[Tutorial] Black and White Florals w/ BPS studs

As you can probably tell I've been having a bit of a floral obsession lately! Similarly, I've been loving my black and whites, so this design was inevitable! I decided to pair this with silver to utilise these AMAZING holographic silver studs I received from Born Pretty Store. For anyone interested in buying these for themselves or other nail art products, I have a code for 10% off all items + free worldwide shipping (HOWG10).

For this look you will need black, white and silver nail polish. From left to right I used OPI 'Black Onyx', OPI 'Alpine Snow' and OPI 'DS Radiance'.

You will also need some silver studs. As you can see, they have a beautiful holographic effect that allows them to sparkle in the light. This particular pack comes with 300 studs for USD$4.20. In general, studs are quite versatile decorations, so for my design I chose to use them in the center of my flowers.

Finally, you will need a dotting tool and a fine paint brush for detailing! Alternately, you can use a toothpick to achieve the same effect!

1. Apply a black polish to your nail. I used 1 coat.
2. Dip a dotting tool into white polish and proceed to dot on flower shapes, leaving some space around each flower for step 3.
3. Use a fine paint brush dipped in white polish to draw a few leaves coming out of each flower. Fill in any gaps with small dots.
4. Use a toothpick dipped in water or tweezers to pick up the studs and place them carefully in the centre of each flower.

Amazingly, that's all that's required for this design! It can easily be incorporated as a sophisticated accent nail or as a full manicure if you have the patience! Please share your recreations with me on Instagram by tagging me @nailsbynikkih

*This product was sent to me for review. I maintain that the views in this post are my most honest opinions.*

[Tutorial] Tropical Floral Nails

The weather here in Perth has been rather gloomy recently, so I thought I'd liven up my life a little with some tropical floral nails. I absolutely love this design! I was inspired by @polishpeach on Instagram when I saw her lovely nail art that you can see here. Her choice of a pastel yellow and lighter pink have such a pretty effect, though I personally chose to go a little more tropical with a bright yellow and red.

For this design you will need various colours, a thin paint brush and also a dotting tool (you can also use a toothpick). From left to right the colours I used were OPI 'Big Apple Red', OPI 'Pink Friday', Ulta3 'Honolulu', The Face Shop 'GR502', Sally Hansen 'Mint Sorbet' and Sally Hansen 'Black Out'.

1. Apply a yellow polish onto your nail until opaque (I used 3 coats).
2. Use a dotting tool and a stippling effect to draw red flowers onto the yellow polish. Dot red nail polish onto a piece of paper, dip the dotting tool and start by giving the flower 5 petals. From there, shape the flowers until the desired look is achieved.
3. Use a thin paint brush dipped in pale pink polish to draw V shapes on each petal.
4. Use a dotting tool dipped in black polish to form a black dot onto the centre of the flower.
5. Use a dotting tool dipped in yellow polish to form dots at the base of each petal, near the black dot. (This step is optional, depending on if you prefer the look of the flower in step 4 or 5, though I personally feel that the yellow makes the flower much more blended in with the background.)
6. With the thin paint brush dipped in green polish, draw leaves coming out from the flowers.
7. Use the paint brush to add detail to the leaves by using a mint green polish.

And this is the finished result! The design can easily be used as an accent nail or if you have enough time and patience, done as a full manicure as below.

The steps to this design may seem quite complex, but I can assure you that it is not too hard to achieve! I'd love to see any recreations of this design by tagging me @nailsbynikkih on Instagram!

[Tutorial] Floral Chevron Nails

As you are probably aware, I have been inactive on both my blog and Instagram for quite awhile now. Over the past months I have had to deal with a couple of issues and decided to take a break from doing nail art designs. I am now ready to get back into it all with new tutorials and designs to come! 

Floral nails seem to always be my fall-back design as I feel they never fail to make your nails look highly sophisticated and impressive. I felt a bit adventurous and attempted to incorporate the floral look into a chevron design.

For this design you will need a white polish, a green polish and three shades of pink. From left to right, I used the colours OPI 'Alpine Snow', Ulta3 'Pale Dahlia', OPI 'Pink Friday', Sally Hansen 'Bubblegum Pink' and Sally Hansen 'Mint Sorbet'.

You will also need a couple of other nail art items. I used a dotting tool and thin paint brush to assist me with the flowers, however using a toothpick will also allow you to achieve the same effect. I also used striping tape, and two different sized pink gems (optional).

