How To | Nautical Manicure

Beach season is here!

Fancy some pretty nails to go with that fabulous new (or old) bikini to show off at the beach?

Look no further, this nautical nail tutorial will definitely help you with that :)

Read on to find out how to recreate this nautical inspired nail art!


Nothing screams summer like nautical nails. And bikinis. Cut-off shorts. Ice-cream.
Okay, you get the idea.
So, bring in summer with a bang and give yourself a nautical manicure~
:)

If all goes well, it should take about 1 - 1 1/2 hours to finish.
Difficult level: Requires a (somewhat) stable hand.


Summer Nautical Nails

What I used:
1. Sally Hansen - Double Duty strengthing base & top coat
2.  Seche Vite - dry fast top coat

3. China Glaze - The Hunger Games Collection in Electrify
4. O.P.I -  Alpine Snow
5.China Glaze - First Mate
6. (I changed to) O.P.I. - Cajun Shrimp
7. Sally Hansen -  moisturising polish remover for dry, brittle nails
8. Cotton wool for cleaning up
9. My dotting tools - toothpicks and bobby pins

HOW TO:

Step 1: Always protect your nails, use a base coat!

Step 2: Paint your thumb, index finger and pinky with a white polish. I used 2 coats here to achieve a nice even colour. Then, paint your middle finger with a dark blue. Finally, use a bright red for your ring finger.

Step 3: We're gonna start with something easy - polka dots. If you have dotting tools, yay for you - depending on what size dots you want, choose the appropriate size tool. I don't have any, so I am using toothpicks! Dip the round-end of a toothpick into the red polish - drip a few drops on a piece of scrap paper - and from the base of the nail start with TWO dots . Make THREE dots for the next row. Continue in this pattern ( 2, 3, 2, 3) until you are out of nail (haha). And you're done! If the red polish starts to get tacky on the paper just drip more fresh drops of polish. If the polish on the toothpick gets tacky, grab a new one!

Step 4: Moving on to the little finger - this requires a stable hand. Or at least, as stable as it gets. If you have a nail art pen in red, hurray! Use that and draw thin horizontal lines on the pinky and you're done. If not, toothpicks will work too but requires better control. A nail art brush will do the trick too but unfortunately, I could not find mine and hence, I used toothpicks instead. Tip: As Youtuber @cutepolish always say with drawing lines, keep your drawing hand steady and still while rotating the hand being drawn. I wish you all the best in drawing lines. I still suck at it :(

Step 5: It's middle finger's turn! Same thing, if you have a white nail art pen, use that and draw 3 thick horizontal lines across the finger. As I don't own such a thing, sadly, I just used the brush with the white polish. Keeping a steady hand, and ensuring that there is not a lot of polish on the brush, draw as straight a horizontal line as possible. If need be, touch up the sides. And that's nail number 3 done!

Step 6: Time for the accent nail - I did an anchor for my left hand and a ship's wheel for my right!

Right hand (not shown): Either with a white nail art pen/brush or a toothpick, make an asterisk on the ring finger. Try to make sure that the spacing between each white line is roughly the same. Next, make a circle within the asterisk by drawing a slightly curved line between the spaces of the white lines, ensuring that the curved lines meet each other.

Left hand: Start with a white dot in the middle of the top of the nail. Then, draw a vertical line down, leaving some space for the arm of the anchor. Imagine that the vertical line is divided into 3 and draw a white horizontal line along the first divide of the 3. For the arm, draw a curved line starting near the end of the horizontal line to the base of the vertical line. Then, add two little triangles at each side. Finally, using the round-end of a toothpick, dot the center of the white dot you did previously red.

Accent nails done!

Step 7: The thumb's nail design is by far the easiest to do. Take a dark blue polish and paint a vertical line on the right side of the nail. To complete the look, simply add gold glitter polish at the tip of the nail!

Step 8: Once everything looks dried, seal in the designs with a fast-drying top coat. Be generous with it, you don't want the brush to drag on the polish and destroying your nail art.

Voila!
Nautical Nails!

~~

Also,

HELLO FROM PHUKET! :)
(main reason for my nautical nails - for the beach!)

When this is published, I will be on an elephant trek! Or driving an ATV!!

Exciting times man, so pumped for my summer holiday.

How are you celebrating summer?
I would love to know what you're up to - meeting with friends, cafe-hopping or travelling - so hit me up at these places: 

1. Comment in the box below!

2. Twitter me @ChapalangGirls

3. Hit us up on Google+ at +Chapalang Way 

If you recreate this nail tutorial, I'd love to see it! You can tweet me at the link above, or Instagram your nails! Tag me @christinehzy and use the hashtag #TCWnails.

Like us on Facebook to receive updates on new posts!

Happy Summer! :)

Till next time.

Love, 

Christine xoxo