Chococat? Is That You?

According to my boyfriend I need to do 'more cuter nails' like my Easter nails. So today I have cat nails for you!

I did these up on my practice wheel, and then realised that the cat looks a bit reminiscent of the Sanrio character Chococat. Don't you think?

Maybe without the bow and my dodgy painting skills...
Anyway, I've done a step by step tutorial for this design if you want to try it. I'm not gonna lie, from a beginner's perspective the cat was a bit of a challenge getting the proportions right. I definitely recommend getting a friend to help you, or at least doing a few practice ones on a bit of paper or something before getting started.

For this design you'll need dotting tools, and polishes in a minty pastel green, light pink, magenta, white, and black. I used OPI's 'Mermaid's Tears' (green), 'Got a Date To-knight' (light pink), 'You're a Pisa Work' (magenta) and 'Peace Baby!' (white). For the black I used Ulta3's 'Midnight'. I've never used Ulta3 before, but I've seen quite a few tutorials that have used the brand. You can get it for $2 a bottle from Big W (in Australia). I figured for $2 I didn't really have much to lose if it turned out to be horrible. As far as using it for detailing goes it does an alright job. Don't know if I'd use it on my whole nail though.

Enough about nail polish brands, let's get started!


Step 1: After applying your protective base coat, paint all your nails in your green colour. Allow this to dry (or at least become touchable without denting it).

Step 2:  Taking your black, use your dotting tool to draw an oval shape in the centre of the nail on your middle finger. Fill the oval in so it's solid. Then add 2 triangles for ears and 2 short lines on either side for whiskers.

Step 3: Using your dotting tool and white polish, put 2 dots inside the black oval for eyes. Let this dry a little and then using your black place 2 smaller dots inside the white dots for the pupils.

Step 4: Using your smallest dotting tool and your light pink polish, place a small dot between the eyes (and down a little) for the nose. Paint a small pink triangle inside each ear (if you wanted to do Chococat for real you could use a light yellow instead of pink inside the ears, and red for the nose).

Step 5: On you're other nails you're going to paint paw prints. Start with your light pink. Using a large dotting tool do one dot on each nail for the 'palm' part of the paw, then using a smaller dotting tool place 4 dots around the larger dot for the 'finger' part of the paw.

Step 6: Repeat step 5 using your magenta colour. If your nails are longer you could do 3 or 4 paw prints on each nail instead of 2. I did more on my thumbnails than my fingernails.

Step 7: This step is optional. I just wanted to use my bow embellishments again. If you do want to add a bow to your design, just pop a bit of glue just below the cat's head and place your bow into the wet glue. An alternative if you want to add a bit of colour is to paint a stripe under the cat's head to create a collar.

Step 8: Allow to dry for a bit and seal with your clear top coat. Finished!

So that's it! I'm very disappointed in my top coat, it's completely streaked all my hard work! Not so much on the hand in my photo, but the nails on my other hand are embarrassing to look at >.< If anyone can recommend a good top coat that doesn't streak your designs I'd love for you to let me know. Just leave a comment below :) I've tried a few and they all have the same effect! This design probably won't last long because the streaking is annoying the hell out of me, so look out for a new design in the next few days or so ;)