Hey guys, so last time I told you I'd be showing you my essential products and showing you how to do a basic leopard print design on your nails in 6 easy steps.
Products
These are my basic nail art products I can't live without, and all relatively cheap! :)
- Wooden kebab skewer (although a cocktail stick would work fine),
- Nail varnish remover,
- Cotton buds (the ones for applying makeup with the different shaped tips are great, but a little pricey so I just buy the normal ones from your local chemist or pound shop, just shop around) and finally,
- A fast drying topcoat. You can also use nail art pens instead of the wooden stick, although I will show you that for the majority of my nail designs you don't need one.
This top coat from nails inc is my absolute favourite! It is amazing, a little pricey but well worth it, your nails will be dry in 45 seconds and set within about 5 minutes. Here's the link if you wish to invest in one yourself http://www.nailsinc.com/nailpolish/kensington-caviar-45-second-top-coat/426/ Any other topcoats are perfectly fine, actually i recently invested in a Rimmel 60 second drying topcoat for £2.99 in Boots yesterday as I had ran out of my nails inc and you can only get it online or in House of Fraser or Debenhams in Belfast.
If you are an addicted user of nails inc like myself or would just like to try some of their products for yourself or for gifts I would recommend becoming a VIP member for just £5 for the year http://www.nailsinc.com/vip By becoming a VIP member you receive a free full sized nail polish, 10% discount every time you place an order, £5 off online voucher on your birthday and you can also get reward points every time you buy something, which is always handy to use as a treat or to pay for your postage when you have gathered enough.
Ok I've talked enough about nails inc for now, perhaps I will do a blog on their products and why I love them so much in the future.
how to . . . leopard print
what you will need
- 3 nail polishes, I’ve gone
for nails inc; jermyn street, battersea power station and mount street (from
left to right in the picture) *links for polishes at bottom of page*
- A wooden kebab
stick/cocktail stick
You might also want to find a picture of a leopard print to give you a guide, this is what I did the first time I tried this nail art out.
Step one
Firstly file/cut your nails into the shape and length you wish, make sure your nails are clean of any nail varnish or oils and you are all set to go. Now it's up to you whether you want to apply a base coat, I sometimes would if my nails are perhaps not in the best condition or need protection from a strong colour I am going to apply, as some colours can stain your nails. If you do decide to use a base coat just make sure it is completely dry before moving on to the next step (this applies to every step I will be showing you).
- 3 nail polishes, I’ve gone
for nails inc; jermyn street, battersea power station and mount street (from
left to right in the picture) *links for polishes at bottom of page*
- A wooden kebab
stick/cocktail stick
- A top coat, I’m using the
nails inc one I mentioned above
You might also want to find a picture of a leopard print to give you a guide, this is what I did the first time I tried this nail art out.
From left to right; my bare nail (my acrylic is growing out so my nail may look a little odd), nails inc kensington basecoat caviar (my nail needs a basecoat over it), and my nail with the dried basecoat.
Step two
Apply a layer of a light colour, you may need to apply 2 layers depending on the polish or the colour you wish to achieve.
This is my nail with one coat using the nails inc jermyn street.
Step three
The dots/random blobs - I put a blob of the colour I want to use onto an old piece of plastic or something you don't mind getting a bit messy (mind you it always comes off with a little nail varnish remover). So once you've put your blob onto the plastic you need to work quite quickly as the polish will start to set and dry and get really tacky (you don't want this).
Going in a clockwise direction; I used nails inc battersea power station for the leopard print blobs (you'll see what I mean in a minute), just use your brush to let a blob of the polish drip off the end of your brush and onto the plastic.
Use your wooden stick (cocktail or kebab) and put a bit of the polish onto the end of the stick (this may be a bit of trial and error with practise as to how much you want to put on the end of your stick) and randomly do blobs or colour on your nail.
Now you don't want to have too many or put them too close together, because you still need to do the darker outline around them and some random shapes in between.
Step four
Now it's time to highlight those blobs you have painted on. I'm now using nails inc mount street and have put a blob of this polish onto the plastic as before.
Now using the same technique as before you are going to use a darker or contrasting colour to go around the edges, I think it looks better if you only fully go around the odd blob with this colour, leaving gaps makes it look a little more realistic.
Now using the same technique as before you are going to use a darker or contrasting colour to go around the edges, I think it looks better if you only fully go around the odd blob with this colour, leaving gaps makes it look a little more realistic.
Starting in an anti-clockwise direction you can see how I apply the darker colour and add in the blobs I talk about in the next step.
Step five
Now that you've gone around each of your blobs you will see a few areas with gaps in them, this is where you can put the odd blob or small streak like this with your darker/contrasting colour.
As you can see it doesn't need to be perfect, the only thing I would say is don't make your nail art too cluttered, but at the same time don't leave big blank spaces.
Step six
So looking at your nails now you might think ugh they don't look that good :( but this is where your topcoat comes in! :) Adding a layer of your topcoat just makes the whole nail blend together and just pop!
So that's your six steps to leopard print nails, see simple and easy! Now go and give them a go yourself :) And don't worry you can use what ever brands or colours of nail polish you want!
Links for the nail polishes used in this tutorial . . .
- Kensington caviar top and base coat http://www.nailsinc.com/nailpolish/kensington-caviar-top-base-coat-duo/822/ (these can be bought separately)
- Jermyn street nail polish http://www.nailsinc.com/nailpolish/jermyn-street-polish/448/
- Battersea power station - unfortunately no longer available
- Mount street http://www.nailsinc.com/nailpolish/mount-street-polish/671/
THIS IS MY FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, FEEL FREE TO LEAVE ME ANY COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS ON MY BLOG OR WHAT YOU'D LIKE ME TO DO. OH AND UPLOAD SOME OF YOUR PICTURES FOLLOWING THE TUTORIALS I'D LOVE TO SEE THEM ALL! :D https://www.facebook.com/pages/DIY-NAIL-ART/321393224615432?cropsuccess
Zane xx
Brilliant profile Zane can't wait for more!
ReplyDeleteAwh thank you i'm glad you like it! and if there is anything i'm not explaining well enough feel free to just ask xx
ReplyDelete