Black on Black

photos/post/design: Kristin EPSs

Step by step with The Beauty Department:

1. "Paint your entire nail with black polish. We used THIS ONE as it was the richest + darkest of all the ones we tried.
2. Next paint a matte topcoat over all of the nails. We had the best luck with THIS ONE. It went on super smooth and dried very matte, very quickly.
3. Next, just for fun we did an accent nail with stripes. Cute 1/4″ strips of tape and lay them across the nail.
4. Use your original shiny black polish to coat over the strips of tape. Let that dry while you do the next step.
5. Make a little puddle of the shiny black polish and use your dotting tool to make different sized dots on the other nails. They’ll kind of end up looking like rain drops.
6. When you’re finished with your dots, peel back the tape strips on your accent nail to reveal the matte stripes. Then clean up the edges."

Love this Manicure! Check out the Beauty Department for Lauren Conrad and her friend Kristen Ess's guide to everything pretty.