When NAILS Magazine & Orly asked the top 8 to create a set of street art-inspired nails with a pastel palette only, I thought it all of the pastel street works I’ve come across. The first artist that sparked a lightbulb was PaperFrank, an Atlanta-based artist that creates beautiful, vibrant works of art- who happens to dabble in the sweet palette of pastels. To me, what’s intriguing about him is that although he’s colorblind. He’s able to render seamless works with a touch of feminism, while maintaining his manly charm in his style (that part stole my heart.) He frequently incorporates massive amounts of flowers, sometimes with viciously adorable teeth, tigers, and various characters and animals. Whether it be street art, fine art, or skin art, he masterfully blends color and concept that has the power to attract crowds. I decided to keep the base of the nails a solid, milky pastel color with dense, dripping spray paint. As for animals, I chose to honor his tigers, which inspired me to depict my brindle pit bull (my little tiger) on the opposing hand, paired with devious flowers. The thumbs resemble spray paint cans, with one projecting a snake. I used a mixture of Orly Gel FX White Tips with various Orly lacquers, mixing and letting stand for 20 minutes before mixing again and then using to design with. I found that if these mixtures are cures for 90 seconds under LES light, there is no issue with curing as long as the mixture is primarily white gel.
Step-by-Step Nail Art Tutorial
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Inspiration photos: top 4 photo credits courtesy of @PaperFrank, along with his favored spray paint @kobrapaint, and a photo of my Brindle Pitbull.
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1. Begin with two coats of Orly Gel FX in White Tips, curing between each coat. This will help the pastels pop.\n2. Mix White Tips with various Orly lacquers to achieve a milky, pastel tone. \nHere are the gel to lacquer ratios used.\n\nWhite Tips- 3:1 Pink Noise = pastel pink/ 3:1 lemonade = pastel yellow/ 5:1 summer sunset = pastel orange/ 4:1 Vintage = pastel green/ 4:1 Morning Mantra = pastel blue/ 4:1 Just Breathe = pastel purple/ 5:1 Aloe Goodbye! = pastel grey\nLet these mixtures stand 20 minutes before mixing again and beginning to design. Periodically mix while working to avoid separation. Cure for 90 seconds in ensure proper curing. Everything is top coated with Orly Gel FX Topcoat .\n\n3.Create dispersed spray paint circles with White Tips and a small piece of a cosmetic sponge.\n4. With a detail brush, add drips and focus more opacity in the center of the circles.\n5. Add small dots around the dispersed circle to give it more of splatter effect. Cure. Topcoat and cure. Repeat steps 3-5 on both index and pinky nails.
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1.On paper, sketch out flower shapes. Trace the nails to get an idea on proportion. Insert into a plastic business card protector. Fill in the shapes with Orly Gel FX Overlay Gel. Cure. \n2. With pastel grey and a detail brush, outline the petals and give the flowers faces. Cure. Remove from plastic.\n3. Fill in the flowers with pastel yellow, pink, and purple. Cure.\n4.Add white to eyes and teeth. Cure.\n
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1. Paint drips with white tips over ring finger nails. Cure.\n2. Attach devious flowers to nails with overlay gel, cure.
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1. Sketch out the Tiger and Pitbull.\n2. Fill in shapes with overlay gel. Cure.\n3. Paint gradients through the animals from pastel orange to pink, and pastel blue to purple. Add detail to faces with white tips.\n4. Fill in flowers with various pastels. Cure. \n5. Use pastel grey to give animals stripes and facial features. Cure. Topcoat and cure.
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1. Paint drips with white tips over middle finger nails. Cure.\n2. Attach animals to nails with overlay gel, cure.
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1. Sketch out a spray paint blob and small flowers.\n2. Repeat previous steps on creating flat 3D elements.\n3. Attach to index and pinky nails with overlay gel. Cure.
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1.Shape thumbs to resemble spray paint cans.\n2. Paint body of the cans with pastel grey, and the tops with pastel yellow and pink. Cure. Add other pastel colors to the spray tips and little triangles for the can’s design. Cure.\n3. Outline with White Tips, give more detail to the cans and carefully paint NTNA and ORLY across the nails. Take time to get lines straight and parallel, keeping the edges squared off for near, crisp text. Cure.\n
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1. Sketch out a snake over previously traced spray paint blob for a guideline.\n2. Repeat previous steps on creating flat 3D elements.\n3. Attach snake to spray paint with overlay gel. Cure.\n4. Attach to spray can at an angle with overlay gel. Cure. \n
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The finished set!
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