Beauty At Your Fingertips: DIY Nail Art

The crackle polish manicure that made it's debut at Halloween is now available in a variety of colors. Use pastels with white crackle for Easter. Try red with black crackle for Valentine's Day. Get your green on with silver crackle to celebrate your Irish heritage (or lack thereof) in March. The color combos are endless! The good news is, the crackle look is so easy to achieve.

As you will see in the demonstration below, it's as simple as applying regular nail polish, really. Remember to let your first coat dry thoroughly before applying the crackle layer. Top coat is super important in this process, too. It will help your nails feel smooth to the touch when you are finished.

Crackle manicures are the best way to get started on your nail art adventure because it is so simple to do. No special skills or techniques required!

Avon has a growing collection of crackle polishes you can have delivered to your door. Use coupon code "firstrep" and get free shipping on orders of any size. Offer for first time customers. All orders over $30 always have free shipping.

Nail foils are a fun and easy way to get professional looking nail art results. Not only that, but they have ZERO drying time, unless you count the time spent using a blow dryer to apply them. What I mean is, there are NO smudges! You can wear them for a few days or up to 10 days, it's up to you!

Nail foils feel a little bit like putting stickers on your nail bed. They are actually made of some special kind of adhesive. Some forms are actually considered dry nail polish.

My first attempt at them last only a couple of days because I did not apply them properly. The image in the introduction to this article shows my fingernails with pink camo nail foils. The more I practice, the better I get at it.

The first lesson I learned the hard way, was not to over-buff your nails before applying the nail foils. When I removed my first set, my nails were the thickness of scotch tape! I was devastated as this was the first time I'd had natural nails in thirty-something years!

I can't possibly be old enough for fashion from the decade I grew up in to be making a come back, but it's true! Leg warmers, stacks of bracelets, and neon colors are right on trend lately. Painful though it may be, I think this splatter paint manicure will help us thirty-somethings make the adjustment! Start with a good quality base coat. Once it tries, apply an opaque white layer. While that is drying, you can start thinning your neon nail polishes in a painter's palette. Once the white polish is try, you can tape off the area around your nail bed, then start the nail art splatter party! Top it off with a good top coat. The results are a bright, lively pattern you can't resist. You might even pull out your leg warmers, off the shoulder sweatshirt (ala "Flash Dance," of course), and hoop earrings! Why fight it? Let's bring the 80s back in style!