Tropical Island Nails

Unfortunately, I was never able to get a good picture of the details of these nails. They show a little scene of a palm tree on a sandy tropical island leaning over the ocean during a sunset. This pretty much the shortest my nails could have been to pull of this whole scene without making anything too small or out of proportion.

1. I started out with a base coat to make sure my nails weren't stained by the colored nail polish.
2. I then applied one coat of white nail polish to give me a blank canvas for the colors of the scene. Painting onto a white base lets me use much less polish to get vivid colors.
3. Next I made a gradient between yellow and pink for the sunset sky. I used a kitchen sponge cut up into pieces to dab on both colors and blend their border until it was an even transition.
4. I carefully painted the light blue ocean with normal nail polish, making sure I didn't cover up too much of the yellow.
5. The rest of the color was painted with acrylic paint and small paint brushes. I started by adding the tiny sandy island to the very base of my nail. I used a much barker brown to make the skinny trunk of the palm tree. Then I turned my hand over and painted the green palm leaves upside down. This way they were a little more organic looking and didn't all look exactly too perfect.
6. Then I went back over the ocean portion with streaks of light and dark blue to make it look more like the moving water of the ocean.
7. I created setting suns with individual craft glitters attached with clear nail polish.
8. I sealed in the acrylic paint with a topcoat. 

Rhinestone Flower Nails

I painted these red nails to match my prom dress. You might not be able to tell from the picture, but the flowers were made completely of rhinestones. Together with the glitter base color, these nails were very sparkly and caught a lot of light.

1. I started with a thorough base coat to make sure my natural nails wouldn't be stained by the bright red polish that would come next.
2. I used two coats of red polish that had a fine glitter in it. The second coat made sure the glitter and color both covered evenly over the whole nail.
3. I used white acrylic paint to create the stems and curling petals of the flowers. The flower end of the stems didn't have to be perfect because I knew I would be covering them up with rhinestones.
4. I used a dab of clear nail polish as a glue to attach one red rhinestone to the approximate middle of the flower. Then I surrounded that with more clear polish and laid down clear rhinestone around the red one in a circle. This created the shape of a flower for me.
5. I went over the cluster of rhinestones with topcoat and gave them plenty of time to dry. They tend to shift on the curve of the nail until they're completely dry, so I had to be very careful not to disturb them. Then I covered the entire nail with topcoat. 

Kiwi Nails

These cute nails look just like the inside of a kiwi. It’s a pretty simple concept but the many little details made this design interesting. The main features of a kiwi’s appearance are the green fruit color, the white core, and black seeds. I didn’t include the furry outside of the kiwi because this design only showed the inside flesh of the fruit.

1. I started with a basic base coat to protect my natural nails.
2. Next I applied a coat of my green kiwi color over my entire nail.
3. For the white core, I switched over to acrylic paints and very small paint brushes.  I actually started with the white lines around the outside of the nail. I watered down my white paint so I could get precise skinny lines. Because the paint is thinner, I had to go over many of the lines twice to get full coverage.
4. Next I used full strength paint and a larger brush to fill in the space between the lines. This created a fairly even but organic looking shape for the core.
5. I made seeds using black paint and a very small dotting tool and made rows of dots down the rows made by the white stripes.
6. That’s it! I finished off with a top coat to seal the acrylic paints and protect the design. 

Neon Pink Nails

These nails were very bright in person. The neon pink polish was bold and eye catching and the white dotted tips were bold to match. On each finger one of the white dots was overlapped by a white craft flower that’s almost like an oversized piece of glitter. This added a little extra interest to a simple design, and brought light to an otherwise matte surface. The flowers give a little bit of texture, but can be a hassle to have on your nails. Even though they’re secured with clear nail polish, they can get caught on hair or loose fabric. I still liked them, but I wished I could have known about this problem before I was committed to wearing them.

