Pink Plaid

I wanted to try using the striper brushes I’d bought on eBay and the tutorials made it look oh so simple.  I’d seen several tutorials doing plaid designs, some that looked simple and some  a bit more complex.  I chose one to follow which looks simple, but soon learnt that straight lines are a skill that needs some practice!

I followed this Easy Plaid Design video tutorial.

The straight lines in the video came out beautifully straight and even, but I found that my first attempt at using the striper brush and creating straight lines was not going to be quite so successful.   It’s clearly a skill that requires time to master, and one that would be really useful to have, so I’m going to have to try again some time.  I found it difficult to get the right amount of polish on the brush, sometimes I had too much and ended up with a fat gloopy line and other times it came out thin and feint and needed repainting.

My lines are a little wiggly and uneven, but I still quite liked the overall effect.  They looked nice from a distance and I even received a few compliments on them, I just wasn’t quite so keen to let any of my admirers look at them up close.  I liked the accent of the gold glitter paint – I wasn’t sure about adding it at first, thinking it might look over the top, especially as I was using a very bright pink base colour, but it worked.

Practice makes perfect, and I’m not giving up on using the striper brush just yet!

I used:  Sensation – Color Addict, Black – Decorative Nail, Gold glitter – ?

Blue and Pink

I wanted to try something simple but striking this time and have some more practice with my new found friend, the dotting tool.  I’d seen a few designs like this one, for example this youtube video Everyday Nails did a very similar design, but I wanted something a bit bolder, so I chose some bright colours.

I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out and I received so many compliments on them at work.  A couple of people even asked which salon I’d got them done at which was a huge ego boost especially considering they were only my second attempt at nail art!  It’ll certainly keep me going with nail art if I get so much attention!

I’ve always been a believer that simple can be effective and these were super easy to do.  The dots were a great way of hiding lines that weren’ t as precise as I’d have liked them to be, and I must remember this trick for other designs.  I’m starting to see that the dotting tool can be quite versatile and I keep thinking of new things I want to try.

I did learn that I need to be a bit more patient when waiting for layers to dry, as one or two of my black dots were obviously not totally dry when I applied the top coat as they smudged a little leaving tiny streaks, not noticeable from a distance, but certainly a mistake I need to avoid in future.

They were by no means perfect, but for me they were a great success!

Colours I used:

Matte Aqua – BYS, Baby pink – Sweet Closet (Japanese brand), Black – Decorative Nails (Japanese brand)