Street Style-Inspired Nail Art You Can Actually Do Yourself

What is a nail without nail art? Naked. Wanting. Lonesome. Since everyone's taking fashion lessons from street style these days, why not look to some of the best-dressed street style stars for some nail art inspiration? Let's do case studies of Cosmopolitan fashion director Aya Kanai's half-moon manicure, and casting director Natalie Joos' striped one. 

Manicurist Simcha Whitehill (aka Miss Pop) helped come up with the below tutorials, so your nails can also look like they just walked out of fashion week. 

First up, meet Aya Kanai. Her half-moon manicure looks intimidating, but don't be fooled.

You can also get the look. Here's how:

1. "Starting with a clean nail free of polish, apply a basecoat so the polish you paint on doesn't chip as fast," says Whitehill. "Then, apply reinforcement stickers (you can buy these at Office Max) onto each nail, lining the middle of the inner circle up with your cuticle, so that it peeks through. This masks off the half moon part of your nail and helps create that perfect crescent shape as you paint on the color."

2. Pick your first color to paint on the tips of your nails. We chose Dior Gris Montaigne. Polish them from pinky to pinky, giving them ample time to dry, and then apply the second coat. Immediately after painting each nail with the second coat, peel off the sticker. "Waiting even a second makes the polish tacky and leaves you with a less clean-looking half moon," Whitehills explains.

3. "Apply 10 new reinforcement stickers to your nails, this time placing the top of the circle directly over your cuticle. Be careful not to move it down too far or you'll lose the effect of the half moon. Then, paint on your accent polish," says Whitehill. We picked a silver shade called Deborah Lippmann Nail Lacquer in Stardust. "If the polish you choose as your second shade is opaque, apply one coat and then immediately peel off the sticker. If it's sheer, paint on two coats, and then, apply a top coat to seal in your look."

4. Show off your mani! We're assuming your friends will be jealous and want to copy you asap, so make sure you Instagram this look quick to get the street-style cred you deserve.

Next up, meet Natalie Joos, casting agent, fashion consultant and author and photographer for Tales of Endearment, "a wicked blog about vintage clothing and the funky-cool girls who wear it." Her stripes are perfect for spring, but that season's over so let's update the look for fall.

Here's how to get your own striped nail look:

This look couldn't be easier to duplicate, but there are a few things about it that you need to know:

1. After you've removed any old polish and applied your basecoat, choose two light colors to alternate from finger to finger as your base. We chose China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, a gorgeous opaque yellow, and Deborah Lipppman Girls Collection in Jessa, a reddish-burgundy, "since yellow was a surprise nail hit on the fall runways and oxblood is an autumn season staple," says Whitehill.

2. Create three to four vertical stripes on each nail using a striper brush (this is a long skinny nail polish brush that you can get at any art or beauty supply store) and this cool technique: First dip the brush into the red polish and, starting at the cuticle of the nail, hold it there steady and then slowly pull your finger away from the brush. That helps you draw a straight, not wiggly, vertical line in five seconds. Then, after you've created several lines on each nail using the red hue, wipe the brush down with acetone to remove the polish remnants. 

3. Switch up your color palette by using the darkest shade out of the three polishes you chose, which in our case is a navy by Essie called After School Boy Blazer. "It's a color that is big for fall fashion-wise, so this is a cool way to translate it to the nail," says Whitehill. Apply this color to the nails that don't already have red lines on them, and then finish with a topcoat.

4. Grab a glass of wine and enjoy while those puppies dry. 

Photo Credit: FameFlynet/SplashNews

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How to Score an Award-Winning Blowout Like Kim Sears's (Who Knows, You May Just Land Yourself a Pro Tennis BF)

If you caught Wimbledon at all this weekend, then we're pretty sure you suffered from major hair envy when you spotted Kim Sears, eventual champion Andy Murray's gorgeous girlfriend, in the stands.

While Murray was busy getting a serious sports monkey off his back, Sears was cheering him on—and winning best blowout. Ever.

Even with temperatures hitting abnormal heights for London at yesterday's finals match, Sears' picture-perfect hair stayed flawless and frizz-free throughout the entire game and well into the night, where she appeared to sport the same blowout while celebrating Murray's iconic win at the Wimbledon Championships 2013 Winners Ball (shown left).

We love that she didn't change up her mane for the evening event, but now we're dying to know how she got her blowout to A. look like that and B. last that long. So, we called up Olivia Halpin, senior stylist and educator at DreamDry in NYC, a salon that specializes in blowouts only, to give us the deets on scoring an award-winning blow dry that actually lasts.

