Nail Fun - The Basics

Something that I don't think I've mentioned at all yet on my blog is the fact that I love playing around with nail varnishes. Nails were my first love waaaay before I even started to get so into makeup products.It's actually so easy and fun and it really does make a difference to how your hands look - think a lovely manicure with something a bit more exciting thrown in. 

(Mega apologies for the state of the pictures, I ended up having to print screen all of them from instagram after a phone reboot, and so the quality and editing is absolutely awful! Plus my hands look kinda gross. Please dont hate me...)

To make any kind of nail look extra special, there's literally only 4 essentials that you need:

1. Nail Varnishes (obviously, but different colours)

2. A Clear Topcoat

3. A Black Nail Art Pen

4. A White Nail Art Pen

If you don't have any nail art pens, really thin brushes will do with normal black and white nail varnish, but it's just an absolute mare to clean and you never get quite the same effect! Just make sure with the pens that they have not only the thin nib, but also the super thin long brush inside for easy stripes!

I just thought I'd include a few examples of things that I've done in the past for some inspiration of just what you can do! The colours other than black and white that I've drawn on are just blobs of normal nail varnish tactically dabbed in the right place - the flowers really are so easy!

These nails were inspired by one of my friends who had nail extensions done with a similar pattern. I put a matte topcoat on the white, and blobbed different pinks on some of the nails to come up with a sort of rose pattern? If that's what you can call it. With dabs of green around the outside, and neat monochrome stripes on the rest of it done with a steady hand and my nail art pen! (I currently use the WAHnails pens!)

The nails in the above picture were actually really hard and my right hand looked nothing like this - I'm not ambidextrous although I wish I was! These were some really old ones that I did for glastonbury, with coloured shapes outlined to make floral patterns on a plain white background! Believe me, white and black varnishes will forever be your best friend - both as a base and a pattern. Monochrome forever!

Another thing you can do, which admittedly I've given up on as for me they ALWAYS seem to fall off the next day, is stick little gems on in pretty places for a 3D effect. The blue with the paisley was my favourite, and paisley is actually so easy to do! I've seem similar prints with more angles in which is more of a scarf pattern, but I'm still yet to try that one!

What I'm really trying to say is that with sunnier weather coming up and tootsies and spring colours coming out, it's the perfect time for a play around! It's so simple, and even if you don't have a steady hand, teeny changes like dots or a cute rhinestone can make all the difference. 

I've replaced my nail pens so many times (particularly the black!) as I can use it on almost any lighter base colour, and the more you play the more you want to do!

Do any of you ever have a go at nail art?

What do you think?

Alice x

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