Back To School Nail Art

Ahhhh the wonderful and long-awaited time of Back-to-School. The sound of pens clicking, backpacks zipping, and children groaning is in the air.

Yeah. I'm not excited either. I only have FOUR precious days of summer left until I start my first year of college. (When do you start school?) But what better way to make the ending of summer just a little more bearable than to do some fun Back-To-School nail art?!

For this design, I incorporated a bunch of different "school-themed" designs. You can do this manicure like I did, or you can choose just a couple of the designs to form your own Back-To-School manicure.

THUMB: Notebook Paper

[[ Note taking is a painstaking tasks especially when the teacher clicks through the slides faster than you can write the first word. Lol. Here's some notebook paper to represent the lovely art of note taking. ]]

1: Start off with a white base.

2: Use a light blue nail striper to make some horizontal lines across the nail, leaving a bit of empty white space towards the cuticle, similar to a piece of notebook paper.

3: Take a red nail striper and make a vertical line about 1/4 of the way into the nail.

4: Take a medium sizes nail striper (or a bobby pin) dipped in black polish to make 3 dots to the left of the red line, representing the 3 holes in a piece of loose leaf.

INDEX: School Spirit

[[ This nail is completely customizable based on where you attend school. Since I didn't want to give away where I go to school, I decided to choose "East High" from High School Musical. No judging here. ]]

1: Start with a base color that is one of your school colors.

2: In your school's other color, use a nail art pen to write your school's initials.

MIDDLE: Textbooks

[[ One of the most glorious college experiences I've had so far is ordering textbooks. I nearly cried when I saw my total of over $400 for my first semester books. This nail features some of the overly expensive textbooks. ]]

1: Start with a neutral tan shade as your base color.

2: Use nail stripers in different colors to draw bindings of textbooks, varying the heights of each book.

3: Use black and white nail art pens to write subjects on the binding of each book. If you don't have room or just don't want to write words, you can easily draw a little squiggle instead.

RING: Pencil

[[ This nail is my favorite of the bunch. Probably because of the detail and the mixture of finishes. This pencil nail also has the most steps, but don't worry, it's nothing you can't handle. ]]

1: Start with a matte pink as your base. I don't own a matte pink so I just used a regular polish with a matte topcoat.

2. Use scotch tape to cover the 1/3 of the nail (towards the cuticle) and paint the rest of the nail yellow. Remove the tape while the yellow is still wet for a crisp line.

3. Use a black nail striper to make 2 lines down the yellow section.

4. Take a metallic silver polish to make a line across where the pink and yellow sections meet.

5. With a black nail art pen, write "#2" between the 2 black lines.

PINKY: Apples

[[ Now, I nor anyone I know of has ever given a teacher an apple, but they definitely remind me of school. ]]

1: Begin with a white base.

2: Draw two apples (one green and one red) with a dotting tool.

3: Add small details to the apples, like a leaf (green striper), a stem (black striper), and a white shine (white nail art pen).

4. This step is optional, but I used my black nail art pen to fill in the empty spaces with tiny polka dots.

------------------------------------

And there it is! Have fun recreating this manicure however you'd like and make sure to use the hashtag #PolishAndBeyond so I can see your recreations!! :) I'd really love to see them. And I hope you all have a good start to your school year! Also, don't forget to comment when you start school below so I can join you in your suffering on the day of mourning.

Until next time! <3