Nail art has my heart

Lately, I've had a lot of free time on my hands, what with the whole coronavirus thing and all. School doesn't start back up for a few more weeks, and aside from the odd task around the house, I'm not doing much. Obviously, I've been painting my nails constantly, and while a fresh coat of plain creme polish is easy and effective, it's grown a little... boring. I've had some nail art tools (a thin brush and some dotting tools) collecting dust for the longest time, so I got to thinking... why not dip my toes (or my fingers, I should say) into the wonderful world of nail art? I've been painting my nails regularly for about 2 years now, and with all this practice has come great dexterity and steadiness, which have proved very useful in my nail art endeavors. Let me show you some of the looks I've done in the past month or so!

Base - Essie Mademoiselle

White - Orly French Manicure Softest White

Black - Jordana Black

Silver glitter - Pure Ice Beware

Here you have a dotticure I did about a month ago. I had initially tried traditional polka dots before realizing this - I absolutely cannot do normal polka dots. I have a tough time placing them at regular intervals, and they end up misaligned. So, I thought, why don't I just smack them on my nails willy-nilly and see what happens? This is the result - a gradient effect using multiple different colors. I actually really like how this turned out, and so did others - I posted this in a nail polish subreddit and got almost 200 upvotes! 

Base - Orly French Manicure Softest White

Black - Jordana Black

Red - OPI Big Apple Red

Yellow - OPI Towel Me About It

Blue - Nicole by OPI I Sea You and Raise You

Silver glitter - Pure Ice Beware

Next up is this fun and colorful leopard print look. I also really, really like how this turned out - leopard print looks a lot more complicated than it is! You can see that my black polish got a little bit stringy after sitting out in a puddle to dip my dotting tool into, resulting in fine black lines as I lifted the dotting tool away. Still, I think this look is a lot of fun, and I couldn't stop staring at my nails when I had it on. I showed it to my boyfriend and he said it gave him major 80s vibes - I have to agree!

Green - Revlon Sassy

Red - OPI Big Apple Red

Yellow - OPI Towel Me About It

Here's a sweet little strawberry accent nail! I thought this was so cute that I ended up wearing it for about a week. I was a little too scared to attempt the strawberry on all of my nails, but I'm thinking I may try it at some point - my sister wanted me to replicate this on her!

Gold - Urban Outfitters Fools Gold

Black - Jordana Black

And lastly, here's my latest creation (which I'm still wearing now) - gold glitter with a black French tip! While definitely the most simple and easy to achieve out of the bunch, I'm super proud of how they turned out! The tips are totally freehand - I didn't think I had enough control to get them so clean looking, but I underestimated myself! I did some very minimal cleanup with an angled brush, but there was no tape or vinyls involved. Here's a tip for all you polish lovers - Urban Outfitters has really high quality polishes for SUPER cheap. They're currently running a 3 for $10 sale online - I got this one, as well as a blue holo glitter and a highlighter yellow creme.

Well, it looks like that'll be all for today! I'll definitely continue my nail art adventure - not only is it pretty, but SO fun! I love trying out new designs, and practice makes perfect! Until next time... PEACE! xoxo