Nail Art Fashion Week 2016 is officially over! What a ride it’s been with so many fantastic manicures and new talented nail artists discovered and of course, useful nail art lessons learned along the way. The same like last year, so many of you have joined in! It was great to do this challenge together, inspire and motivate each other every day.
On another note, I’ve noticed a significant improvement in the level of nail art this year compared to NAFW 2015. Which is fantastic! That means that we, as a community grow and develop together. So to continue with this trend, in today’s round up I’m also sharing a few important nail art lessons that I’ve learned during the challenge. Whether you’re a beginner or experienced nail art warrior, these tips will help you to create fabulous manicures even when you’re on a tight schedule.
But first, here’s the run down of the SoNailicious NAFW 2016 manicures (to see the original post, just click on the link):
- Day 1 – Favorite fashion designer: Gucci.
- Day 2 – Shoes: Givenchy.
- Day 3 – Bag: Anya Hindmarch Fall 2016 Bag.
- Day 4 – Fashion Trend: Leopard Print.
- Day 5 – Style icon: Kylie Jenner.
- Day 6 – Fall 2016 dress: Versace.
- Day 7 – Fall 2016 runway nail art: Vivienne Westwood.
Also, make sure you check out Lucie, Victoria, Emily and Anja‘s blogs to see all amazing designs created by the other NAFW 2016 hosts. You’ll surely be inspired! And if you’d like to see even more, check out this Pin-board featuring some of the best nail designs submitted by our talented participants.
Now, here’s the 5 important lessons that I learned during NAFW 2016:
1. Fear not to try new techniques. It might be way easier than you think and as a result, you’ll gain new nail art skills. I’ve always thought a detailed nail art is beyond my abilities. However, seeing so many amazing detailed manicures created by other nail artists during NAFW 2016 has inspired me to try it. The result – these Versace nails. It was way easier than I initially thought and certainly, when I have more time, I’ll try more detailed nail designs.
2. Use only fail proof top coat. Bad quality or old top coat can ruin all your hard work! Bubbles, smudges, streaks, shrinkage, etc… You don’t want that to happen to you when you are on a tight schedule. For my Leopard Print Nails I used a new matte top coat and it sent some weird white grains all over my nail design. Luckily I’ve already photographed a glossy version of that manicure. But no one gonna see matte! :P Moral of the story: always road test your top coat before using it on a final look. If you need a suggestion for a great top coat see this, this and this.
3. Use only fail proof nail art brushes. The same like with a top coat. A great nail art brush can help you to create a wonderful nail design or completely ruin it. For my Kylie Jenner nails I picked the wrong brush to do the intricate lip print. You know I’m currently road testing the SoNailicious brush prototypes… So that brush was completely new and appeared to be too thick for detailed work. See the fat red lip on the middle finger? That brush did it. I quickly switched to the prototype brush that I already knew is good for details and all other lips turned exactly the size I wanted them to be.
4. Know how to correct mistakes. Mistakes happen. Whether it’s not so straight line, accidental smudge or a vintage rose that looks like a tomato, you should know how to fix it. There are a few different techniques (I’ll share them all in a separate post) that can help you to salvage even the worst mistakes. Here’s one example. I smudged my Givenchy nails (middle finger) badly. There was no time to re-do the entire nail, so I quickly smoothed out the bumps with a brush dipped in acetone and repainted a small section on the nail. No one can tell now it was smudged! See it for yourself – here.
5. Don’t rush. Work fast but don’t rush. It’s way better to get that line straight from the first attempt than try to correct it later. Plus, when you’re rushing smudges can happen! Yes, that’s exactly what happened with my Givenchy nails. I was trying to wear a ring with one hand while arranging camera with another. Moral of the story: focus on one thing at a time and do it well rather than frantically trying to do everything at once and then spending more time correcting mistakes.
Did you do the NAFW 2016 challenge? What nail art lessons did you learn that I should add to the above list?
– Maria, xx
P.S. Are you sad Nail Art Fashion Week is over? The good news is that we are running fun nail art challenges every month and of course, NAFW will be back next year. Just make sure you subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter to stay updated.
