Purple Heaven

This is one of my favourite nail art designs yet. I tried my first one stroke flower and used gem stones for the first time. 

Step 1

Apply a base coat. Paint on the base colours: white on the index, middle and little fingers; lilac on he ring finger and dark purple on the thumb. 

Step 2

Use a striping brush to apply dark coloured diagonal stripes on the index finger, and a lilac on the little finger.

Step 3

Dot on a lilac onto the middle finger with a smaller sized dotter. 

Step 4

Create a one stroke flower on one side of the ring finger. You need a one stroke brush to do this, its got a slight angle to its straight top. Make sure its damp but the excess water is wiped off. Dip the longer end in the purple and the shorter end in a white acrylic paint. Make a few brush strokes to mix the colours slightly. Make curved strokes to form each petal. I created two layers, one on top, then three petals on the bottom to finish the flower. 

Step 5

Time to apply the "gems". Have 4 lilac gems on the surface right way up and a dotting tool with a blob of topcoat at the ready. Stripe a line of topcoat down the thumb. Dip the dotting tool in topcoat and use it to pick up the gems, place them evenly down the stipe of top coat on your thumb. Using the same technique apply a silver gem to the flower where all the petals meet. 

Step 6

Apply a base coat to all the nails. 

Freehand Cow Field

I'm not going to do an in detailed tutorial for this because it has too many steps. 

Obviously I started with my base coat. I then sponged on a gradient of blue yellow and green. I gently sponged on some wispy white clouds. I then brushed on some yellow and green strokes on to the grass area. I painted on a tree. Then I painted on the cow. I sealed it all in with a top coat. 

All of it was done with nail varnish. It was quite messy so I had to tidy it up at the end with a cotton bud in nail polish remover. 

Green Sea Fan Brush Nail Art and Sea Life Stamping

This is another one of my own designs. I knew I wanted to try a technique using a fan brush and went from there. I thought that the turquoise colours and stripy effect lent itself to a marine theme, so I used a fish themed stamp design. 

Below are the nail paints I used. Substitute in similar colours from your own collection. 

Step 1

Apply your base coat

Step 2

Paint your nails with the medium turquoise colour. 

Step 3

Prepare your fan brush: dampen it and separate the bristles a little (as separated as they are in the picture to the right is sufficient). Separating the bristles can be done by holding them between your thumb and index finger and allow the brush to run through your fingers. Place a large blob of the darker turquoise colour onto a piece of paper or something you can clean nail varnish off.

Step 4

Dip the very tips of the bristles into the dark turquoise and run the brush across your nail horizontally, so there are continuous horizontal stripes across your nail. This takes a bit of practice, if the line stops in the middle, start from the other side. This look does not require perfection so don't worry about messiness!

Step 5

Clean your brush by dipping it in nail polish remover (poor a little into a lid or a small glass) and rub it on the side of the container then bring it out and wipe off the excess on a cotton pad. Separate the bristles again.

Step 6

Repeat step 4 with the lightest turquoise colour.

Step 7 (optional)

Allow the polish to dry completely. Stamp on a marine themed design onto the ring finger. You could free draw a fish and bubbles, I think that would look great. White, dark blue/turquoise or silver would work to make a design on the ring finger. 



I was considering not putting these nails on the blog because I wasn't happy with the boldness of the stamping. However, When I was at the gym, the lady behind the desk asked if they were done professionally and was shocked to find out they weren't. That made me proud of these nails, so I have shared them. I hope you decide to have a go!

Green and Pink Dots, Stripes and Dragonfly Stamp

I am really loving dots and stripes and a fancy design on the ring finger at the minute. 

The ring finger was done using a cheeky nail stamping plate. The colours used were: Rimmel Lasting Finish Misty Jade, and Barry M Flamingo Pink. 

Step 1

Apply a base coat. 

Step 2

Apply the base colour, always apply two coats. 

Step 3

Apply the stripes with a striping brush and dots with a dotting tool. Use a contrasting colour that will stand out against the base colour, this colour  should be used for all the details. 

Step 4

Choose a stamping design and stamp on to your ring finger. I think this dragonfly pattern suites the designs perfectly, although I did use a chick design on the ring finger of my other hand. 

Leave a comment below if you want a separate stamping tutorial. 

Vintage Duck-Egg Blue Patterned Nail Art

I saw this design on Pintrest and had to try it out! 

Step 1

Apply your base coat.

Step 2

Apply the duck-egg blue colour to your index, middle and little finger. Apply white to the thumb and a glitter/holographic silver to the ring finger. Apply all the colours with as many coats as necessary until they are opaque. 

Step 3

With a striping brush apply vertical stripes down the index finger.

Step 4

With a small dotting tool apply lots of uniformally arranged duck-egg blue dots to the thumb.

Step 5

With a large dotting tool add a few uniformally arranged white dots to the little finger. 

Step 6

Create the daisy shapes on the middle finger. Use the same dotting tool as used on the little finger, place 5 white overlapping dots in a circular shape. Add one dot of duck-egg blue to the centre. 

Step 7

Seal in the design with a top coat. 

Breaking Bad Nail Art

How amazing are these? My inspiration was the up coming release of the new series of Breaking Bad (on of my favourite ever shows) on the 11th of August and a mash up of a few designs I've seen on Google Images. 

Step 1

Apply your base coat on all nails

Step 2

Apply the MUA fur effect nails on your index and little finger. Click the link to find out how: MUA Fur Effect Tutorial. You could use any textured blue nail art for that. 

Step 3 

Paint your middle and ring finger with a green paint. I used acrylics since they run less when applying a top coat so don't mess up your design. 

Step 4 

Paint your thumb with white paint.

Step 5 

Paint the lines and letters on the middle and ring finger in white. Again, I went for acrylic, though if you used green nail polish, I'd use white nail polish rather than acrylic to match. 

Step 6 

Draw Heizenberg on your thumb with black paint in the following order: hat, face shape, glasses, nose then moustache.

Step 7

Top all but the blue textured nails with a top coat to protect your design. 

Striped Nails and First Impression of Acrylics

I recently received a pack of 10 acrylic paints and a set of 15 nail art brushes. I decided to have a play and this is what happened. 

Step 1

Paint a base colour on top of your base coat. I went for white to make whatever design I do stand out.

Step 2

Use a striping nail art brush to form the stripes. I dampen the brush with water and make sure the acrylic paint is the right consistency - loosened up with water but not watery (takes a bit of practice). I covered the whole length of the brush in paint, placed it on my nail towards one edge, pulled it towards the other edge whilst turning my nail away from the other hand. I know its hard but try keep them as parallel and horizontal as possible. 

Step 3 

I did a little design on my ring finger to make it more interesting. I just did zigzags with a detailing brush.

Step 4

Finally, cover it all in a top coat to protect your design. There may be edges around the nail to clean, just soak a cotton bud in nail polish remover and rub away the paint. 

I definitely need more practice at acrylic paints and these brushes. Keep an eye out for more designs to come, and lets hope I can perfect the technique!