Tuesday, October 4, 2011

floral nail tutorial!

Hi guys! I've had this tutorial done for a while and I kept putting it on the back burner so I could show you other things, but today, here it is!


You might remember my one pretty floral nail from my Betsey Johnson inspired nails. I loved it so much I had to do a full mani! And a tutorial!

This tutorial is a bit of stamping and a bit of freehand, so it is a tad complicated but I'm sure you all can do it with some patience!

Here's what you need to create your own floral nails:


Base coat and topcoat. I like Seche Retain and Seche Vite.


A base color and a green for your leaves. I like OPI Jade Is The New Black for leaves, and I chose Color Club Almost Famous as my background color, but you can choose any polish for your background!
You could use a creme, shimmer, glitter, anything!


Three shades of the same color for your flowers. I chose pink, but again, you can choose any color you want.
The darkest color must be opaque enough for stamping if you're going to follow my tutorial exactly.
I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri Presto Pink, Wet N Wild Tickled Pink, and OPI Dim Sum Plum.


To make roses exactly as I do them, you need to use Bundle Monster BM14. But you can do these entirely freehand, it's just harder and less realistic looking.
Of course you'll also need a stamper and scraper!


A brush like this one. I'm not sure what to call it, it is sort of an angle brush I guess. It is flat on one side and really skinny. You'll see why I like to use this one specifically later on in the tutorial.

Let's get started!


Paint your nails in your base color. You don't need to let this dry completely before moving on.


Add blobs of your medium pink color. I just do this with the brush in the polish because they do not need to be neat. Again you do not need to let this dry before moving on.


You want to make the blobs around the same size as the rose image.



Blob some light pink polish onto scrap paper.


Use the brush to add little lines in the blobs. With this particular brush, this is more like a dotting motion because the end of the brush is a line. It's easy!
Once again, no drying time needed.



For some reason I like to add my leaves before I stamp the final color.
I use the same brush for the leaves. You can make 2 lines next to each other on an angle to create the right leaf shape.
You should now let your mani fully dry (or use a fast-drying topcoat) so you can stamp on top of it.

If you don't have the rose image plate, you could finish with topcoat now because this is still sort of rose-like. You could also add the darkest pink in swirly C-shapes or more lines fanning out from the center to make it more realistic.



If you're going to stamp, read on!


This requires stamping multiple times so be patient! You must stamp the image over each blob using your darkest color which like I said, must have stamping capability.
This is what gives them the final realistic look!

Add topcoat and you're done!


Sneaking in my EOS...


And my crochet cupcake...

Here is a small step-by-step photo.
I forgot to take a picture between the leaves and the stamping so they're in the same image.
And stamping is hard on a wheel! But you get the idea.


And remember, the sky is the limit with color combos!


Here's an older combo I did! Pastels make for nice floral nails too. (On those ones I did not add the second color into the blobs before stamping, but I believe the 2 colors under the stamp is what gives the look the realistic-ness.)


You can also do it in crazy psychedelic colors! Again just one color before stamping. It's all up to you!

I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and if you try this out, please show me! :)

39 comments:

  1. love it :) very pretty for summer ;D

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  2. Very helpful tutorial. I will be trying these soon.

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  3. Thank you so much for sharing.
    I have to try this look soon.

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  4. veryyyyyyyyy big wow you are an artist very beautiful tutorial i will try to do this for sure but i dont wear nail polishes as much even i have only 2 or 3 nail colors thank you for the very nice tutorial
    Follow Back Please
    ♥ SadeeStyle ♥
    www.sadeestyle.net

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  5. I love this!! BTW you have totally inspired me to take on the 31 day challenge. I dont think I'll do nearly a awesome as you but I just have to try!

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  6. Nice tutorial. I loved the design when you first posted it- Now i know how you did it. Great job, girl!

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  7. These days I have been seriously thinking about painting floral design and your tutorial is really useful for me! :) Thaaanks!:) It looks awesome!

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  8. wow nail art and stamping. Have to give it a go

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  9. I just adore the last two! <3<3<#

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  10. Great tutorial very helpful, and cute!

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  11. oohhhh my little nubbins made a preview agaaaain hahaha. i will probably sport roses many times until i have perfected it! i just love. it. so. much.

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  12. Nice tutorial! I really love these nails <3

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  13. This is a great tutorial Rebecca! I will be trying it out soon. I'll let you know when I do :)

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  14. soooooooooooo pretty!

    my blog♥mfashionfreak

    Please follow me if you're not already. I'd love to get more followers! I'll follow you back.

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  15. Awesome tutorial Rebecca! I will definitely be trying  these out! Love those great bright colors!

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  16. soo cute, i love it with the stamping but unfortunatley i don't have the plate so i'll have to settle for freehand *sigh* loll!
    btw, i sent you an email a yesterday did you get it ?

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  17. Wow!!So beautiful and helpful!Thanks for posting!

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  18. I have your older one pinned on my pinterest page and can not wait to try out this tutorial - thanks soooo much!!

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  19. The last combo is my fave! Very Warhol

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  20. this is so cool, I love it!

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  21. I adore this post!

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  22. Oh i so have to try this. Great tutorial!

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  23. Wow!!
    Looks so cool!
    i really love it!
    Thanks for the tutorial!

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  24. WOW! So beautiful! Thanks for the great tutorial!

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  25. Heaps cool tutorial! I seriously thought you drew them on when I saw them in your 31 day nail challenge, but great combo of the both! Shame I don't have that plate so have to settle for freehand haha

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  26. I want to do these in every color combo! Lol they are sooo cute. I doubt mine would be as perfect as yours though!

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  27. This is awesome! Thanks for the great tutorial, definitely want to try this one soon (:

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  28. beautiful, impressive and very creative!! Thanks for the tutorial :)

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  29. Hiiiiii, I just found your blog by Emerald Sparkled, and I LOVE IT! Seeeeeerious!
    I'm following it.
    If you want to see my .. is about nails as well.
    Kisses, Maria Clara :)
    http://beijofosco.blogspot.com/

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  30. This tutorial is wizard and I am going to try this, soon. Thank you so much. :D

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  31. great tutorial... I love this design! PS: I tagged you on my blog :)....As time passes by

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  32. Gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing your tutorial. I'm definitely going to try this one!

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  33. I love the last nail design with the green base/ & pink/blue roses! Man.. I need this plate!!!

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