"The key to a blowout like Kim's is all about the prep and the finish," she says. "You'll want to first use a volumizing spray on towel-dried hair at the root for added volume, and then a serum, like Oribe Gel Serum [$58, oribe.com], from the midshaft of your hair down to the ends to keep frizz from happening. This particular serum also offers hold, so your hair will stay how you styled it."

Next, Halpin suggests rough-drying your hair using a blow dryer only while your head is upside down. "You want to make sure you get all of the moisture out of your hair, because if it's the least bit damp when you go outside, it could frizz up and the style could fall quickly." If you have really thick hair, "blow dry the top half of your hair and loosely swirl and stack it on the top of your head, securing it with a bobby pin, while you blow dry the bottom half. Letting it set in this position while your hair is still hot will help the volume lock in and stay longer."

"After your hair is completely dry, use a medium-size ceramic round brush to smooth your hair from midshaft to ends. Then, to get Sears's slight face-framing curls, grab a one and a half inch barrel curling iron and create loose bends around your face, turning the rod away from you as you twist it."

Okay, you're almost done. Lastly, Halpin always finishes with a medium-hold hairspray [try John Frieda Luxurious Volume All-Day Hold Hairspray, $6, target.com], and if it's really hot outside, after coating the hair with hair spray, she use Oribe Imperméable Anti-Humidity Spray, $39, oribe.com, whichs acts like a humidity-fighting topcoat, so you hair has that bombshell look longer.

Voilà!

Are you dying for "The Sears" blowout? And will you be using these tips on your next date night?

Photo: Getty Images

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11 Body Image Boosters That Will Make You Love Yourself

1. Take a good look at yourself—and let the words of Oprah cleanse your soul: "The next time you look into the mirror, try to let go of the story line that says you're too fat or too sallow, too ashy or too old, your eyes are too small or your nose too big; just look into the mirror and see your face. When the criticism drops away, what you will see then is just you, without judgment, and that is the first step toward transforming your experience of the world.”

 

2. Repeat after Christina Hendricks: Life’s too short to beat yourself up for indulging in dessert, nachos, etc. The Mad Men vixen has said, "Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous! I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, 'Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it.'"

3. Don't judge yourself by other people's—or society's—standards. Take it from Khloe Kardashian: "I’m proud of my body. My body weight will always be something that I’ll struggle with for the rest of my life, but I’m finally in a good place and learning to love me for me, and not somebody else's standards." Preach!

4. Remember that starving yourself sucks. And J. Law doesn't approve of it in any way: “In Hollywood, I’m obese. I’m considered a fat actress. I eat like a caveman. I’ll be the only actress who doesn’t have anorexia rumors! I’m never going to starve myself for a part. I’m invincible. I don’t want little girls to be like, ‘Oh, I want to look like Katniss so I’m going to skip dinner!’”

5. Choose to love yourself, just as you are.

And if you're having trouble with this, let these three unique, beautiful women inspire you:

“One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body. I got tired of hating myself." —Gabourey Sidibe

“I love my snaggle fangs. They give me character and character is sexy.” —Kirsten Dunst

“I definitely have body issues, but everybody does. When you come to the realization that everybody does—even the people that I consider flawless—then you can start to live with the way you are. I’ve read interviews with some of the most beautiful women who have insecurities. And you look at them and you’re like, ‘How do you have? Name one thing wrong with yourself,’ and they could name a handful.” —Taylor Swift

6. Yes, some of these celebs are badass. But don’t strive to look exactly like they do, because pretty much every photo you see is doctored, airbrushed, and zapped of imperfections. Like author Cheri K. Erdman wrote, "Even the models we see in magazines wish they could look like their own images.”

7. Know that you are NOT your weight. As author Geneen Roth says, “It's never been true, not anywhere at any time, that the value of a soul, of a human spirit, is dependent on a number on a scale." Truth.

8. Don't forget that Lady Gaga loves you, just as you are.

And so does Zooey Deschannel.

 

And so does Demi Lovato.

9. Take this clutch advice from Oscar Wilde: “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

10. Don’t base your body confidence on boys, but consider that while you’re worried about what you look like naked with them, they’re just happy to be naked with you at all! Remember this part of Eat Pray Love: “Let me ask you something, in all the years that you have...undressed in front of a gentleman has he ever asked you to leave? Has he ever walked out and left? No? It's because he doesn't care! He's in a room with a naked girl, he just won the lottery." Exactly.

11. Keep in mind that confidence is hot.

And that inner beauty is what will really make you shine.

For more from Natasha, follow her on Twitter @NatashaNBurton

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