Friday, June 21, 2013

How-To: Elegant Lace Nail Art

Hi guys! Lately I've been in a particularly girly mood when it comes to painting my nails, which is the inspiration behind this ultra-feminine lace design. Thankfully, this nail art wasn't too difficult to achieve, despite its detailed appearance. Keep reading to find out for yourself how to recreate it!






Step 1.) Paint your nails two coats of any polish that you think is sophisticated yet girly. The base color of this design isn't too important, so feel free to leave it up to your personal preference!

Step 2.) Use a white striper to paint a thin, curved line approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the way down the nail. The easiest way to do this is to start on one side of the nail and rotate your finger while keeping the striper stationary. Stop rotating once the brush has reached the center of the nail, and then repeat this motion from the other side of the nail, joining your two lines in the middle.


 
 
Step 3.) Create a crosshatch pattern inside the curved line you just painted.
 
 Left: Paint 3-4 evenly spaced diagonal lines. It's easiest to paint the middle line first and then space the others in proportion to that middle line.
Right: Once the lines have dried, paint more diagonal lines that slant in the opposite direction. The newer your striper polish is, the smoother the lines will be. Unfortunately, my bottle is getting a bit old and gloopy! 


Step 4.) Use a large dotting tool and white polish to create a scalloped edge underneath the crosshatched section. (You'll notice that my polish has a gray tinge to it- my regular white is dried out, so I had to use a light gray >_<)


Left: Start out by placing one dot in the center of the nail. This will make it easier to arrange the other dots evenly across the curved line.

Right: Place more dots along the curved line, being careful that the edges of the dots overlap slightly onto one another, but not onto the crosshatched pattern.


Step 5.) Add some dotted details


 Left: Use a slightly smaller dotting tool to place dots of your base color inside the scallops. Try to center these dots neatly, but it's okay if they aren't totally perfect (obviously mine aren't!)
 
Right: Use a small dotting tool and white polish to place more dots underneath the scalloped edge. I think this looks best when the dots are positioned in between the dips of the scallops. 
 
 
Step 6.) Finally, wait at least 25-30 minutes before applying a topcoat. Designs like these are prone to smearing, which is why we need to allow extra drying time.
 
Products Used:


 Essie "Under Where?", Kiss Nail Art Paint in white, O.P.I "My Boyfriend Scales Walls"
 
Base and Topcoat: Orly Bonder and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri
 
 
Well, that's it! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you've found this interesting! Feel free to share any tutorial suggestions and recreations in the comments below :)

1 comment:

  1. these are fantastic! I love them
    www.ohmyprettylittlelife.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete