Nails Painted

Another great nail tutorial from http://www.collegefashion.net/beauty-and-hair/diy-nail-art-tutorial-breton-strips-gold-glitter/ Happy painting! :)

What You’ll Need:

• Base coat
• White polish – mine is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in White.
• Black polish – preferably with a thin brush for making nail art, but a regular brush will do just fine.
• Gold polish – and, if you have it, gold glitter polish. I used Milani 3D Holographic Lacquer in “510″ for the dots and Sephora by OPI Top Coat in “Only Gold For Me” for the tips.
• Dotting tool – you can pick up a professional one here, but I made my own by using the tip of a mechanical pencil with the led retracted. Other household items that could work are the flat heads of pins/bobby pins, the bottoms of matches and the ends paper clips. If you’re willing to get creative, I promise you can find something that will work beautifully.
• Top coat

1. After applying a base coat and letting it dry, paint your nails white. You may need 2-3 coats to get even, opaque coverage. Wait until your nails are dry to the touch before moving on.
2. With the black striper polish, create four evenly spaced horizontal stripes across each nail, starting just a little bit below the nail bed and ending with the tip. If you don’t have a black striper, I explain a technique for making stripes using scotch tape here.
3. Next, create gold dots on the nail to emulate the brass buttons that are so often found on Breton stripe pieces. Take your dotting tool and, using the polish brush that comes with the bottle, dab a bit of gold polish onto the tip. Then make little dots in the middle of each white area between the black stripes, so it forms one vertical line of gold dots all the way down the nail.
4. Optional: To add a bit more sparkle to your manicure, take some gold glitter polish and put it on the tip of the nail on your index finger, and on more of your nails if you’re feeling extra sassy.
5. Slap on a top coat and you’re done! However, a word of caution: Make sure the black stripes are completely dry before applying a top coat. On my first attempt, I didn’t wait long enough and the black polish streaked a bit, which was very noticeable on the white background and ruined the crisp, clean look of the manicure. Don’t let this happen to you – give it a good half an hour before you put on your top coat.

Great tutorial from http://www.collegefashion.net/beauty-and-hair/diy-nail-art-cherry-blossoms/

What You Need:

• Base coat
• 3 shades of pink – one very pale, one medium and one darker. I used Sephora by OPI Nail Colour in “Dear Diary…” and “How Cute Is That?” and Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in “Splendeur” (which has unfortunately been discontinued, but “Rose Exuberante” is similar).
• Black polish – I used Milani Nail Art Lacquer in “Black Sketch.”
• Bobby pin
• Top coat

1. After applying a base coat, cover your entire nail with the lightest pink shade. Make sure it’s opaque – you may need to do multiple coats. Let this dry completely.
2. With your black polish, paint jagged lines on your nail to make the branches of the cherry blossom tree. These should be somewhat random, and it’s better if each nail doesn’t look exactly the same! My black polish has a thin nail art brush, but if you don’t have one with a thin brush, you can also use an old eyeliner brush or a toothpick and achieve the same effect.
3. Once the branches have dried, it’s time to make the blossoms. Take the medium pink, wipe the brush on the rim of the bottle so there is minimal polish on it, and then blot the tip of the brush (almost as if you were sponging the polish on) around the branches to make imperfect circles. It’s okay if they bleed into each other a bit; you want it to look like the branch is full of blooms.
4. When you’re finished with the flowers, take a bobby pin and dab a tiny bit of the darkest pink on the head. Then dot it in the center of each blossom. Repeat this step until every blossom has a pink dot in the center.
5. All finished! Allow your nails to dry thoroughly and then put on a top coat to preserve your blooms.