1. Apply a white polish onto your nail until opaque. I used 2 coats. Let this dry completely or apply a layer of fast drying top coat.
2. Cut two pieces of striping tape and place on the nail in a V shape.
3. Paint the lightest pink shade onto the tip of the nail, making sure you are careful not to go over the striping tape.
4. While the polish is still wet, peel off the striping tape.
5. Use a dotting tool or toothpick to dab on a few pink blobs. Use the medium pink.
6. Use a thin paint brush or toothpick to draw on small curved lines. Use the darkest pink.
7. Use a thin paint brush or toothpick to draw small green petals next to the flowers.
8. Finish off the design with a layer of top coat and place some pink gems along the V line created earlier.

This is such a simple design to achieve, yet it has the effect of making your nails look very sophisticated and pretty. I'd love to see any recreations of this design by tagging me @nailsbynikkih on Instagram!

[Tutorial] The Trend: The Floral French

The Trend

Floral tips per se have not yet become a nail art trend, but I thought I’d do a tutorial and make it one! Its two components, the floral design and the ‘french manicure look’, are trends in themselves and work nicely together to make a simple yet elegant design. 

The Look

This is the design that can be achieved in this tutorial. I’d like to call it the 'Floral French'! The flowers were completed using a dotting tool and a thin paint brush.

The Technique

The colours I have used are from L-R: OPI ‘Alpine Snow’, Essence ‘Ben & Cherries’, OPI ‘Elephantastic Pink’, Ulta3 ‘Soft Hydrangea’, Sally Hansen ‘Blue Me Away’ and The Face Shop ‘GR502’.

I also used a large dotting tool and a very thin paint brush, but you can also use a bobby pin and a tooth pick.

1)      Paint your nail a base colour. A white base will make the flowers pop out more.

2)      Using a large dotting tool, paint some light pink blotches.

3)      Repeat this with a light blue.

4)      Blob a bit of dark pink nail polish onto a scrap piece of paper, dip in a thin paint brush and carefully paint thin ‘C shaped’ lines onto the light pink base.

5)      Repeat this step with a darker blue onto the light blue blotches.

6)      Finally, add some green leaves with the paint brush.

With those simple steps you can achieve some pretty floral French nails. Try this with any combination of colours and tag @nailsbynikkih on Instagram to show me!

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Inspiration and Suggestions

This design was inspired by @liana_riches on Instagram. She did half florals and paired them with some simple stripes. You can find her here (she does a killer one-stroke floral)! 

[Tutorial] The Trend: Floral Nail Art

The Trend

Floral nails have become an extremely popular trend over the past few years. Most people associate this particular design with the ‘vintage’ look and it is a very versatile technique. Floral is suitable year round and is an extremely popular look for Spring. 

The Look

This is the design that can be achieved with the techniques in the tutorial below. These are simple looking flowers that are created by painting C's. There are many tutorials out there but I would like to share the way that I achieve the look. 

The Technique

The items I have used are Sinful Colors ‘Snow Me White,' OPI ‘Pink Friday,' Sally Hansen ‘Mint Sorbet’ and Seche Vite top coat. You will also need a fine nail art brush. The brush I use is in the size 20/0 and can be purchased at your local craft store. 

There are 5 steps involved in the process.

1)      Paint a coat or two of white until it is opaque.

2)      With the nail art brush, paint two C shapes which almost fit into each other. Do this as many times as you would like, according to the number of flowers you would like.

3)      Paint three C shapes around the previous arrangement.

4)      Paint five C shapes around the previous arrangement.

5)      Paint leaves. These should be spread around the nail and mostly grouped in 2x2 for each flower.

For convenience and a clearer explanation, this is a pen and paper tutorial for the flowers. A lot of the time, people tell you to simply draw C’s until it looks like a flower. Initially when I started, my compilation of C’s looked nothing like flowers until I decided to devise a certain method to always follow.  This is my own 2-3-5 C formation.

I hope that with the steps above you are able to achieve the look. On my ring finger I have done an accent nail with a pink base, white flowers and mint green leaves. 

If I have inspired you to do a nail art design, I would love to see them in the comments below or tag #nailsbynikkih on Instagram.

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Features and Suggestions

Suggestion #1: For a more complex and vintage look, pair the flowers with stripes and spots.

These nails are by @followthatway on Instagram. You can find her on www.instagram.com/followthatway or www.followthatway.blogspot.com

Suggestion #2: Pair the flowers with bright colours for a fun, summer look.

These nails are by @modnails on Instagram. You can find her on www.instagram.com/modnails or www.mod-nails.com

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I hope you enjoyed this post!