Lace Pictorial

This is the second installment on my whole "redoing my old pictorials" plan.

You can see the original here, although I would suggest not because it's pretty awful. So without further ado, here's the new and improved version. 

Step One:

Paint a base color. I chose China Glaze's "Flip Flop Fantasy" You can either paint the entire nail or diagonally like in the photo.

Step Two: 

Using a dotting tool (or bobby pin, pen, anything else you're comfortable making dots with) and paint/polish, diagonally place dots down the nail.

Step Three: 

Paint three (or however many fits) half circles along the dots.

Step Four:  

Repeat step 3. (haha!)

Step Five:  

Again with a dotting tool (or anything else that can make dots), place dots on the outside of the half circles. That's it! It's a pretty simple design. 

Here's a super simple photo that shows all the steps: 

Peacock Nails Pictorial

One of the first pictorials I made was for a peacock design. Let me just say, it was really bad and dark. Actually most of the like 4 pictorials I've made are bad, so I'm going to try and redo them all. So, here is my totally new, redone peacock nail design. 

STEP ONE: 

Paint a base color. I used Essie's Navigate Her.

STEP TWO:

Use a thin brush and black paint/polish, make short strokes to create the feather. 

STEP THREE:

Again, use a thin brush. Paint short strokes with golden paint/polish. 

STEP FOUR:

Repeat step one, over the gold paint. (This step is just so the colors blend together nicely)

STEP FIVE:

Paint a small, gold oval toward the end of the feather.

STEP SIX:

Repeat step five, but with light blue paint/polish.

STEP SEVEN: 

Finally, paint a dark blue "C" shape inside the light blue.

I hope this was somewhat helpful. If you try this, let me know, I would love to see! 

Oh yeah, and here's a simplified version: 

Summer Nails Pictorial

I really enjoy doing Pictorials because honestly I hate talking on camera, and this is an easy way to show people without having to awkwardly talk. So I made a pictorial on "Summer/Spring Break nails"

Here is a more detailed version than the one on Instagram.

First, I started by painting a white base color. This isn't necessary, but it helps make the colors brighter.

Next, I used a makeup sponge to sponge the red polish on. If you do not know how to execute the gradient sponge technique, there's tons of videos on Youtube showing how. Here's a really good one. And here's another. Hopefully that helps.

To do gradients, I usually cut the sponge and use a very small piece for each color. I use tweezers to hold the sponge and it works pretty well. Here's a picture to show you what I mean. 

Next, I sponged on the orange polish. 

After that, I used black polish and painted the tip of the nail. It doesn't need to be a perfect french tip or anything, the more imperfect it is, the better. 

Next, I painted a thin line for the trunk of the palm tree. It should be a bit thicker toward the bottom. 

After that, I painted five, thin lines coming from the trunk to make the bases of the leaves. Five is a good amount, any more than that will look too messy. 

Lastly, I painted short lines coming from the base of the leaves. Add a top coat, and you're done! 

Here's a simplified picture.

Thanks for reading! 

Celine