I
love watermelon. It's the quintessential summer fruit. I love watermelon blended into my bubble tea, in cocktails, and sliced up with a sprinkle of salt. I had the idea to do watermelon-inspired nail art some time ago--unfortunately it was in the dead of winter back then, so I had to wait all the way until now to pull off this summery nail art!
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| Clinique Hula Skirt / Essie Going Incognito / Essie Watermelon / OPI Funny Bunny / black liquid acrylic paint |
I tried doing two nails with a watermelon cross-section with a hint of marshmallow white from OPI Funny Bunny in between the pink fruit part and the green rind, but the results were sadly very messy-looking. Those two nails drove me nuts--I think a big part of that was the way the rind came so far up the nail; it reminded me of those awful acrylic French tip manicures where the white tip comes way too far down the nail plate to look natural. (If you can't picture it, try a Google search of "bad acrylic French tips".)
Smudged seeds aside,
much better, amirite? Sometimes simple is best. I used Clinique Hula Skirt for the light green, and Essie Going Incognito for the darker green stripes. In the future, I'd rather use another dark green polish or acrylic paint because Going Incognito is not opaque enough to give bold stripes I wanted. As for the fruit part, Essie Watermelon is aptly named and creates a perfectly juicy watermelon pink. I complain a lot about the application on Essie polishes, but Watermelon has an excellent formula and applies very smoothly. Finishing touch: black teardrop-shaped seeds using black liquid acrylic paint.
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| Direct natural light |
This is a fun look that even nail art beginners can pull off with ease. A real watermelon's rind doesn't have perfectly straight stripes, so it works even if you don't have a very steady hand. Play around a bit with wavy lines and varying thicknesses!
Recently, I attended a summer party by
Olive + Piper (and organized by my awesome friends at
Lychee Productions) showcasing Olive + Piper jewelry/accessories and stumbled across this awesome matching watermelon pouch! Totally a coincidence and made for a great photo.
What kind of fruit would inspire a nail art look for you? I'm planning grapefruit and lemon slices next.
