How-to: Ikat Nails




What you'll need: A base color and a white and black nail striper

 


Step 1: Paint on an opaque coat of your base color
Step 2: With your white striper, make a long line in the center of your nail
Step 3: Continue to make stripes on either side of the middle one (make sure they get smaller as you move away from the initial stripe to create an almost diamond shape)




Step 4: Using your black striper, create a diamond in the middle of your white lines and you are done!



Potentially, the easiest nail design in the world! As long as you can create somewhat of a straight line, you can do this to your nails :) Hope this was helpful!

How-To: Ombre Nails!

What You'll Need: An Applicator sponge and corresponding nail polish colors.
 If you wish to create a "true" ombre look, try to choose 3 different shades of the same color. Depending on how dramatic you want it to look, you can choose colors that are fairly similar or if you want to switch it up, you can start with pink and have it ombre into orange! It's totally up to you! Tip: I have found that if you do the deepest color on the tip, it looks the best if it is a metallic color. It definitely doesn't have to be. I just have found that it adds more dimension and visual interest to the ombre and really makes it look cool!

Step:1 Wet the sponge applicator. Make sure to ring it out afterwards. You just want the sponge to be damp so the nail polish won't completely soak into the sponge!
Step 2:  Open up all of the nail polishes. Although technically this step is not needed, it helps a lot in the process and really speeds things up. You may skip over this step if you like.
Step 3: Using your lightest shade, coat all of your nails and LET THEM DRY COMPLETELY. Initially, I moved onto the next step without waiting and unfortunately I had to restart.

Step 4: Using your medium shade, paint directly onto your sponge applicator. If you accidentally paint too much on, just simply dab it off on a paper towel.
Step 5: LIGHTLY dab the sponge applicator with the nail polish directly on the nail. Dab the color about 3/4 of the way down the nail.
Step 6: Let your nail dry COMPLETELY. Your nails could be ruined if you don't wait!
Step 7: Using the other end of the sponge, paint your darkest shade onto the sponge applicator. Repeat what you did with the medium shade by lightly dabbing on your nail, this time starting more towards the tip. And You're Done! How simple was that?!

YOU DID IT!

I have really been wanting to ombre my nails lately, but for some reason all of the tutorials I tried never worked out quite right or required too much effort. After playing around with different techniques, I think I have finally perfected the easiest way to ombre your nails! I think the outcome is quite nice and the fact that it is so easy to do is a huge plus! I really hope you try out ombre nails because they are so fun for the summer!

Are you going to try out ombre nails? If so, what colors will you use?! I love to hear feedback. If anything in this post did not make sense or was not clear to you, feel free to comment and ask about it! :) I hope this was helpful!

How-To: Water Marble Nails!

What You'll need: A few fun nailpolish colors, a toothpick, a small container (warning: may ruin container. If possible, use a disposable one), white nail polish and tape. Optional: Base/Top coat, Glitter Polish



Step 1: Fill your small container with warm water.
Step 2: Paint the nail/nails you will be water marbling with an even coat of white nail polish.
Step 3: To prevent getting a large amount of nail polish on your skin, tape around the top and across the bottom of your finger. (tape around the nail) Tip: I have found that removing the tape at the end is much easier if you make a little tab at the end. That way, you won't have to pick at the tape.
Step 4: Open the nail polishes you will be using for the water marbling and set them next to your water dish. This will help speed up the process.



Step 5: Pick a color, hold the brush over the water, and let the color drip into the water. The Color should spread out. Don't worry if the color doesn't spread! Just keep going! Don't forget to move quickly. If the nailpolish sits for too long, it will dry and you will have to restart.
Step 6: Continue to drop the different nailpolishes into the center of the prior nailpolish.

Step 7: When you are satisfied with your colors, take your toothpick and swirl the nail polish together to create a fun design!
Step 8: Once you are done with your design, stick your finger, fingernail first, into the section of nail polish you want on your nail. Hold your finger underwater for a few seconds. While your finger is in the water, use your toothpick to pick up the excess nailpolish floating around.

Step 9: Pull your finger out of the water. As you can see in the step 9 photo, all of the excess nail polish is on the tape and not your skin! Yay!
Step 10: Carefully remove the tape from your finger and you're done!

The Finished Product! I Chose the yellow color I used in the marbling to use for the rest of my nails and then added some glitter polish! Be Creative!

 I really love Water Marble Nails, especially for summer! It's a fun and easy way to incorporate lots of colors into one nail look! Personally, I tend to do it as an accent nail, but you most definitely can do all of your nails if you want! Be creative and have fun!

If you used this post to help you create your own water marble nails, let me know! I would love to see how they turned out!

If you had any problems while water marbling or something is not clear in my post, feel free to ask me your questions!

Happy Marbling!