Sprinkled

This is officially my 50th post. Woohoo! It's been awhile since I did a tutorial post, so here you have it: sprinkled nails.

Sorry my photos aren't quite as good as they have been lately, I usually get my boyfriend to take my photos since his camera is much better than mine, but he was busy today and I don't know how to use his camera >.<

To do this design you're going to need either some coloured mica, or loose eyeshadow. I've used loose eyeshadow that I bought several months ago specifically for this purpose. I bought mine off ebay from Simply Natural. They have an extensive range of colours and for only about $2 a pot. Trust me, the pot comes packed to the rim and it will probably last you a lifetime. In this design I've used their colours 'Surf' and 'Heliotrope'. Anyway, on to the tutorial!

Step 1: Before you start painting your nails, you're going to need to protect your workspace with a piece of newspaper, paper towel or something similar. This is going to get messy...

Step 2: Apply your protective base coat and then apply your base colour. I've used Essie's ' Blanc', but I've seen these powders used very successfully over dark colours too.

Step 3: One nail at a time, apply a clear polish and use a straw or something similar to scoop some powder and gently sprinkle it onto the wet polish. Alternatively, you could do this while your base colour is still wet rather than using a coat of clear polish.

Step 4: Leave your nails to dry for a few minutes (they don't need to dry completely, just until the polish is tacky) and then rinse the excess powder off with some water. Gently pat dry your nails (don't smoosh them!). Let them air dry completely before continuing.

Step 5: If you only want to use one colour of powder, simply apply a clear top coat and go on your merry way. If you are wanting to add a second colour of powder, apply a coat of clear polish one nail at a time and repeat the sprinkling/rinsing process with your second colour.

Step 6: Apply your clear top coat. Complete!

This is something I've been wanting to try for months now (hell, I bought the eyeshadows back in April!). I think it turned out fairly well for a first attempt, I'd love to play around with different colour combinations. It's an easy method of nail art for those who aren't so good with a paint brush ;) What do you think?