Bright Accent Nail w/ BPS Tip Guides

The sunny weather has finally come around in Perth and I thought I'd reflect this by wearing some uber bright and fun nails. For this look I used the orange-yellow-pink combo and paired this with an accent and gradient. The accent nail was achieved using a pre-cut sticker guide from Born Pretty Store as you will see in the tutorial below.

These tip guides are so handy and are excellent for achieving a quick design without much prep! They work like any other form of tape design - just stick over a base colour, paint on another colour and peel off the sticker! I found that these stickers stuck on very well, however I do wish they were made a little thinner, as thicker stickers can sometimes mess up the design when you go and peel them off. Aside from that, I peeled cautiously and it all worked out well! If you are interested in these stickers, you can purchase them here. You can also get 10% off at checkout and free shipping with the code HOWG10.

Next onto the polishes! From left to right, OPI 'Alpine Snow', ulta3 'Tangerine Tango', ulta3 'Honolulu' and ulta3 'Pink Hibiscus'.

1. Paint a thin coat of white polish as a base to make your bright colours pop more.
2. Follow up with one coat of yellow polish. Allow this to dry completely before going on to the next step. You may wait it out or add a coat of fast drying top coat to speed up the process.
3. Grab a tip guide sticker and place it in the desired position on the nail. Press down firmly so there are no loose edges.
4. Paint over the sticker with your desired colours. I used orange on the top half of my nail and pink on the bottom.
5. Peel off the sticker immediately while the polish from step 4 is still wet.

You may choose to do this on all your nails or alternatively, use it as an accent. On my other nails I did a gradient with the same colours. Simply paint the colours onto a makeup sponge (as seen below) and dab onto a white base. Top the gradient off with a top coat to blend all the colours together.

And that is all you need to know to achieve this design! 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] 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] 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!