First ever nail art....

[Miniminx13]

I love nail art but I am rubbish at it... Lol... Anyway I am persevering and this is my first one that hasn't ended up being thrown straight in the bin....

Would love any tips and recommendations on what's best for beginners... This is acrylic paint over regular polish and seems much more workable than designs using normal polish....

 

['chelle]

That's really good, especially for a first attempt, I think you are better at nail art than you think you are!!!

I can relate to you though, I'm not a very artistic person but I do like a bit of nail art now and again. I'm not too keen on nail art thats over the top though I think it can look tacky, less is more with nail art in my opinion, which is very convenient if you're not much of an artist!! You have to remember that a fingernail is a very small canvass, even with a long nail, so too much detail can just look over the top, or the detail might be so small that it looks lost.

Start small and simple. A couple of flicks and dots in a contrasting colour to the nail with a diamante can look very striking and is very simple. Invest in a set of nail art brushes and a dotting tool and have a play. I would also recommend you invest in the additives as there's so much you can do with them and they're really simple to use.

Did you catch Holly Schippers (the fingernail fixer) when she was doing her "UK tour" the other week? She had some great ideas for nail art with Shellac, for instance one of her tricks which I'm doing on my own nails shortly is to apply 2 colour coats of shellac and cure each coat, then wrap a piece of mesh around the nail and press nail art foil into it, remove the mesh and you are left with little foil circles on your shellac. Then topcoat and cure. It looked amazing and required precisely no artistic skill!! I much prefer this style of nail art to hand painted designs, very few of which I actually like.

 

[Miniminx13]

Thank you... Yeah I am not very arty and very over critical of myself... Think the less is more approach is spot on! I often do too much and the results are messy...

I will look at fingernail fixers tips again and the additives. Have lots of gems, brushes etc but I guess it's practice, practice, practice....

 

['chelle]

Also, decals are a great way to add some nail art because they are quick to do therefore very profitable and you are guaranteed to get a precise finish

 

[souz]

i think it looks fab, well done

 

[Stephanie]

Hi there, I think that looks absolutely wonderful.

I think you are being a little too hard on yourself. Why throw away anything you have made? It's artistic either way.

When I first started out in the business I thought I didnt have talent in art either. I could barely do a french manicure without my hands shaking.
I did something about it I got a nail stripper, one of those thin brushes that came ready in a bottle of regular nail polish, Made a row on stick on nails & just practiced making lines...thick ones & thin ones then circles & so forth. I then practiced making french manicures with different base coats. You would be amazed at how many different french designs you can create by just getting a bit wild with it rather then just the traditional pink & white or beige & white.
I used A clear & white then got more creative by mixing colors & white. You know there are so many base coats like a light pink which is transparent as well as a blue & green as well...then I moved on to solid colors too. I did french in a "v" shape, then reversed & diagonal with tiny rhinestones & without til I felt that I had enough confidence to do any french.

I searched on google for all sorts of nail art with basic flowers & abstracts & then got into more assorted pics. You dont have to be an artist to stroke a few lines here & there or make a few dots & connect them.
You just have to really be passionate about what it is you are doing.

If you love hearts then find ways to draw them. My technique was to start at the bottom with a "V" then connect it off with an "m"! Slowly slowly i got confident in making my hearts & found a way to make my hearts more curvy.

Practice the designs & look at many pictures til you find what appeals to you & just try to add some of your own spice to it as far as color or anything else!

Hope this helped.