I always feel the excitement when September rolls around, so this time, I decided to try my hand at my first ever Chalkboard Nails (or Back to School Nails)!
Ever since I first laid eyes on the Bundle Monster Holiday Collection Nail Stamping Image Plates, I knew I had to use BM-H23 for chalkboard nail art.
Although I smudged the design, and not all the white lines are crisp, I still fell in love with this look. To me, it really does look like chalk on a board. (And remember my philosophy? Happiness is more important than perfection!) Plus how can you not smile when you see globes, the Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (E=mc²), a glass beaker, and a mathematical equation on your nails? 😉
(Check out my photos of my thumb. You’ll be able to see more of the design. I have small fingers, so the entire design didn’t show up on the other 4 nails. But, the good news is that you get enough of the pattern showing up well!)
The green base is the lovely Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle, the white polish is Konad Special Nail Polish White, and to give the entire design that authentic chalkboard feel, I finished off the look with the OPI Matte Top Coat.
It’s been several years since I graduated from university with my Psychology Honours B.A., but I still get mistaken for being a student. (It’s always funny when I tell people my age, and I witness the look of surprise creep up on their face.)
For all of you who are going back to school today, I hope that the day goes smoothly and that you have a great time with your friends (and that you meet new kindred spirits)!
Although studying isn’t as fun as nail polish, put in the effort and try your best to do well. Your education is important, and even if it seems very stressful, stick to it. All your hardships and experiences in school really do help to shape you and prepare you for life later on, not just with book smarts.
Enjoy working on your projects, doing presentations for class, checking out the cutie who sits 2 desks in front of you, and getting involved with extracurricular activities to keep you well-rounded.
Chalkboard Nails (Back to School Nails) Swatches
All swatches have:
- OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener (Used as a base coat)
- 2 coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle
- Stamping:
- Bundle Monster Holiday Collection Nail Stamping Image Plate BM-H23 (Provided by Bundle Monster)
- Konad Special Nail Polish in White
- OPI Matte Top Coat (Provided by PR)
Natural Light Photos
Only my thumb nail was wide enough to show you the awesome double helix! Can you spot it?
Flash Photos
Really close up in photos, the designs look scratched, haha, but at a normally viewing distance, it was barely noticeable. Funny how when you blow up your nails, you can see every little detail.
In case you’re curious to see what the entire full-nail design looks like, here’s a photo. (My nails are small, so they’re not wide enough to show you everything.)
Click here if you want to check out my in-depth Bundle Monster Holiday Collection Nail Stamping Image Plates review where I show you every single plate in the set in detail!
If you’d like to see Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle (the base green) with a shiny finish, I’ve done a review on that last year. Check out the link.
And, if you’re new to nail stamping, you may want to click on over to my nail stamping tutorial that I did a very long time ago when I first started out.
Hey, if you try this look out, it would be neat if you painted some nails to look like pencils and/or a ruler. It would be really fun! Let your imagination go nuts!
Would you try your hand at these chalkboard nails? Are you going back to school today? What are some of your fond memories from school?
Edit: Yay! It’s so great to see that even large companies take the time to interact with bloggers!
They turned out so well! What a cute idea!! 🙂
Hey Amber!
Glad you liked it! I had a lot of fun creating this manicure, and it took me back to when I was in school. The good ole days! 🙂 Sigh…nostalgia!
Perfect! They look just like chalkboards! Haha, stumbled across your post just in time – I’m in Australia so am about halfway through the university semester and freaking out as all my assignments are just about due :$ Thanks for your beautiful nails and words of encouragement! 🙂
Hey Megan!
Sorry to hear that things are really stressful for you at university, but hang in there! Sometimes it’s only when we’re challenged that we actually realize what we’re capable of. It’s like that extra push we need to see our potential. I wish you the best in your studies!
I love this soooo much! It makes me want to have this stamping plate but I own 1 BM-plate and the design are way too small for my nails.
Hey Soraya!
The first image plate set that Bundle Monster ever put out had small designs, but since then, they’ve made the images bigger. For their new set (the Holiday Collection that this one came from), I found that the design was comparable to the size of the Konad plates. However, I do have small nails (and fingers), so it’s very unusual for me to come across designs that are too small for me.
Aww, that’s adorable! And somehow it kind of works better smudged- lends authenticity to the chalkboard theme.
I’m not gonna lie, I hated chalkboards with a passion (THE SQUEAKING), but you can’t really make cute marker board nail art.
