Bow Tie Nails 27/2/13

Hi Tory,

It really irks me that the press-on stickers I bought a while ago for false nails turned out to be such a bust - and I really don't want to go down the nail glue route as I'm trying to condition and grow out my nails again. So I'm left with little packets of really cute nail designs but no way to use them.

"time to get creative!" I said to myself.

"Time to get creative!" I said to myself. (At this point I can hear our grandmother somewhere in the ether telling us not to spend money on things but rather make them ourselves. Consider this a tribute of sorts, Nan.) The fiddliest part is the bow tie which is essentially two triangles facing each other.

costs
£4.78

I used a combination brush and blob stroke for the triangles, building up the colour as I went. If you have a steady hand, you could use a little, fine art brush for this step as well. After I'd done the nail art I figured out that it would be so much easier to do the tips, then the dots, then the triangles and work down the nail. Hindsight!

So now I have some nail art which is not too far away from the original false nails, and only uses two colours (three if you count the clear top/base coat). You could do a negative version for a bit of Lux Tux Action, or maybe do the details in glitter for a bit of 42nd Street Pizzazz? The original nails had one single black rhinestone for the third finger nail of each hand - that's a snazzy detail to add too!

Steps

• Base coat the nails with a clear coat and then apply the white background - I used three coats of the MUA All Nude for this. Make sure it's thoroughly dry before moving on to the next step.
• Using the nib of an old pen and a black polish apply three tiny dots in a line from just below the nail tip to about halfway down the nail - this will give you the buttons.
• Either freehand or using the rubber band method paint a black tip on the nails.
• Again, using an old pen nib dipped in black polish, paint two triangles pointing at each other in the bottom half of the nail for the bow tie. Let everything dry thoroughly at this point.
• Apply a clear top coat and you have a set of cute bow tie nails!

Products Used

• MUA Polish in All Nude
• 2True Glossywear in Shade 19
• NYC In A New York Color Minute in Grand Central Station
• Old pen
• Prices based on what I paid for the whole look from scratch, and correct at the time of posting

Hugs and kisses,
xxx