1. I started off with a normal base coat. I made sure not to miss any spots because the pink base color would easily stain my natural nails underneath. 
2. Then I applied two thins coats of a neon pink. Two thins coats gave me a consistent color coverage overall.
3. Next I used a large dotting tool to create the dotted tips. I started with the top layer of dots spaced comfortably apart.  Each dot in the next layer fit in the window created by the original dots.
4. Then I used a small dab of clear nail polish onto the dot that would be overlapped with a flower. The clear polish acts as glue, and when I placed the flower on top, it stayed in place.
5. I then applied topcoat just over the flower to seal it in place. When that was completely dry, I covered my entire nail with top coat to seal in the acrylic paint.

Purple Flower Nails

These purple flower nails were inspired by a Robin Moses design. They feature multi-toned purple flowers. The flowers lie over a backdrop of silver swirls and black base.

1. I started with a clear base coat, being especially careful to cover mu entire nail. Any missed spots will be stained by the black polish in the next step. I made sure to cover the free edge of my nail so I could also cover it with black.
2. Next, of course, I painted two coats of normal black nail polish.
3. Then I switched over to acrylic paints and small paint brushes for the rest of the design. I choose a metallic silver paint to go under the flowers so they would shine in the background. I tried to make medium sized swirls, so it wouldn't seem too busy, but could also clearly look like swirls under the flowers.
4. I started the flowers with the darkest purple paint, and made rough petal shapes until I was happy with each overall flower.  Then I added some white paint to the purple I was working with, and used that color to add swipes of lighter color to the insides of the flowers. This makes them much more realistic and dimensional.
5. I finished off the flowers with black centers to tie into the black base color.
6. The very last step was to add a shiny clear topcoat.  My topcoat has a harder in it to help keep my nails strong. And, like any topcoat, it seals in the acrylic paints and prevents the polish from being scratched off onto paper or white walls. 

Snowman Nails

I had to wait for my natural nails to grown nice and long to paint this design. The backdrop to this scene is a snowy New England forest. The length let me show a full landscape, with a snowy foreground, and full set of treetops. It also gave me plenty of room to paint the snowmen large enough to be detailed.

1. As usual, I started with a base coat.
2. Then I painted one coat of navy blue polish to act as the dark sky.
3. Next I used white acrylic paint and a wide brush to create the snowy ground. 
4. I used a much more tapered long brush to create each branch in the trees. I added some white snow to the trees to make it more realistic.
5. Once the trees were done and dry, I filled in the sky with the smallest white dots possible. This created the look of falling snow.
6. The snowmen on each ring finger were made by creating three large white dots, just as you would a real snowman. I chose a red color for the scarf and hat so it would stand out from the background. To give dimension to the hat and scarf, I mixed that red with some white to create a lighter color that matched well. That color acted as the brim of the hat.
7. I used a tiny paintbrush instead of a dotting tool to make the black eyes and buttons.
8. Once those steps were done, I could finish up with a top coat, making sure to cover the free edge of my nails. Having that extra rim of protection helps avoid chips and scratches of nail color. 

Tinkerbelle Nails

Sorry for the bad picture quality.

I painted these nails to match a Tinkerbelle Halloween costume. The light green and yellow colors remind me of the Disney image of Tinkerbelle, while the glitter reminds me of the stage representation of her as a ball of light. The white swirls and dots add interest and make the design more fairy-like.

1. First I applied a normal base coat to protect my natural nails from being stained by the colored nail polish.
2. Second, I applied a single coat of white nail polish, not worrying about how messy or even it was. The white base makes the lighter colors in the next step more vibrant, making it take less polish to cover. Gradients are much easier when you don’t have to worry about coverage.
3. Using a kitchen sponge cut up into cubes, I dabbed on patches of yellow and green. I overlapped the two colors in the middle and blended them together until I got an even gradient.
4. Then I switched over to acrylic paints and very small paint brushes. I watered down white paint to get the flexibility I needed for the swirls. I made random large swirls, starting from the edges and then painting backwards from the inside of the swirl. I played around with holding my hand in different positions to find the best angle for each individual swirl.
5. I added dots with a dotting tool around the outer edges of swirls to fill up more space and make everything more symmetrical.
6. I added a glitter polish over the entire nail, and then a topcoat for shine.