Nail Art For Dummies

These are the basics you need for making nail art and designs. Not all of it is a necessity, but everything really helps if you're interested in trying nail art!

The polishes in the bottles are French Tip white by Orly and a simple top coat. I added the white to this picture not because I use it in every design, but because it is reeally important to buy French Tip white rather than just plain white. French Tip white is the only kind of white that shows up opaque on nails. It is not only found in Orly, though. There are plenty of other brands that carry it!

Right above the polish bottles there is a toothpick and an opened up bobby pin. I use the toothpick for really tiny dots, like the dots in my Rainbow Nails design. The bobby pin I use for making slightly larger dots, like in the Cupcake Nails.

Next to that is the foam I referred to in my Faded Zebra Nails. As you can see, I painted one purple stripe, then one blue stripe on top. Then I simply pressed it like a stamp onto my nails (with a white base color painted on them) then patted it a little until it looked blended. Simple as that!

Then there are five paintbrushes/dotters. The swirly designed sticks are the dotters. They are basically just super fancy toothpicks and bobby pins made specifically for nail art. They aren't a necessity if you have some toothpicks and bobby pins lying around! Under those are my paintbrushes. The one directly below is my super tiny brush, and I use that in designs like the Birthmas Nails. Under that is another tiny brush that is a little bigger. I use that one for zebra print. The last paint brush is for french tips and cleaning. I always manage to get paint on my skin, so after I'm done designing, I just dip that brush in nail polish remover and brush the mistakes away!

Under everything is a little piece of cardboard. When you dip your nail polish onto the cardboard it doesn't soak through like a piece of paper or a paper towel.

These are the absolute basics (minus the dotters and foam) for nail art! I hope this helps for anyone interested in trying this out :)