Nail Nerd

One Direction nail art with some China Glaze polishes.

Taped and rhinestone nail art on a base of OPI Moonraker

Basket tipped nail art on a base of China Glaze Unpredictable

Rainbow nail art on a base of China Glaze Raspberry Festival

Swirly filigrees on a base of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons

Striped nails on a base of OPI Skyfall

Floral nail art stickers on a base of OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby?

Real feathers over a base of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

Nail art based on the Side Effects movie -- click through for a chance to win a FREE trip to NYC!!!

Nail art based on the Krewe of Muses logo on a base of OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue

Sun/moon nail art on a base of China Glaze Want My Bawdy

Letting each coat dry is a great start (if you rush it too much, the bottom coat may not have time to set fully, and is then more prone to pull up/flake away) but a good topcoat and wrapping your tips is a must.  Seche Vite is my favorite; rock hard in a couple of minutes, great shine, and wears really well.  Be sure to apply an extra bit to the tip of your nail so it's protecting you against wear (and re-apply if you notice it's starting to wear down).

You bet!  China Glaze has a good basecoat-topcoat combo that I've ended up really liking (of course Seche Vite is like my standard go-to for the topcoat, hence all the crazy shiny pictures, but it's good to have a pinch-hitter in the mix).  MASH (mashnails.com) also has a basecoat ridgefiller that's awesome; especially helpful if you've had a piece of glitter destroy some part of your nail, or need an ultra-smooth nail surface for a metallic polish that will show every flaw.

Sure, I'll add it to my list!  :)

Yeah, taping can get messy, and stuff like the polish you use can really influence how well it works... I'd stick with the masking tape (that's what I use) -- just tap it on your skin once first so the oils on your skin bond to the glue and then help the tape not stick to your base polish color; after that, don't be afraid to really roll that edge onto your nail so there aren't any gaps or seep-y edges.  Then wait maybe 30 seconds to take the tape off; you don't want to do it right away if your polish is really thin or tends to bleed, but if you wait til it's totally dry then the bits that ARE on the tape are going to want to pull up the rest of it too, which is where you get that ripped-edge nonsense.

Hahaha made my night, thank you lady!!!  :D

I may do another one soon though since there's a second technique where you put ALL of the polish on the sponge in stripes and just roll that over your nail.