I had the chance recently to do a maniswap with TaliaLouise on Instagram. This Neon Love nail art design is from way back (and much copied) and it’s a great design. It was also what inspired me to go looking for a new, true neon blue polish

Neon Love nail art mani swap by Keely's Nails

Neon Love nail art mani swap by Keely’s Nails

Polishes and tools

AEngland Camelot
Cirque Carpe Diem 
Orly Glowstick, Beach Cruiser, and Skinny Dip
American Apparel Neon Green
Color Club Under The Blacklight, Feathered Hair Out To There, Meet Me At The Rink, and ‘Til The Record Stops
Trimmed fine liner brush
Latex sponge
Tweezers

That looks like so many polishes! But it’s much more straightforward than the massive list looks, I promise!

TaliaLouiseNails Neon Love nail art

TaliaLouiseNails Neon Love nail art

I’ll give you a step-by-step guide…

  1. After a base coat, paint your nails black. I used two coats of Camelot.
  2. Using a fine nail art brush sketch out the letters in white – I used Carpe Diem. They don’t need to be perfect, they’ll be completely covered up.
  3. Tear off a tiny piece of latex sponge using the tweezers. You want it quite rough and jagged looking. Use the sponge piece dipped in white polish to dab along the outlines you’ve drawn.
  4. Once the white is dry (it shouldn’t take long) use more sponge pieces to dab the letters using the saturated neon colours. I used neon yellow, pink, blue (all Orly) and green (American Apparel).
  5. Using the pale, pastel neons and the fine nail art brush, outline your letters again. If the lines don’t show up enough, try outlining in white first.
  6. Clean up any mistakes on the nail with black polish, and around the nail with a clean up brush dipped in acetone.
  7. Seal all your hard work in with top coat – I like Seche Vite.
TaliaLouiseNails Maniswap collage

TaliaLouiseNails Maniswap collage

Neon Love nail art

As you can see, I made a big mistake! Talia’s O from love is a heart!! Oops!

TaliaLouiseNails recreated my waterfall nails, which you can also recreate – it is a really easy design.