Striped Pink Ombre Nails

Completed Striped Ombre Nails.

Why we love them:

What girl doesn't love pink? Scratch that, what girl doesn't love every shade of her favourite colour? These nails can be reproduced with any colour, as well as with vertical or diagonal stripes, instead of horizontal. With so many different options, these nails are completely customizable... and we love being unique! These beauties look good with a little black dress and heels in the same shade!

What you need:

• 5+ shades of any one colour, organized by shade
• Scotch Tape
• Nail Art Brush (buy it in a set here)
• Base Coat and Top Coat (we used Essie, buy the top coat here, and base coat here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Place the tape very close to the base of the nail but leave room for one colour. Paint with the darkest shade.
3. Repeating that step slowly moving the tape farther down the nail and changing the colour for each stripe. Try to keep the space between your last colour and the tape constant, for a cleaner look!
4. Once the whole nail is completed, fix up any mistakes with a nail art brush.
5. Paint on top coat after ensuring your nails are dry, and allow to dry!

Close-up striped pink ombre nails.

Saran Wrap Criss Cross Nails

The completed nails.

Why we love them:

We love the look of the criss cross pattern reversed on the accent nail! Also, we love using items that are already around our house to make cool nail designs, as opposed to shopping for costly items at a beauty supply store. This design looks much more difficult than it is, and will surely impress all your friends!

What you need:

• Light Blue (we used China Glaze Kinetic Candy, buy it here)
• Pink (we used Essie Fiesta, buy it here)
• Dark Blue (we used Nails Inc. Baker Street, buy it here)
• Tape
• Nail Art Brush (buy it in a set here)
• Base Coat and Top Coat (we used Essie, buy the top coat here, and base coat here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Paint all nails light blue. Two coats may be required.
3. Cut pieces of tape and place them on the nails like the picture below -Step 1 (for the accent nail the tape is cut in triangles instead of strips). Make sure the tape has no spaces between the polish and the tape other wise you won't get your desired straight line once the other paint is on and you have peeled off your tape. 
4. Paint a nail pink, using the saran wrap roll it up into a circle and blot the pink right after you paint it creating this tie-dye look, repeat with all nails (Picture -Step 2).
5. Paint a nail blue, using the saran wrap roll it up into a circle and blot the blue right after you paint it creating this tie-dye look, repeat with all nails and make sure you can see the pink more blotting may be required (Picture -Step 2).
6. Make sure the polish is dry before removing your tape.
7. Fix up any mistakes with a nail art brush using the light blue for straight edges.
8. Paint on top coat after ensuring your nails are dry, and allow to dry!

Step 1

Step 2

Nautical Heart Nails

Completed Nautical Heart Nails.

Why we love them:

We love the look of these striped heart nails! If you like the look of striped nails why not play with it and add this fun little heart in the corner? :)

What you need:

• Nail Art Brush (buy it in a set here)
• White (we used OPI Alpine Snow, buy it here)
• Black (we used Essie Licorice, buy it here)
• Red (we used Nails Inc. The Hurlingham, buy it here)
• Base Coat and Top Coat (we used Essie, buy the top coat here, and base coat here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Paint all nails white. Two coats may be required.
3. With the nail art brush, paint two or three thick black lines depending on how long your nail is. Two coats may be required.
4. With the Dotter Pen, dot and shape a red heart on the bottom corner of your nail, left or right is up to you (opposite on either hand looks nice).
5. Paint on top coat after ensuring your nails are dry, and allow to dry!

Single Nautical Heart Nail.

Messy Ombre Aztec Nails

Beginning messy ombre only.

Finishing result with aztec.

