Beauty Wednesday
I have always loved nail art.
Back in grade school I would paint my nails with crazy polka dots…each nail a different color, sparkles, fish tank scenes…anything I could get my hands on or any idea I could come up with I did it.
As I have gotten older, I still love nails…I own waaaaay too much nail polish, and I continue to purchase more (there is always a new beautiful color that needs to be on my nails…duh) After college I even went to school and got my nail technician license. Although I haven’t used it much, I LOVED every second of that school!!!
The nail art world is seriously exploding…there was even a tv show competition called “Nailed It” recently that was all about nail art. Truthfully, with a one year old running/crawling around, I usually am lucky to throw on a single color polish with no smudges….but when I get the chance I try to do something a little more creative.
Valentine’s Day is always a fun one for me…I love pinks and reds…I love hearts…and they are all pretty easy things to fit onto your nails. However, this year I finally played around/watched YouTube tutorials/…and found some tricks I thought I would share with you.
Tip #1 Apply two layers of top coat: In the past, when adding layers of artwork on my nails over polish, I had such a hard time with the white streaking when I applied the top coat…basically smearing my design, which really p*ssed me off!!! This time around I figured out that if you paint your nails the base color..so in the case of my nails above this would be the pink and red…and then paint a layer of top coat BEFORE you start with the white nail art, it’s like magic. You let those layers dry then apply the nail art and then apply a SECOND coat of top coat to seal everything together…and magically it does not smear or streak!!! Game changer for me!
Tip #2 Use Seche Vite Top Coat: Speaking of top coats…you guys I cannot even say enough great things about this top coat. I talked about it in this post already. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. We used it in school and I fell in love then. It is fast drying, which is so perfect for anyone that doesn’t have 15 minutes to let their nails dry (no one) and it also is thick and leaves your nails looking like they were professionally done. I seriously always get asked if my nails are fake, or have shellac on them. Perfect top coat…try it!
Tip #3 Take advantage of all the amazing nail art products out there: There are so many products out there to make doing small designs easier. For the look above I used the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in White. It made doing the hearts and dots so much easier then using a regular polish brush. There are a million other products out there that I need to try, but just check out the nail polish aisle at your local drugstore and you will find so much fun stuff.
I hope these tips help motivate or at least make you less intimidated to try nail art. It is so fun…so easy…and ends up looking really pretty.
Good luck!!!