Aztec Chevron

Here's my take on a Chevron design. Has a slight Aztec feel to it too. Aztec seems to be a pretty major trend at the moment, doesn't it? This design is pretty simple, so even for complete beginners this is a good starting point if you want to practice painting lines :) Also looks good on shorter nails!

The colours I've used are OPI's 'Are We There Yet?' (coral), 'Do You Lilac It?' (purple), and 'No Room For The Blues' (blue). I used a size 000 brush to paint the lines. You can get fine paint brushes from newsagents and art supply shops. I think I got mine from Eckersley's in the Brisbane CBD (Australia).

Step 1: Apply your protective base coat, then paint your nails in your main colour (I used coral). Let the colour dry a bit before continuing.

 Step 2: Taking your paint brush and second colour (I used purple), paint 6 lines on your nails in a similar pattern to the ones in my photo below. I found it easier to start with the lines that meet at the centre of the tip of your nail, and then painting the lines on either side of those lines. I chose to do this just on my pointer and ring fingers, but if you have more time you could do this on every nail.

Step 3: Taking your paint brush and third colour (I used blue), paint 4 lines to fill in the spaces between the lines you painted in your second colour. I chose to let my main colour show between the set of lines closest to the base of my nail, but you could fill those in if you wanted too.

Step 4: Apply your clear top coat. This step is important for this design as your lines will probably look a bit bumpy and segmented before your top coat smooths them out.

Alternatively, instead of using a paint brush you can use striping pens if you have them, it will achieve the same effect. Sorry for the dull step-by-step photos, one of the lightbulbs in my room blew last night >.< I also apologise for the glare on my nails in my final photo. Apparently my top coat is just too shiny! Going to have to do something about that...