Wednesday 20 July 2011

Do It Like a Pro!

One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing photos of really badly painted nails! I have been asked a few times to do a tutorial on how to paint your nails like a professional so here it is!

I have made two tutorial videos one on a dark colour and one for French polish. Painting your nails should be really simple but all it takes is a shaky hand or an over loaded brush to ruin the look! So here are my tips for painting your nails like a pro!

DARK POLISH
 BAD
GOOD

The main mistake people make is trying to get the polish too close to the cuticle line, it actually looks more professional and cleaner if you leave a small gap all the way around the edges.
  • Make your first brush stroke through the centre of the nail then fill in the rest of the nail.
  • place the brush on the nail and then press downwards to fan the brush outwards this will create the line around the cuticle line then you can follow that line for the rest of the nail.
  • Don't over load the brush with polish
  • Don't over work the polish, if it is streaky you will normally get a better coverage with a second coat.
FRENCH POLISH

 BAD
GOOD
With French Polish, I think people try to be too neat! I know I was one of them but when someone showed me how to do it in a more relaxed way it definitely made a difference!
  • Paint across the tip, you will get a smoother line this way.
  • Place the brush onto the nail and rotate the finger rather than the brush.
  • Don't worry about getting it on the skin of the finger tips, you can go back and clean it up (no one will ever know!)
  • Sweep across the nail in one smooth movement, if you need to do a second coat you can.
  • Follow the natural shape of the nail, it won't look right otherwise.
  • Fake it! If you have a broken nail just take the white polish further down to give the illusion of a longer nail tip.
For a better idea of how to paint like a pro, take a look at my tutorial videos!



I hope these tips help, if you have any question please leave me a comment.

Stay gorgeous

Grace x

6 comments:

  1. ha that first pic cracks me up. i feel like you had to consciously try really hard to do that!

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  2. @NailsByCourteney Haha! I did have to try really hard! It was making me cringe the whole time too! The nail varnish remover was out straight away to get it off! x

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  3. omg i feel ya. I freak out even if I get a little bit of polish on my skin! I would be cringing to paint my nails like the first picture. so funny! lol

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  4. Yikes! I never would be seen with that dark red polish job! It looks like a 7 yr old did it! There are ways to clean up oops when you slip to the skin around your nails! I always have Q-tips with me while doing my polish...and after doing a pedi - I have to clean off my fingernails because I use them to clean off around the edges if needed around my toes.

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  5. Absolutely love your 'good' and 'bad' pictures, the videos are great too!! A very useful post.

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  6. You have exactly the same nail shapes as I do. Wow. I am south asian and tanned with a yellow tinge to my skin so I used luster shades in soft peach and caramel so I do not highlight that each nail is a bit of a different shape. What are your favorite colors?

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