Graduation Nails

Hi! I'm a Senior in high school and my graduation is tomorrow!! Therefore, I did this nail art design in celebration of that. I used my schools colors which are red and gold, but you can substitute your school colors in for it! Enjoy.

Step1: start by applying a base coat. Then use a red base color on your thumb and ring finger, and a white base on the remaining fingers.

Step2: apply a gold glitter over the white nails. I had to use 3 coats to make it opaque enough for my liking. 

Step3: on the pointer and pinky fingers, apply a red polish to only the tip and base. It doesn't have to be perfect because the edges will be covered. 

Step4: use a black polish and a toothpick to draw zig zags where the red polish meets the gold. It should look like this. 

Step5: use a toothpick and a black polish to create the dotticure numbers 2015 on the thumb. 

Step6: to draw the grad cap, draw a black diamond on the ring finger. Then draw a white outline along the bottom edge of the diamond as seen below. 

Step7: finish off the cap with a toothpick as seen below. Make a small white dot on the top of the cap. Then draw a tassel on one side. Mine is on the left, but it's hard to see in the image below, sorry! 

Step8: use the same dotticure technique as step5 to write the word GRAD on the middle finger. 

Step9: add a top coat and clean any nail polish around the nails. You are done! 

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! Feel free to follow me on Instagram @lisa_xhe where I'll be posting pictures of nail art, my graduation, and just my life in general! Enjoy and thanks for reading! 

Flower Prom Nails

My prom is in 2 days!!! So I decided to do this nail design that I will be wearing for prom! I hope you like it. 

Step1: start by applying a clear base coat to protect your natural nails. Then use a nude base. Mine has a bit of a sparkle to it, but it's fine either way. 

Step2: apply a black French tip. This can be a little messy at the base because we will be covering some of it later. 

Step3: apply a layer of blue underneath the black. (You can actually use a different color of your choice is you want! I used blue to match my prom dress). Try to blend the black and blue at little where they meet by gently dabbing the polish inbetween the layers. Yes it probably looks bad at this stage, but don't worry, it gets better!! 

Step4: apply a sparkly silver polish over the entire nail concentrating at the tip so that it blends the black and blue a little better. 

Step5: now it's time to be creative and draw on the flowers. The technique is simple. Make small white dots in groups for the petals. Before the dots are dry. Use a plain toothpick to scrape a thin line down the middle of each dot towards the center to form a flower. Then add some more petals using the same technique. This is what I did on my thumb. 

Step6: draw the flowers on the rest of the nails as seen below. Then add some other dots and random lines for more detailing. 

Step7: add a top coat to seal in the design. Then clean around the nail with a cotton swab. You're done! 

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! These nails are great for prom, even if you have short nails! Remember to use any color instead of blue if you want it to match your dress! I hope you enjoyed this and stay tuned for more!

Galaxy Nails

Today I have an easy galaxy nail tutorial that requires no tools! All you need is a toothpick and some nail polishes! Here's what it looks like: 

Step1: Start by applying a base coat to protect your natural nails. Then apply a coat of black polish for the base color.

Step2: take a white polish and dab the brush so that there is barely any polish left on the brush. Then use the brush to dab the remaining polish onto your nail where you want the color to be concentrated. I recommend doing it down the middle diagonally as seen below. The key is to have little polish on that brush. This will creating a fake sponged look. 

Step3: repeat this "fake sponging technique" using a little bit of blue polish. Dab the polish around the white that you did earlier. It's ok to cover up the white a little bit, and it's also ok to leave the white showing. Just do whatever feels right to you. Here's what mine looked like at this stage. 

Step4: repeat step 3 using a purple nail polish. Then use a pink polish with the same technique. You can actually use any colors you like, but I think that blue, purple, and pink look the most realistic. 

Step5: redo the white polish using the same technique as above, but with even less polish on the brush! Make the white as thin as possible down the middle of the Galaxy. 

Step6: apply a silver glitter polish to smooth up the look. 

Step7: use the white polish with a toothpick to add some dots and "stars," which are essentially just crosses. 

Step8: apply another glitter polish, then apply a top coat. Finish off by cleaning the excess nail polish on your finger. And the look is complete! 

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! I have some really pretty designs coming up in the future so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and have fun painting your nails!