it dry (this one dries really fast, by the way). Then take the striping tape, place it on however you want and press it good. Cut off the ends. Mine is sort of a crisscross, a third of a star shape.

I had a thought of not ‘cheating’ using striping tape, but to actually do the deed; paint the base with white polish first, covering it with stripes of tape, go over the nails with Cirque Vesuvius, then take the tape off. But, I’m too lazy for that for now. So, striping tape it is.

It’s crucial to cut the tape as close to the nails as possible, to prevent any peel-offs during the wear. I applied two layers of top coat to seal them in good.

On studio lighting:

On outdoor natural lighting:

I tried to use a black striping tape, but the result wasn’t as good as the white one. The black seemed to drag Cirque Vesuvius down, which is a beautiful strawberry red holo polish. Using white produced a much more striking result.

I swear that every time I was doing something and looked at my nails, I thought there was a thread or some kind of white fiber got stuck on my nails. It’s hilarious! :D