Why we love them:

We cannot get enough of aztec nail art! We wanted to play around with messy ombre and this design is a way to show off your ombre nails that are shown with an aztec pattern. :)

What you need:

• Nail Art Brush and Dotter Pen (buy it in a set here)
• White (we used OPI Alpine Snow, buy it here)
• Dark Blue (we used Nails Inc. Baker Street, buy it here)
• Medium Blue (we used ACO True Blue, view it here)
• Light Green (we used ACO Mint Cream, view it here)
• Base Coat and Top Coat (we used Essie, buy the top coat here, and base coat here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Paint all nails light green. Two coats may be required.
3. Paint the medium blue, dark blue, and white in stripes across your nail using a normal nail polish brush.
4. With the nail art brush, create an ombre or messy look by brushing the colours together that are beside each other like the picture below.
5. With the dotter pen and nail art brush, paint on your white aztec design like the picture below or however you want to! Be creative!
6. Paint on top coat after ensuring your nails are dry, and allow to dry!

Close-up messy ombre Nail.

Close-up Tie-dye Aztec completed.

Black on Black Cheetah Nails

The completed Black on Black Nails.

Why we love them:

You may or may not be able to see the cheetah pattern in the picture but we love the textured look and having shiny detail that is the same colour as the matte background. This is a fun and cool twist if you usually wear black nails or if you just want to try a subtle cheetah pattern on your nails.

What you need:

• Dotter Pen (buy it in a set here)
• Black (we used Essie Licorice, buy it here)
• Base Coat (we used Essie, base coat here)
• Matte Top Coat (we used Nails Inc.Westminster Bridge, top coat here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Paint all nails black. Two coats may be required.
3. Apply the matte top coat to all nails.
4. Once the nails are somewhat dry, using the dotter pen shape and create your cheetah pattern. 
5. Top coat is not to be used with this nail art design otherwise the matte black background or the cheetah would be ruined whether you would use a matte or normal top coat, so just let dry!

Another completed look of the Black on Black Nails.

Fuzzy Nails

Completed fuzzy nail.

Why we love them:

We cannot get enough of experimenting with texture on our nails! Boring one colour nails are a thing of the past and these nails are inventive and fresh! We love the light pink colour, but this would also look great in any other other pastels available with the set we purchased. 

What you need:

• Nail Art Brush and Dotter Pen (buy it in a set here)
• Pink Polish (we used Essie Cascade Cool buy it here)
• Pink Fuzz (we used Recollections Rose, available at Michael's - see picture below)
• Base Coat and Top Coat (we used Essie, buy the top coat here, and base coat here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Paint all nails in one coat of the light pink colour. Let this dry fully so your nails do not damage easily after the generous second coat goes on.
3. Quickly, paint one nail in a generous coat of the pink colour, then lightly pour the pink fuzz over until your nail is covered. It is helpful to have something to catch extra fuzz, so you can reuse it!
4. One by one, complete your other nails using the same technique.
5. Paint top coat along the tip of your nail, but not on top of the nail as this will ruin the effect!

Single close-up on fuzzy nail.

Recollections Pink (Blush) Fuzz.

Glam Nails

The completed Glam Nails.

Why we love them:

These nails incorporate everything we love about nail art! The zig zag accent nail adds a funky twist to the nude and glitter trend - and of course we always love a full glitter nail! The matte top coat adds an effect we love, but this design can also be achieved with a regular top coat.

What you need:

• Nail Art Brush (buy it in a set here)
• White (we used OPI Alpine Snow, buy it here)
• Black (we used Essie Licorice, buy it here)
• Nude (we used Nails Inc. Porchester Square, buy it here)
• Glitter (we used Nails Inc. Sloane Square, buy it here)
• Base Coat (we used Essie, base coat here)
• Matte Top Coat (we used Nails Inc.Westminster Bridge, buy it here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Paint your thumb with glitter polish, and your index, middle, and pinky fingers with nude polish. Paint your ring finger with white polish. Two coats may be required.
3. With the nail art brush, start by painting two full triangles in black polish (starting the bottoms at the middle of your nail) on the tips of your nails. Add half triangles on the edges if there is still room left over.
4. With the nail art brush again, continue the zig zag about a 1/3 cm above the top of the black triangles. Continue this pattern until you reach the cuticle of your nail.
5. Paint on the matte top coat after ensuring your nails are dry (so there is no running!), and allow to dry! Note: Two coats of matte top coat both lasts longer, and makes a more matte effect on your nails!

Sparkle accent nail.

Black and white missoni accent nail.