NTNA Challenge #3- Orly

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Posted on September 21, 2014

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For this challenge I wanted to take the iconic principles of a french manicure and put my spin on it. When I think of the basic fundamentals of what makes a french the following comes to mind: negative space at the cuticle and color at the tip. I started with this concept and knew I had to come up with an innovated "smile line" of sorts. I thought architectural structure would be a cool inspiration to develop my smile line from so I began researching some modern buildings in LA. I found some unique homes from an architectural firm based in LA that were ultra modern and almost futuristic. I loved the varying heights of the different walls and windows layered on top of each other. Color-wise, I chose to stick with black and white. They are a neutral color palette that matches with just about anything and can go from day to night effortlessly, another key element of a french manicure. I embodied the essence of a french without creating an old school pink and white.

Step-by-Step Nail Art Tutorial

Pictures I used for inspiration.

Clean and prep natural nails for gel polish application.

Apply base coat to all nails and cure in LED light.

Using a small detail brush paint on white shapes. Use a square brush dipped in acetone to clean up the edges and make a perfect sharp line.

Once your shape is perfected cure in LED light for about 15 seconds to flash cure.

Continue to paint white shapes on the rest of the nails. Leave one empty for an accent nail later.

Using black gel polish, paint in black shapes on top of the white ones. Cure fully in LED light once youre happy with all of your shapes.

Paint a square outline around your accent nail of choice. Cure. Seal all nails with topcoat. Make sure to fill in any ridges left from the negative space with some extra topcoat.