Hey guys! Recently I was asked to take part in Modcloth‘s Nail Klub Nail Art Challenge! I was both honored and super excited to give it a try! I have never delved into the fascinating world of nail art and until now have only admired the many amazing designs on Pinterest. The challenge was to create a nail art tutorial inspired by Modcloth’s hottest summer dresses which you can see Here. If you have ever seen my Polyvore collections, you know that I am a huge fan of Modcloth’s style! I love so many of their dresses, I had a really hard time narrowing it down to one! So, I ended up doing two dresses, one for each hand.
My first choice was the Air of Adorable Dress in Balloons. I love everything about this dress! It’s so quirky and cute, and the little faces on the balloons were just awesome!
Pick out the balloons you want to copy. I chose to do one hand all of the same balloon face and the other to be all different faces. Next, you need to paint your base coat on your nails. Let them dry completely. I used a combination of fine tip nail art pens and a tiny nail art brush which were both by Sally Hansen that I picked up at Target. For my thumb, the base coat was white. With the tiny brush we painted in the cheeks and mouth. The crosshatching at the top was made by painting short strokes in one direction. Then after they dry, paint short strokes in the opposite direction. Use a nail art pen to dot in two little eyes.
The index finger was painted black as a base coat. Then when dry, we used a white nail art pen to draw in a few rows of scallops.
The middle finger’s base coat was a soft pink. When dry, use the tiny nail brush to paint in two thin ovals for the outer eyes, then two dots for the pupils, and also a dot for a mouth with red nail polish. Paint in grey teardropish shapes at the top of the nail.
The ring finger’s base coat was a light grey. Once dry, draw in a thin line with a white nail art pen right down the middle, then several curved lines to the left and right sides of the first line. Then use the black pen to dot in two little eyes. Use the tiny nail brush to paint in a little curved line for the mouth.
For the pinky finger, paint the base coat red. Once it has dried, you draw in a small scalloped line at the bottom of the nail with the black nail art pen. Draw a small curved line for the mouth right above the scalloped line. Then make two ovals for the eyes.
Paint a clear coat over the top of the nails once they are nice and dry.
My second choice was the Forrest Things First Dress! I absolutely love the colors! I love woodland themes, and to me this one even hints at a little Twin Peaks inspiration!
I couldn’t find a nail pen that was a deep blue for the second dress I wanted to create a nail art for, so we used a small nail brush that I got in a kit made by Sally Hansen. The first step is to paint your base color on. I used an aqua for the base color. Once your nails are very dry, you are ready to add your bright blue accents. Pour a small drop of polish onto a plastic plate. Load up a little polish on your paint brush. If you are a fabulous artist with a steady hand you can probably paint the details yourself. If you are a sloppy mess like me, get someone to help you, or you can paint your designs on fake nails and then apply them later.
For the owl design, paint a roundish rectangle. Then add an upside down triangle at the top of the rectangle to form the beak. Add a few strokes at the bottom for the feet, and a couple of half circles for wings. For the eyes, make a couple of aqua dots, and then black dots in the center.
For the index finger we drew a curved line near the tip and then a few strokes perpendicular to the curved line to form the branch.
The tree on the middle finger was made by making a few stacked triangles and a stem at the bottom for the trunk.
The leaves on the ring finger were made by drawing a curved line in one direction then a curved line in the opposite way.
The coffee steam on my pinky was made just by using styled lines. It’s really open to interpretation, you can sketch any of the designs you like from the dress onto your nails.
I am pretty happy with how my nails turned out for the first try! They are definitely not perfect, but I do think they are pretty darned cute! Have you tried any nail art yourselves? My mom and I had a lot of fun together doing these! It would be a great thing to do for a girl’s night in! I hope you all have enjoyed my nail art inspired by these two amazing Modcloth dresses! To see more of summer’s hottest dresses see them on the Modcloth site Here. There are lots of adorable styles perfect for parties, or everyday, or maybe even the perfect accent for your latest manicure!
