Independence Day inspired nail art

This August 15, liven up your nails by painting them in colours of the Indian flag. You needn’t go to a salon or a nail art studio for this. We share simple DIY tips to get the look at home:

What you will need
Nail lacquer in shades of green, orange and white, scotch tape, filer, nail polish remover, ear buds, water, acrylic paints and fine paint brush.

Prepare your nails
File your nails in the shape that you would like — square, V or round. Apply a cuticle remover or cuticle cream and gently push back your cuticles. “If you do not have cuticle cream you can also apply olive oil,” says Khushboo Vakharia, a nail expert. Wash your hands and wipe your nail bed with a polish remover to remove excess oil or cream. Your nails are ready for nail art.

Step by step
Apply a clear base coat so that your nail bed is protected. Apply half coats of white nail lacquer and let it dry completely. Leave for about 20 minutes. Then take sections of scotch tape and place diagonally to cover almost two-third of the nail from the free edge. Paint the portion of the nail not covered with scotch tape with green polish. Let it dry completely before removing scotch tape. You have now got two colours of the flag. Again place diagonal strips of the scotch tape to cover two-third of the nail bed from the cuticles. Paint the uncovered part of the nail with orange lacquer. Let it dry completely, remove the tape and seal with a clear top coat to avoid chipping. You can be creative and experiment with various designs incorporating the colours of the Indian flag.

For a subtle look
“Give your nails a French manicure and use orange and green acrylic paints to paint polka-dot flowers,” says Vakharia. “You can also paint a fine line in orange and green under the French smile line,” she adds.

If you mess up
Do not panic. Just wipe with a wet ear bud and restart.