Do you dream of creating unforgettable nail art but not sure where to start? We invite you to unravel the magic world of manicure, learn the secrets of true professionals, small cheats of the celebrities and fashionable advice from the most famous beauty-brands.
Beautiful nail art would truly become a perfect addition to any style for any event and would bring a hint of something extraordinary into everyday routines. We’d better leave meticulous tracing of fine patterns to the nail-art professionals as there are a lot of other more easily achievable techniques that we can put into action at home. Having a bit of practice and patience any of us can create beautiful, bright and unique patterns on our nails.
Essentials of Fine Nail Art
First you need to file your nails into the correct shape. You should always take care of your nails’ health and look. They should not be jagged.
It is not necessary to do a manicure before drawing on your nails, but they should be clean, sanded and have a smooth surface.
Do not forget to take care of the cuticle.
Choose only quality supplies. There is an enormous variety of nail polishes and paints intended specifically for nail art. Try out and experiment with different types and do not forget about acrylic nail polish — it looks good on nails and costs no more than the usual nail polish.
You can purchase professional manicure kits which include all necessary brushes for painting stripes and circles or you can use your wit and use makeshift tools like a hairpin or a toothpick to draw points and colorful swirls. You can also buy supplies in the local art shop. They would do as nicely for drawing on your nails as the ones from professional kits.
Remember that any pattern can be drawn on natural and on artificial nails. The most important things: You should always have acetone (or other nail polish solvent), a small brush or cotton sticks by your hand to be able to correct any drawing mistakes as soon as possible.
Prepare everything you need. Nail art drawings require a lot of patience. Keep in mind that time works against you as all nail polishes and paints dry very quickly. Before starting your drawing session make sure you have everything at hand and especially a bottle of solvent for fast correction of any mistakes.
Apply the base coat first. Before decorating your nails you need to create a so called canvas. Depending on the type of pattern you will make, apply a suitable tone to your nails: neutral, clear, white, light-beige, light-pink and so on. You can visually divide a nail into several parts and apply different patterns to each of them.
Always apply two layers of base coat to make the nail stronger and create a good canvas.
The canvas should be neat and even. Let it dry thoroughly before continuing with your design.
Draw the pattern over the base coat. Dip the brush or your drawing tool into the nail polish or paint. The brush should be fully covered by the polish, but if there are some grains, excess of the paint or lack thereof you will certainly have problems when drawing.
Apply the top coat. When your nail art drawings dry, cover them with a protective acrylic coat, to save your nails and your hard work.
Taking Care of Your Nail Art
Apply a protective layer on your nails every two-three days, to keep your nails protected and glossy. Use cuticle oil every day. Take care of your hands: Wear gloves when gardening or doing any other kind of not so clean work, do not use your nails for opening any jars because it might damage them.
Applying patterns to the nail plate is one of the essential parts of the professional nail art nowadays. A lot of techniques and methods are used to turn a nail into a true work of art
Brushes, needles, sticks and pens are all used as an artist’s tools. Among the other working materials are: various shades of nails polish, paints, glitter, rhinestones, colored or sparkling powder, foil, colored sand and even small dried flowers and petals. Sometimes stencils and transferable pictures are used.
What Kind of Patterns Can Be Drawn on Nails?
Any kind. The only limitation is the fantasy of the author or the nails’ owner. Nail art can be graphic (lines, squares, rhombs, triangles, zigzags) or abstract (various colorful swirls). You can draw flowers, ornaments, patterns and pictures on your nails. Sometimes a fashion designer’s logo is drawn on one of the finger nails (usually it is the ring finger) to match the clothes worn by the lady.
To create a bright and expressive pattern on nails two or three contrasting colors of nail polish are usually used to accentuate each other. The base color for drawing can be either light or dark depending on the master’s idea.
For everyday life and for work, calmer and lighter drawings are used, where designs for an evening outing or a special occasion should be suitably bright and colorful while also matching the clothes.
How long will the drawing stay on your nails depends first of all on the nail polish and on the state of the nails it is applied on. The less durable drawing is the one made with an ordinary polish on an ordinary nail plait. If the polish contains glitter the drawing will hold on longer.
The easiest kind of drawing for self application is the abstract. You should apply a base coat on a nail and then cover it with one thicker layer. While it has not yet dried, quickly add several drops of another nail polish color (preferably a contrasting one). By the way, dry-fast nail polish will not work in this case. You will need to use a needle point to mix the drops with the base coat. You should act quickly while the nail polish has not hardened.
Using this method you can draw flowers, branches or just an abstract pattern. When the nail polish hardens apply a fixer to the nail surface to make your drawing last longer. If you have at least a bit of artistic talent (and everybody has that) you will easily create such drawing.
