Sunday, May 20th 2012
Articles
Original Nail Art Possible At Home!
If you are looking for an inexpensive new accessory to jazz up your wardrobe, you may be overlooking something right at your fingertips. The nails on your fingertips, to be exact. Sure, many of us let the salons handle our manis, opting for acrylic nails, airbrush designs, and chip resistant gel polishes. And there are the girls that like just a bit of control, investing in Sally Hansen pop art nail polish strips, glittery press ons, and Asian character decals. Then there is my crowd, defined by the creative working woman on a limited budget. We like to envision looks and then figure out how to create them with what we have on hand, usually a few colors and a good topcoat. I decided to put together a few fresh fun ideas below to replicate or inspire.
No “Pane”, No Gain: Panes of stained glass are always one of the prettiest features at church and they were the inspiration for this mistake free look. Accomplish this design during a TV show and give yourself kudos for your productive lounging! I opted for a bright multi color palette so that I could match my nails to several outfits, however it would be fun to try a monochromatic palette, such as shades of gold and bronze. Start by picking out a base color and then 3 to 4 other colors for your “panes”. Apply base color in a thin coat across entire nail and let completely dry. Next dab a splotch or two of pane color 1 on each nail. If you paint two spots of color, place them diagonally from each other to keep design balanced. Repeat splotches with each pane color, until approximately ¼ of the base color is visible. Let your art completely dry and note that these colors make take a few minutes more to dry since the color was not dragged out in thin multiple coats. Then use a fine tip Sharpie (yes, your office desk drawer Sharpie!) to roughly outline your stained glass sections. Top with a clear coat, making sure to be quick because Sharpie will start to run with too many strokes.
American Love with a French Twist: Who doesn’t love a classic French manicure? Women of today love classics with an original twist, so I give you my subtly patriotic version. This Americana take requires metallic blue, a flat white and clear polish full of red glitter. Begin by painting entire nail blue and let dry. Once dry, place a piece of scotch tape below the top third of nail and paint white above this tape for a crisp line. Finish off this manicure by adding a coat of red glitter to top half of the white section. Repping Mexico? Then try substituting an emerald green for the blue or paint a red base with white tips and green glitter edging.
Cross your T’s, Dot your Nails: Stripes and dots are always in fashion for apparel and easy enough to translate into nail art. Choose a funky citrus color theme or opt for a bold black and white styling! Mix dots and stripes to make your fingertips a set of dominos! Dots in 3D form can be achieved by drenching polish brush and holding a half inch away from nail so that a bead of polish drips onto nail. For more perfected dots, use acrylic paint with a paint brush to paint dots onto a basecoat of polish.
Tip: Acrylic paint is great to use when painting designs on top of polish because it does not run when you paint it on and when topped with a clear coat, it lasts longer than most typical nail polishes. Best part: Let’s say you start to paint a design and decide it’s not up to par; simply clean it off with a damp cutip to avoid having to restart the entire manicure. If you’re not an artist that keeps paint on hand, you can often find starter acrylic paint sets that contain about 5 to 10 small paint tubes of basic colors for under $10!
Hopefully these ideas help you start taking advantage of the fashion accessory at your fingertips.
Article By:
Daisy Buitrago
