Not Your Ordinary DIY Painted Bangles * Moms and Crafters

Make some DIY painted bangles!

Do you, like me, have piles of old gold plated or colored fashion jewelry sitting in that drawer? When I was in high school, we all wore stacks of fake gold bangles, and had fun with the clinging sound. But I don’t wear them anymore, though, like many things, the nostalgia keeps me from throwing them away.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Well, please don’t throw them out yet! These beautiful DIY painted bangles use one of my favorite supplies. Have you guessed it yet? It’s nail polish, of course! You can see my big list of nail polish crafts here, but meanwhile continue on for the how-to.

Well, to tell you the truth, there isn’t much of a how-to here. You just paint up some of your old bangles with bright, vivid polish.

It’s a totally chic and classy remake. While huge splashes of gold might not be so in right now, gilded accents are totally cool. S0 is color blocking. So, by blocking out some of the “too much gold” with splashes of color, you replace an old trend with two new trends.

For the nail polish, I chose some richer colors. One of them (the Essie Mojito Madness one) I use still, but the others are ones that are too old to really come out nice. One is a Maybelline polish in a deep red and one is a Careline (an Israeli cosmetics brand) in a navy blue. You can get similar colors: Maybelline Red Relic or OPI Russian Navy.

A few tips for making painted bangles:

Especially on the bolder designs, paint the inside too. You can hang it from something to dry from the unpainted part.

Make a clean edge, but it doesn’t need to be ruler straight. I did not use any tape or any kind of resist to get a straight edge. Just a clean stroke.
Play around with two coats of polish, or with one.
Combine the same style bangles with different colors. Or do different style bangles with the same color. Vary one component, and keep the other consistent.

You can even wear these individually – they look so classy like that! I wore the engraved gold and navy one for a while with a navy and yellow outfit. It looked amazing!
If you don’t have “leftovers” of nail polish, you can still get some crafting done! Invest in a cheap set of nail polish in a rainbow of colors.
If you don’t have old bangles, get a pair to craft with! Go hunt out the dollar store, the local bargain store, or get this set.