Or are they?...
This was my not-so-valentine-y Valentine's Day mani, sort of an abstract/ geometric heart shape mani... (tries to justify herself). I started off with the two accent fingers using Revlon Silver Screen as the base, and topped it off with Australis Shimmy Shake (I LOVE THIS GLITTER). It looked so glitzy and girly that I used China Glaze Pool Party with the full intention of creating a fun and flirty design.
Well that failed... hahah I ended up with a tribalesque theme. So in the end, the 'look' is kind of uncoordinated, but eh I can deal.
I really like the triangular shapes of the pattern though, so I may try recreate this with different colours and minus the glitter :P
As you all well know, the ikat pattern is one of my favourite nail art designs! I seriously can't get enough of them! ALSO at the moment, I can't get enough of bright, vibrant, neon colours. SO I've combined the two, and created this eye sore of a mani!!
By eye sore I mean a mani that hurts my eyes ...but ina good way! hahahaa It's so bright and eye catching, I find myself stealing quick glances at it during the day :P
It is all done using just nail polish: China Glaze Pool Party, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, Chi Chi OMG, BC Co. Shade 13, and a regular black polish for the ikat heart.
I did a similar ikat design a few weeks back using different colours (here), including a tutorial (here), but a fellow IG'er requested a tutorial on these, so I happily obliged.
Here's a quick and dirty pictorial I did on the spot straight after my mani:
These actually turned out a lot better than I had anticipated. The ikat chevrons on their own really didn't do much for me in terms of appeal and overall "wow" factor, especially since they're all pretty much in the same colour range, and looked like a hot smudged mess. BUT once I painted the black ikat heart, it brought the whole design together and I'm absolutely in love with the end result. I'm also currently obsessed with CG Flip Flop Fantasy ...just sayin' :P
I even wore these to work :P I'm so lucky Target's not strict with nail colour, or hair colour for that matter (I dyed my hair a vibrant red a few weeks ago).
Okay so a couple more pictures for y'all! And until the next instalment, here's to hoping you're all not sick of the bright nails yet! :D
Tada, tutorial! ;D
The picture tutorial itself is pretty self explanatory but I've provided, what I hope to be a clear description of the steps as well. So here goes!
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Start off with your base coat and 2 coats of white polish.
Need: 6 pastel polishes, 1 black polish, a nail art brush (base coat+top coat as per usual and acetone + brush for clean up)
For the purpose of this tutorial I've labelled the nails 1, 2 and 3.
For nail #1
1. With your nail art brush, starting with yellow, paint tiny vertical strokes/ dashes, one next to the other, creating the zigzag pattern.
2. With your remaining colours, paint on the same tiny strokes/ dashes following the zigzag pattern created in step 1.
3. With your nail art brush and black nail polish, using the same techniques in steps 1 and 2, paint tiny black strokes between the light pink and yellow, and between the blue and purple, also creating a zigzag pattern.
For nail #2
1. Using the same technique in Nail #1 create a V shape pattern with all 6 colours.2. With your black polish and nail art brush, create an ikat heart shape by painting small strokes following the V shape.
For nail #3
1. Create a dark pink to light pink to white gradient.2. With your nail art brush, create miniature heart shapes on top of the gradient.3. Again with your nail art brush and using the same technique in Nails #1 and #2, create an ikat heart shape by outlining the miniature hearts with your black polish.
Top it off with your favourite top coat and don't forget to clean up your cuticles (:
**Remember you don't have to follow the design colour for colour, be creative and if ever you try it, leave a comment with a link, I'd love to see what all your imaginations come up with! (:
Toodles~
