NOTD: Lucky Nails for St. Patty's Day

Today's notd is another manicure targeted towards St. Patrick's Day with a short how-to at the end.

I knew about a month ago that I wanted to do a manicure involving a four-leaf clover and decided to go with an incredibly basic look. If you want to make it more festive you can combine this manicure with the Green Gradient manicure I did earlier this week, or maybe do an ombre manicure (that's what I did last year).

Either way, I hope you enjoy this manicure and that the how-to is instructive and useful!

Here is the finished look so you know what I was going for. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. My hand is not at all steady and I found this method of doing the four-leaf clover worked very well.

Quick How-to:

Supplies you'll need:

(not photographed: a small nail brush for touch-ups)

Polishes I used:

Essie "Sand Tropez"

Essie "Mojito Madness" (more photos + review here)

First, paint all your nails with the base colors. Use Essie "Sand Tropez" for the ring finger, and "Mojito Madness" for the remainder.

In order to do the four-leaf clover, I made a stencil out of a band-aid. I saw this method on instagram from user MichelleFawn and thought I'd give it a try.

Here's a illustrated step-by-step (written steps below) for making the stamp:

1. cut the corner off a band-aid (DO NOT PEEL THE BACK OFF YET)

2. fold the piece you cut off in half

3. draw half of the four-leaf clover on the folded edge (*tip: each leaf looks like a heart)

4. Cut out the stencil and unfold and remove the backing. Now you have a stencil ready to use.

(*tip: if your base polish is not dry enough, the stickiness from the band-aid can mess up the polish. remove some of the stickiness by putting it on the back of your hand until it doesn't feel quite as sticky. you still want some adhesion to it though!)

5. Lastly, put polish on your sponge and sponge on the stencil. You can just paint the polish straight on if you prefer, but I find it gets messier that way.

(*tip: when you use the stencil, make sure the outline of the stencil is secure and adhering to the nail. If not, polish may leak through and the stencil will be ineffective.)


I hope you enjoyed this manicure and my quick how-to. I will be partaking in my first road race tomorrow and I will be sporting these nails for good luck. (:

Have a great day!