Game of Thrones Inspired Nails: Sword Edition

There are a lot of swords in Game of Thrones: Needle, Heartsbane, Longclaw, Ice, Oathkeeper, etc. The Iron Throne itself is said to be forged from the swords of the vanquished enemies of Aegon the Conquerer (which is a creative way to get a new chair, if nothing else). So, for this week's episode of Game of Thrones, I created a sword manicure.

This design may look complicated, but it's actually quite simple. All you'll need to produce this manicure is nail polish (preferably silver and black) and a set of dotting tools.

To start out, I painted two coats of black polish on four of my nails (Black Out by Sally Hansen) and two coats of silver on one of my nails (Silver Dollar by Revlon). You could also do the reverse of this (four silver nails and one black nail), which I did on my non dominant hand. Silver Dollar is a basic, metallic silver, and Black Out is a regular, creme black polish. I used these polishes because I had them on hand, but you can use any silver or black polish you happen to have.

After my base colors dried, I painted a thick coat of My Voice is a Little Norse by OPI over my silver nails. My Voice is a Little Norse is a standard, holographic top coat. I used it to add a little extra pzazz to my accent nail; however,  you could use any holographic topcoat you have, or you could skip this step all together. (I'm holding My Voice is a Little Norse in the picture).

Game of Thrones Sword Nails

Next, I used Silver Dollar to paint the swords onto my black nails. This is pretty simple (although, you have to be pretty patient, which I wasn't with a couple of my fingers). To start off, dot a few drops of your silver polish onto a non absorbent surface (plastic plates, paper plates, or magazine paper works well). Create a small "puddle" of the polish. Next, dip your dotting tool into the puddle. I started off with my largest dotting tool, which I used to create the pommel of the swords (the pommel is the round part at the end). Then, using a smaller dotting tool, I made a line of smaller dots to create the hilt and the blade. Make sure that your line tapers, becomes more narrow, towards the tip of the blade. This will give it a pointed appearance. Then, using a medium sized dotting tool, I created a perpendicular line of dots that crossed the "blade." This created the "guard" of sword, which separates the blade and the hilt.

Game of Thrones Sword Nails

This creates the basic sword. If you have black space between your dots or your lines are crooked, you can add more dots of silver polish to fill in the extra space.

When all your polish has dried (wait at least twenty minutes to avoid smearing your nail art), you can add a glossy top coat to finish up your manicure. I advise using two coats of top coat on your silver nails, as the holo top coat leaves a rough texture.

Game of Thrones Sword Nails

Oh, by the way, Longclaw is my favorite sword on Game of Thrones.