I had so much fun sticking stuff to my nails last week, I decided to continue this week:
The theme is “inspired by nature”, so I snipped a frond of my mum’s maidenhair fern (don’t tell her!) and stuck them onto a base of creamy OPI Skull & Glossbones.
Mini-tutorial:
1. Paint nails with base, let dry
2. Cut a piece the size you want
3. Paint a nail with regular clear polish or topcoat
4. Squish the fern on – if you’re feeling posh use an orangewood stick, but I just used my finger, hoping that Seche Vite would smooth it out later, which it did. I think a stick might actually make more noticeable dents in the base if you aren’t careful.
5. Cover with Seche Vite or other thick topcoat.
6. Enjoy!
Maidenhair ferns are delicate creatures and wither quickly, so you want to cut your fern just before you use it or it gets hard to handle. They also darken a lot when they touch topcoat, so keep that in mind when choosing a base.
A bittersweet Artsy Wednesday announcement: Sofie of Swaafie is going on an overseas adventure which means she can’t polish her nails as regularly anymore. Watch the space below for a new Artsy Wednesday member!
More pastoral on nails:
Unnaked Nails – Nail & Polish (out this week for exams) – Beauty Gnome – [I’m talking about this space!]
LOL, great idea! I wonder if it would start to change under the top coat, if you kept it on for mere than a day, causing it to crack…?
Where are my manners, I got so occupied of the durability and what happens as it (and if) it dries up LOL
I really, really love the result!!
I didn’t try… I took it off because I didn’t have the time or patience to do my right hand as well, I needed to go somewhere. I wish I did though, it was really pretty! I don’t think it’d crack, it might bubble and peel off faster than normal though. Since it’s sandwiched between two layers of polish, it can’t really dry out.
Maybe you should try it with some flower petals and see what happens? 😉
I love this Michelle! Very creative…I must try this with clovers/shamrocks for st.patricks :))
That’s a great idea! Clovers would flatten out nicely I think!
This looks really prettyxxx
Thanks! 🙂
Love this so much!
Haha I love this, and I also find it really hilarious to stick actual plants on my nails!
Yeah, I felt pretty ridiculous! 😛
That looks so pretty, I wouldn’t want to take it off.
this is really cool!! i wouldnt want to take it off either!
wow this is so cool!!
Awesome idea! It looks great! 🙂
This looks AMAZING! What an awesome idea! I’m tempted to try it, but I’m afraid it will be too “lumpy” because I am not skilled enough 🙁
Maidenhair ferns are really delicate and lie flat really easily… I think individual flower petals would work well too! It really didn’t take much skill, just lots of mashing it flat with a finger 😛
I love this… super awesome! Are there any flowers you think would also work?
Anything that’ll lie flat really! And if they aren’t flat, sticking them in a book for a few days will take care of that… 😉
Oh my god! That’s just gorgeous. I might need to arrest you for being too awesome.
Aww thank you, thank you kindly! You are pretty awesome yourself! 🙂
Looks awesome!
Thanks! 🙂
this is so clever! Just like preserving flowers and plants in a frame, but the frame is your nails!
That’s such a great description!
Thanks everyone for your nice comments 🙂
Wow this is amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever thought about trying to put flowers into my nail art before but that might be fun! I don’t have any ferns about so I guess I’ll try to hunt down some smaller lovelies and try it out.