Stripe and Spots: My First Attempt At A Nail Tutorial

Okay, so since it was my day off yesterday, I worked on rehearsing for my piano cover (which would soon inspire a makeup tutorial I'll be doing) then I kinda saw the three bags of polish I have on my dresser. Thought to myself... probably this is the time I practice on doing nail art and work on a tutorial. I haven't done a tutorial ever for nails prolly because I'm lazy to paint my own nails since I do lots of manual labor (washing brushes, dishes, and cleaning) and I don't sport long nails since it hinders me when I work or when I play the piano.

This is the first attempt I did. I worked on the design on the spot, so everything's coming at the top of my head. I had fun making this. The design is relatively easy, though, but for beginners like me, it was tricky switching on the right hand and making sure the stripe was even. So here goes.

First off, I had to make sure my nails were clean and free of oil by wiping them down with a non-acetone polish remover. Oil would just cause the polish to chip and slide off, so it's gonna be useless. After that, I applied a basecoat to prevent the polish from staining the nails. I use my basecoat from MAC, which is pretty easy to apply. I like the consistency since it's not too thick. It dries relatively fast too on the nail.

Next up, I fished out the colors I wanted. I went for safe primary colors of yellow, red, and two shades of blue.

I painted my nails two coats of yellow. I chose a not-so-frosty yellow color that could be good as the base.

On me, yellow on its own doesn't look pretty, and it makes my nails look stained, so I had to move on to the next step. But before that, I had to let this layer dry (a good two coats) so it would be easier to work with.

Next up, I painted a stripe of red right down the middle. Don't get that red too thick. Just a good stripe right down the middle. If you're used to painting your nails, the stripe wouldn't be as wobbly. Again, let the stripe dry for a few good minutes (Mental note... arm self with good music while doing this, particularly something soothing)

On the yellow sides, I dotted a few blue spots using toothpick dipped in blue polish. I used a bright blue on the right side and a darker blue on the left side. Why? Because I'm crazy! 8-} Okay, kidding. As I told everyone, I'm just designing at the top of my head here. I used toothpicks not because I'm crazy but toothpicks give me better control in creating the fine details. It does take a bit of practice though. Plus toothpicks are cheap and disposable and I could toss one out when I switch colors.

I did the same on the other side but with a darker blue. Again, I let the dots dry before topping and sealing everything with a topcoat so that hard work I did would last me a good number of days. And then I excuse myself from manual labor for a good 30 minutes and leave my hands to rest so that they dry well.

So here's the final art work I did:

It's a bit simple though, for first-timers who would like to just have fun with color. I figured too that opaque and non-frosty colors work best here rather than the shimmery kind so the designs come out sharper. Don't be afraid if it's not too perfect. I didn't get it quite 100% pro level here at first, and I did a few cleanups with a Q-tip and polish remover after the photo was taken. The colors do look fun and fierce.

Of course it doesn't have to be this color scheme. I'm thinking it would look absolutely pretty black and white or black, gray, and white as well. How about a glittery topcoat? Probably I'll graduate to more complicated designs soon when I get the hang and control.