Nail Art for Beginners

If you're a girl, chances are you've been to the nail salon. Not a lot comes close to the feeling of leaving the salon with an adorable design on your nails. Having a little bit of art to take around with you wherever you go is great. But you know what's better? When the art is your own!

You might be thinking, "No way, I can't do that. I don't have any tools and I'm not good at drawing." There are plenty of items at home that can work. Following a step by step tutorial makes it easy to do. After all, all art is just made up of simple shapes.

One of the easiest things to use is a bobby pin. Simply straighten it out and use it to make small dots by dipping it in the polish. For smaller dots or lines, try using a tooth pick or even a lead pencil (you can just snap the little piece of lead off when you are done.) In addition, Scotch tape is great for keeping lines straight or doing zigzags. Another useful tip is to cut off a piece of a makeup sponge or one of those cheap eye shadow brushes and using them to make gradients. "Random people who don’t know anything about nail art are generally shocked at how beautiful gradients look, but for us nail artists we know that it’s one of the easiest techniques to do!" says YouTube nail artist, Simply Nailogical.

Now that you know you have the tools, here is a quick holiday themed tutorial to get you started.

#1 Use a protective base coat.

#2 Paint white or silver layers over the entire nail until it is completely opaque.

#3 Pick a nail for the main design (like a ring finger).

#4 Grab a dotting tool and make little green dots in the form of a triangle.

#5 Take a sparkly green, a gold, and a red polish to make the little ornaments- which are just little dots.

#6 Put a gold dot on the top corner of the tree to represent the star

(Or place a bit of glitter on it).

Make sure to let the nail polish dry between each step! To finish it off, put on a clear top coat to seal it. There you have it! A simple and cute nail design just in time for the holidays to get you started on your nail art adventures.

Top left image courtesy of Google

Bottom left Image courtesy of Laura Dimadi