National Donut Day: Sprinkle Donut Mani Tutorial

So, who else here loves donuts?! If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you've probably noticed that donuts are one of my favorite treats. There's just something about them! Ever since I was a little girl, I have been a big fan of the strawberry-frosted donuts - with rainbow sprinkles, of course.

Last year, kate spade collaborated with Darcel to put out a fun line inspired by NYC, including cute food items. One of featured treats was a glorious pink sprinkled donut. I may have gone a little [do]nuts trying everything on in the store... here's the evidence.

ksny x Darcel Sweatshirt, Scarf, Bangle, and Handbag (no longer available on the kate spade site).

When I realized National Donut Day was this week, I decided I had to honor my favorite colorful breakfast sweet on my nails. I chose to design a sprinkled mani with a mini donut accent nail. I created this look using nine different Julep polishes as well as their Plié Wand Nail Polishing System, which includes the Plié Wand, dotting tool, and striping brush.

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

1.) Apply your base coat. Once dry, paint your base colors on both hands. I chose Maren as my primary color and Eileen for my accent nail. 

2.) Once your base colors are dry, create your donut shape using the striping brush. I used Kennedy for this part. Dab a little bit of polish onto a piece of foil, and then start drawing the outline. Next, draw the inner circle/donut hole and then fill in the donut. No donut is perfectly round, so don't stress about creating a perfect circle!

3.) While my donut was drying, I started placing sprinkles on my other nails. I did this color by color across all nails. Choose your first color (mine was Rose), and dab a little bit onto your foil. Lightly dip your dotting tool into the polish. Decide where you want to place your sprinkle, then gently drag the dotting tool across that space to create the sprinkle shape. If there are any sparse patches, you can fill them in by dabbing on a little extra color. Using the same color, draw one sprinkle on each of your other pink nails. Repeat this step for each color you've selected - choose as many as you like! I used Princess Grace, Nadia, Lizanne, Taylor, Anne, and Eileen. 

4.) After you have placed the sprinkles on your 4 primary nails, you can "frost" the donut on your accent nail! Dab some Maren onto your foil. Using the striping brush, trace the pattern of your donut base, leaving a little bit of the Kennedy color peeking out around the inner and outer edges of the frosting. 

5.) Repeat Steps 2-4 on your other hand.

6.) By this time, the "frosting" on your first hand should be dry enough to place sprinkles on your mini donut. Repeat the process in Step 3, but make your sprinkles thinner to fit on your donut. You could either use the dotting tool, dipping it in a smaller amount of polish, or you could try using the striping brush for more control and a thinner line.

7.) Repeat Step 6 on your other hand.

8.) GIVE YOUR SPRINKLES TIME TO DRY. If you try to put on your top coat too early, you will smear your sprinkles, which would be tragic! Try watching a 30-minute show on TV. By the time it's over, your sprinkles should be dry enough to apply your top coat. I tried out the new Oxygen Performance Top Coat (use code OXYGEN2 for 30% off) - it's fast-drying and shiny!

Phew! This mani takes a bit of time because of all the colors, but I am really happy with the way it turned out! If you're in a rush or don't want to attempt the donut accent nail, you could just paint all your nails pink and apply the large sprinkles for the same fun effect. Or, instead of using the donut accent nail, you could easily create a cupcake, ice cream cone, or other sprinkled treat!

This morning, my colorful mani and I headed to Dunkin Donuts to get our free donut. Dunkin was offering a free donut today with any beverage purchase - several other chains around the nation ran similar promotions.

America runs on caramel swirl iced coffee and donut manis. (Or at least I do.)

Since I love donuts so much, I decided to spread the love and bring in treats for my department. I couldn't decide between regular donuts and Munchkins, so I brought both!

I don't take National Donut Day lightly.

Did you celebrate National Donut Day today? Did you create a festive donut-themed mani of your own? What's your favorite donut? I'd love to hear from you!

And, as always, you can share your photos by tagging me on Instagram or Twitter using @iamkrisredmond and #PolishMeFab so I can see your work!

Peace, love, and donuts.

xoxo

K

Disclosure: This post contains a referral link, which means that if you click on that designated link and sign up for a Julep Maven subscription, I'll receive a referral credit in my account. I appreciate the support!