Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas Cheetah Nails

Hi everyone!

Today's nail art is a NailsByNeenie original! I'm finally feeling the Christmas spirit, a bit late in the game, but here nonetheless. For my holiday nails I went with safari chic, so here are my Christmas Cheetah nails with step-by-step instructions below the photo.



1.) Apply a base coat. I used OPI's "Natural Nail Base Coat."
2.) Apply red polish to the thumb and middle finger of each hand. I used  "Expressionist Red" by Finger Paints. I gotta say, this is one of the smoothest applications for polish I've ever had. It just glides on and coats the nail beautifully.
3.) Apply green polish to the index and pinkie finger of each hand. I used "Sketch n Etch" by Finger Paints.
4.) Apply a gold shimmer polish to the ring finger of each hand. You want to find one that is an actual polish with shimmer to it, rather than a sparkly one, only so that it will actually coat the nail. I used "Brushed Gold" from Avon's Brushed Metals collection, which I think worked really well. [Shout out to my Avon lady and friend, who is always helping me find nail polish deals! http://kellyweldon.avonrepresentative.com/]
5. Next use either a dotting tool or a toothpick to drop some gold dots, irregularly shaped is best, onto all nails EXCEPT the ring fingers. Roughly 3-5 drops per nail, depending on the size of your nail. Refer to the photo to see an example of how to space them apart. (It might be best to put a glob of polish on a paper plate or similar instead of trying to use the brush or a bottle.)
6.) Using a smaller dotting tool or toothpick, use some of the green polish to ring the gold dots on the nails with red polish, and use red to ring the dots on the nails with green polish. Did I lose you? Just check out the photo, and it should hopefully make sense! lol You will want to do either C shapes around the dots, or two half-U shapes on either side of the dot.
7. Then use whatever color you are using for that nail to make a few extra dots to fill up any open spaces. Basically if you are working on a nail that is painted red, you will use the green to fill up any open spaces.
8.) On the ring fingers painted gold, you won't need to make any dots. Just use both the red and green to make the little C & U shapes (see photo).
9.) Wait a bit for the nails to dry before applying a fast dry top coat. If you put it on too soon, it might smear the polish. I used my trusty Seche Vite top coat.

If you have any questions, or if my directions completely lost you, just drop me a line at nailsbyneenie@gmail.com.

Have fun recreating this colorful and festive design!

*XOXO*

NeenieChick