FedoraHarp recently posted: 31DC2013 Day 2- Orange nails!
Hey FedoraHarp!
Hehe, I’m happy to hear that the smudging worked! 😉
Oh my gosh, I remember one of my best friends in elementary school used to scratch the chalkboard with her nails. It always sent shivers up my spine! Just thinking about it now is sending shivers up my spine – UGH!
What an adorable mani, it’s perfect for back to school!
Erin-Paint Those Piggies! recently posted: 31DC2013: Yellow Nails
Hey Erin!
Thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂 I’ve wanted to do a back-to-school design last year. But it was only when I saw the BM-H23 plate that I had to whip up a design ASAP. It’s amazing how a great stamping plate can really inspire and motivate!
This was cool, I really liked your chalkboard nails! 😀
Gelic’ nail art recently posted: 31DC2013 Day 01; Red arrow funky french
Hey Gelic’ Nail Art!
Thank you! 🙂 The designs on that plate really won me over. It made me miss elementary school so much!
That is so cute! I might have to look into nail stamping stuff. I held off at first because I have small nails, but if it worked for you it will most likely work for me. And if not, there’s always my big toe :).
Hey Tanya!
Hahaha! I loved reading your last sentence about your big toe! Hehehehe! 😉
Yes, these plates will definitely work for you. I have very small fingers (and therefore also small nails), and the majority of the pattern showed up. I really like full-nail designs because you don’t have to transfer the entire image, yet it still works.
That is so AWESOME!! 😀
Lizzy recently posted: Water Inspired Water Marble Pt 2
Hey Lizzy!
Thank you! 🙂 I had fun wearing this!
Oh, I agree with FedoraHarp, the smudginess just makes it look more like chalk on a chalkboard. Very nice!
Hey Carolyn!
Funny how smudging works in this situation! YAY! 😉
Awesome! These are so cute. Thanks for letting me know that there is a strengthening polish w/ a matte finish. I always wanted to do some Matte-style nail art, but couldn’t find a strengthening top coat to use.
I’ll be picking up a bottle on my next pay day. 🙂
Hey Melissa!
You’re very welcome! I hope the polish works out for you! Please let me know how it goes. I’m curious!
I’ve been kind of hesitant to try stamping as most of the Konad stuff is quite expensive and I have small nails, but this looks really cute and your nails aren’t large either, so I think I know what to put on my birthday list this year… yup, you made me look at another thing for my Want-Want-Want lists besides nail polish!!
Hey Joyce!
Yeah, my nails are small, and I was so happy that the majority of the design still transferred.
Haha, I love being an enabler! 😉 (In all seriousness, though, I do like to help people save money, too.)
This is brilliant! 😀 Makes me whish I had a nail stamping tool, maby I should go and get one! ^^
Amelia recently posted: China Glaze – Running in circles
Hey Amelia!
Yes, you should go get one. Once you start stamping, you’ll never look at a nail polish in the same way again. You’ll think, “I wonder what it’d look like with a stamp over it!” 😉
Gorgeous I like it
Hey Icequeen81!
Thank you! 🙂
LOVED THEM!! perrrrfect..now i need that BM plate
Hey Seda!
Thank you! Bundle Monster has so many awesome designs – very quirky, and you can use them every day, not just for the holidays! 🙂
Fantastic look! Need to try out a similar colour scheme.
Hey Alex!
This is one of my favourite nail designs I’ve worn in a long time! 🙂 So thrilled that you like it, too!
This is so clever, I LOVE it!
Hey Monica!
Aww, thank you! 🙂 This was one of my favourite nail designs that I’ve painted. It was a sad day when I went to remove it. *Sniff sniff*
These are so cute! I love the idea of “chalkboard nails” for back to school
Hey Jessica!
The second I saw that image plate, I knew I wanted to use it right away! 🙂 Glad that you liked my manicure. Thanks for checking it out!
So cute! I hadn’t even thought to use stamping plates for the “chalk” art on this kind of mani. Can’t wait to try it out since I just stocked up on Revlon Chalkboard Nail Art polishes at the dollar store.
Hey Alison!
You’ll have so much fun wearing your manicure! 🙂
Hi Mary,
thanks for your giveaway “work”. Without that it would’ve taken much longer for me to find this design.
I love this design so so much. One day, when I buy some stamping stuff (I’m not there yet) I am most defintely trying to get those plates!
Have a nice day
Hey Akima!
Once you start stamping, you’ll fall in love with it! 🙂 Hehe!