all tatted up

Well it appears cuticle tattoos may be making a comeback this spring. Ciaté recently launched a box set of a variety of different tattoo designs to be applied to the cuticle that sells for $12. This trend however, is not necessarily new. It has been around the blogosphere in DIY form for a while now and is what I attempted to replicate here. 

Because the typical cuticle tattoo patterns involve a variety of triangular patterns, I thought a tribal design on my nails would be a nice complement. To start I painted one coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat and two coats of the stunning neutral Tea With The Queen. Next I Used Snog--one of my all time favorite butter LONDON lacquers--a lush hot pink, and painted a triangle on the thumb, middle finger and pinky. I repeated the triangle design again just below the thumb in a gorgeous coral/orange shimmer and on the pointer and ring finger as well. Then using Union Jack Black, I painted another triangle below the colored one on each nail. Using Cotton Buds, I added the dots and dashes to each nail to complete the tribal affect. For a glossy shine, one coat of P.D. Quick Topcoat was used. 

Once the nails were completely dry I was able to try out the cuticle tattoos. A temporary tattoo can be made using black liquid eyeliner and liquid bandaid. 

1.Make sure the cuticle is clean and dry. 

2. Using a liquid eyeliner with a fine tip, paint your design along the cuticle. 

3. Once you are satisfied with your design, paint over it with liquid bandaid. This will seal the design allowing you to wash your hands and shower for a few days without the tattoos coming off. 

For an added effect I added some finger bands a la Nonie Creme's Vena Cava look for NY fashion week F/W11 using Snog and the black liquid eyeliner, sealing it with the liquid bandaid like I did for the cuticle tattoos. 

Pictured here with butter LONDON's Snog

I think they are fun to try--especially if you are the type of person who likes to doodle on themselves but can't commit to a real tattoo. Particularly in the summer, think festival season, these could be just the ticket. What do you think about cuticle tattoos?