In the United States, the average woman who gets a manicure and a pedicure gets one once every two weeks.
The average cost of that mani-pedi? About $32 dollars.
In a year, that adds up to a total of $1,345 a year. Phew!
Whether you spend that much on your nail and feet care or not, you’re going to want to get the best nails every time. If you want to do your nail art at home and impress all your friends, here’s how to get chrome nails done right.
How to Get Chrome Nails at Home or at the Salon
What exactly are chrome nails, anyway? Chrome nails are all the fashion rage right now. Think of chrome wheels or chrome paint on a car, and that’s what you’re trying to replicate on your nails.
But not quite so…car-like. You’re just mimicking the shine and the graduated colors of the paint.
But even if you know what they are, you won’t know how to get chrome nails without a little extra practice.
UV Light at Home
When you go to get your nails done, you know that it lasts longer than doing it at home. That’s because at home, you probably just have regular polish. But you can actually do gel polish at home so it lasts a long time.
All you need to do is invest in a kit, which usually run only about fifty dollars for a one time purchase. If you consider that you’re paying nearly that for one single mani-pedi, then it won’t take you long to realize that this is a pretty solid investment.
Once you paint your nails, you’ll stick them in the UV light just like you do at the salon. And you’ll get the same effect. It’s as simple as that.
From there, you’ll need gel nail polish. But you can also use your gel polish over and over, which is again an investment that makes sense.
You can also get dotting tools for only a few dollars to make designs on your nails. And you can use them until the end of time.
The Easy Way Out
If you don’t want to learn to paint your own nails chrome, you can cheat a little.
Press-on nails are available in chrome, and they will make it look like you went to the salon and spent a million bucks. Luckily, press-on nails are definitely not going to run you that. They stay in about the twenty dollar range, and many are reusable.
Paint Your Own Chrome
If you’re not doing the press-on route, then you’re ready to paint your own chrome nails.
You will first need to apply a thin layer of gel pigment to your nails over the top coat that you’ve already applied. Once you have these two steps on your nails, you can go ahead and apply the chrome pigment.
Most chrome pigment sets come with an applicator brush. You’ll dip the brush into the chrome pigment and apply it to your nails.
Wipe the powder across your nails until it starts to look shiny – like chrome.
You can put the powder all over your nails, or you can experiment with designs, an accent nail, or an ombre effect.
After you’re done with this step, all you need to do is stick them under your lamp to cure them. Your new chrome nails should last for about a month.
Matchy Matchy
Once you’ve styled your nails down to a science, you can change the rest of your outfit to reflect the art you’ve done. You can go big and match all the color you’re wearing to the color you’ve chosen for your nails.
You can choose smaller details, too. Add some purple eyeliner to your eyes if you’ve got purple nails. If you’re sporting pink nails, maybe you’ve got a pink necklace that you can bring out to match with.
Learn more about how to style a perfect pair of capri pants to evoke a nautical style that you can pair to match with blue nails.
Chrome Nail Design Inspiration
When you’re searching for inspiration for your nails, there’s no better place to start than looking at what the creative people online have already done. Pinterest posts are a great tool for inspirational art. You can also see how people paired their jewelry and their outfits with their new chrome look to really tie their style together.
You also don’t have to look at just chrome nail designs to get your chrome nail inspiration. You can glean ideas from any creative nail pieces.
Look at photos of the ways that people have designed their regular nail polish, and then you can tweak it to incorporate your cool, shiny nail color.
You don’t have to stick with just one color or one design. You can also add rhinestones to your nails at home by getting some nail glue. Many times, you don’t even need nail glue – the stones will stick to the polish while it’s drying.
Mix and match ideas from different styles and bring them together to be your own. If you like the accent nail of one design and the color of another, pull both ideas together to get the best chrome nails out there.
Nailing It: More Designs for your Nails
When you know how to get chrome nails, you’ll be bitten by the design bug. Once you’ve done one design, you won’t want to stop experimenting with the nail art you’re going to be able to do.
You can match your nails to your personality, match them to your outfit, or just deck them out in your favorite color. When you learn how to do nail art at home, the sky’s your limit.
Not only will you no longer break the bank, but you’ll be able to change your colors up on a whim if you’re getting bored of the design that you just did. Yep, doing your nails at home can actually be better than going to the salon. So, click here if you want to get more chrome nail ideas!
