Today’s Manicure Monday is a look I’m trying out to disguise chipped tips. There’s a couple of different things you can do with a slightly chipped manicure to “refresh” it and keep it going when you’re not ready to do a full repaint.

I’m pretty hard on my nails, so even though A-England has a brilliant formula, I found myself with some nicks yesterday – even before I’d started cooking for the week.

This is A-England Holy Grail, a burnished olive gold, and A-England St. George, which I put on Thursday night during my girls’ night in.

You can also use an accent and a third color, but I chose to use St. George again because I loved it so much.

I wasn’t able to get a lot of process photos due to an unfortunate lack of a third hand. But, technique is pretty simple – dip the brush to collect polish, let a drop or two run off, and sweep the brush against the side of the bottle to clear excess polish from one side. Moving carefully but quickly, pull the brush down the nail in three passes, going from a long brush-stroke on the first pass, to medium, to a short brush-stroke on the final pass.

Here’s the mid-way process photo. Here’s where you decide if you want a third contrasting color, or the same that you started with.

This is finished up with St. George, making the scallop of Holy Grail look like a ribbon of gold running through the manicure. And, my tips are re-touched like new.

For an idea of how this beauty looks in full sunlight, and why I wanted as much time with it before I stripped it, I leave you with a photo of St. George by itself in all its glory:

I’ve spent this weekend watching Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” and editing book three of Appetite to send off to the editor, so it’s been pleasantly busy. Loads of fantastic things to come!

Later this afternoon, I’ll be creating a link in the chain for “The Next Big Thing” blog hop. Please look forward to it!