Ever since I managed to quit nail biting, I've gotten into nail art. It's opened a whole new world of bright bold colors for me and my nails.
I decided to invest in these cute nail gems which only cost me about $8 for 144 stones- from Broadway Nails. You get an assortment of shapes like heart, round, petal and flowers shaped stones as well as glue and a topcoat. I'm quite pleased with the results though I do need to get more creative with the patterns. The good thing is I may even be able to re use them if I take really good care of them.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3b_sUHoByiNlQ2Vj2shFGEZZMoYGKAN_xsOFraNALxcN3BrPE_y5aSedXT47NEswd_R-ScBzuw4udNMQoMa212ynFNZclWADV4PLVlczY5PxLtjh2V-CSIHI5D0-cVWL_v6PtOpABt8-/s400/BNAK01_product.jpg)
Here's my how-to guide:
1. Apply a basecoat. I never knew how important this was til recently. It smooths ridges and makes nail polish go on smoother and stay on. If you missed it, here is my recommendation for a budget friendly basecoat.)
2. Apply 1-2 coats of your favorite polish. For more a more detailed explanation on applying nail polish perfectly go here. Make sure you let dry properly between coats. I usually just watch tv or go on the elliptical at home in between coats.
3. Apply the nail glue and (with tweezers apply) nail stones to your nails.
4. Sometimes I use gel pens. Metallic colored pens or even pastel to paint on patterns on nails. I find it easiest to work with patterns which include dots, not lines. Why? It's way too hard painting on lines with my left hand. I invested in a set of metallic gel pens with the colors silver, gold, blue, red, green, and purple.
5. Dab the topcoat- DON'T stroke the brush- onto the painted pattern. Stroking it over the pattern like you would with nail polish will smudge all your hard work. I recommend "Sally Hansen Hard As Nails" (about $2-3 and adds high shine).
6. Allow the dabbed on topcoat to dry then brush over all your nails with proper coating.
Here you can see I stuck a red heart-stone in the top corner and painted on 3 silver dots. Still working on getting more creative.
Here are some patterns you can recreate:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8w9zTMEWjt9PGdGZ2KPYJm4iftJr02pFLvt9RwcqACZfh2saqxqSdZYUZBFSDQd_M-hrn4cgtzs7OSfT-WAyMmlpAPtFNY2maaLl3UhkkQl4VGx3qlMRbsrJgyify1EyHR6NHDTVJ5nfC/s400/DSC02885.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQAmAzLvEPOPZZ_JdxcnECRnbv87yMyfIp7V7NGFd7vdefpa01gKM11y-7itAP20qmjjZEgzHdBk3OLQZaYtJCG3Bli3l_fMcshqcvVUV0VJKvnNszGXLRTK3Fbx9bgY6h4x3ZmOSAsww7/s400/DSC02887.jpg)
You can try these looks by buying nail stickers, glueing them on with adhesive then applying a top coat. Add stones to jazz up the nail stickers:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2I2JEjMlK1MhWv1iq_XKXZ2Vo9RvdhrAcp9MRVecaJxpfIDIU4LKcRMYhSVR71EE4t7ASpKxNSL99sjp36LC2qXdhiz_sGuZaFz11FP1I-tqdvgTikF2c5ft_JN6Kmjf9xwo_tJudL1WZ/s400/DSC02886.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTPVRqZEBDa_6CGC4FAxU3SK8N9cxSxTHhDiNF8oB1OwFM2QLC91fbUyxCV2QOuNr7Dr1ycxeCw1tYYVv2wrb5i0vDl4p3AuUtovDtSKbzT2fPkXrMGYz2v28xhobbIZcI8IeK2odo5hx/s400/DSC02888.jpg)
One more TIP: I recommend using more of the PASTEL pens, instead of metallic gel ones. For some reason, the metallic ones don't dry much, the pastel ones do! So every time I try doing my nails entirely with metallic red, blue, green, etc it smudges! Try doing a white flower and only a silver center for instance. Or add a stone in the middle instead.
Also, if you can it's always much easier to have a friend paint your left hand for you. That's why I stick with dot patterns: much easier to do with my left hand.