Nail Art Tutorial: Fall Leaves

The last in the Fall series, I bring you Fall Leaves! This tutorial is super simple and quick to do!

Supplies Needed: A base coat, I used Strawberry Ice Cream Soma by Literary Lacquer because… Well… It’s freaking awesome. You’ll need at least three colors for you leaves. I used Am I Ginger? by LynBDesigns, Wicked by Perception Nail Lacquer and Lake of Shining Waters by Literary Lacquer. You’ll also need a black or brown acrylic paint, a nail art brush, a dotting tool and a pallet.

Step One: After you apply your basecoat, let it dry completely. On your pallet, add a bit of black and water it down a tad so it glides on smoothly.

Step Two: With a gentle hand, draw on your branches. They don’t have to be perfect, no stick or twig is .

Do the same on all nails until you have all your “twigs”

Step three: With your dotting tool, begin putting the “leaves” on the twigs. Do them sparingly with each color because with three colors, it will eventually become a lot of leaves. Repeat until you’ve used the three colors, or you have an abundance of leaves.

Once you’re finished, apply the topcoat of our choice and you’re done!

This is a quick, cute and simple fall mani! If you do one of my manis, please post it to my Facebook page!

Nail Art Tutorial: Burberry Inspired Nails

I LOVE Burberry scarves. I don’t own one, but I covet them. Like the outfit that the gal in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days got for her dog and the scarves for them? LOVE. I dunno why, but I really like the pattern and color scheme.

So when I think of fall and plaid, the first thing I think of is the Burberry pattern, and I decided to do a Burberry design inspired by it. Didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted them to, but that’s usually the way it is LOL.

Supplies: You’ll need four different polishes. You’ll need a good black- I used Zoya Raven, my go-to. A red- OPI’s Moscow Red. A white- Zoya Purity and a tan color. I don’t suggest Orly’s Decades of Dysfunction (I think that’s the one, I put the nail polish up) as it’s not tan enough, it’s more nude and you need a more tan polish. But this one will work in a pinch. You’ll also need a nail art brush and a pallet.

Step One: Apply at least two coats of your base polish and let it dry completely.

Step Two: With your striping brush or nail art brush, put two vertical white lines on the left side of the nail. When you’re done with that, put two more horizontal lines crossing the vertical lines at the top.

Like that!

Step Three: Using the black with your nail art brush, put a black line between the first two white lines, then a line on either side.

Do the same with the horizontal lines.

When you’re doing this, use a light hand on the lines so they’re not as thick. I need to practice on my lines, for sure.

Step Four: With the red, place a line to the right of all the other lines (this is where I’m saying a lighter hand would be better so it’s not so jumbled.) and one at the very bottom of the nail.

Like this. Add your topcoat and you’re done. I really should have done thinner lines. This mani kinda sucks. Ugh.

Nail Art Tutorial: Argyle Nails

OK. Argyle is NOT one of my favorite plaids. Granted, I haven’t worn plaids since 2000, but it’s a very popular trend in nail art right now and I’ve been asked to do some plaid designs. So, here’s the first of two plaid nail art designs.

Supplies: A gold or different shaded polish complimentary to your main two polishes. I used Orly’s Luxe. Two complimentary colors, one to use as a base, the other for the triangles on top. I used Zoya’s Jem and Stacy. You also need a chunky glitter, I used OPI’s Teenage Dream, but you really should use a bigger glitter. You’ll also need a dotting tool and a pallet. And paper towels!!!

Step One: Paint your nail with your flat color and let dry. Then, using your second color, put a dot on the nail basically right in the middle.

Using your polish, create two triangles, one on top of the other and then fill in.

This is what you’ll get and hopefully yours will be a little neater than mine. I am REALLY rusty with my nail art, plus I was kinda shaky due to my blood sugar being low. So yeah… A cleaner line and fill would be key!

Step Two: Using either a dotting tool or a nail art brush, take your gold, silver whatever color you’re using and create two intersecting lines. When you’re done doing that, kinda flip it over so the V is the other way and create your opposing lines.

Step Three:

Using your chunky polish and your dotting tool, pick up a bit of glitter and put it in the juncture of your lines for a little more definition.

Use your cleanup brush and acetone and clean up your mistakes. Apply topcoat and you’re done!

Not too shabby. Shoulda used a different shade of background. Ugh… Shoulda, coulda, woulda. LOL!