Festival Nail Art Tutorial: Stunning Stars
Get festival-ready with this HONA festival nail art tutorial by our talented educator, Sara @glamourphile! In this tutorial, Sara shares her personal tips and tricks for drawing stars freehand Sara also demonstrates how to master the art of isolated chrome, adding that extra touch of shimmer to your designs.
Festival time is upon us so it’s time to mix and match designs! Chrome and stars can be really tricky to master. So let's break it down together.
Firstly, you’ll need to choose your base. We recommend Boho which is a nice milky pink colour. You’ll want to apply two layers of that, curing in a HONA Cordless Cube Lamp in between each layer for 60 seconds. Nail art is so much easier to get crisp over a non sticky surface, so make sure you wipe away that inhibition layer before beginning. Now the fun part, choosing your colours. For the look in the video, we’ve gone for Bubblegum, Rhubarb and Kiwi. To avoid a large bead of gel on your bristles, dip your brush in, then on a palate, run your brush through the gel whilst twisting to ensure that it's completely saturated. And now you can paint on perfect lines without the excess gel.
Now let's do these stars, they don't have to be tricky. Let's break them down. So you want to paint on an ‘A’ applying a small steady stroke for each line and you want to be supporting yourself with your pinky. That is going to help you make sure those lines are nice and straight. Now you want to join the corners together and fill it in. And it's that easy. If you're not happy with how your lines are looking, all you need to do is just drag that gel around with your brush. You don't need to add any extra product, just use what's already on the nail. To get sharp edges, pour from the middle of the star outwards using the gel that's already on the nail. This is going to ensure that that edge is super thin and fine. That is what is going to give that star that nice sharp look. Then repeat the process with the different colours.
That's all you've got to do. Make sure that each edge is nice and sharp. So pulling from the middle of the star outwards. If you don't feel confident enough, remember, you can cure between each star. Then seal your stars with complete base. One layer of that cures for 60 seconds, then we're going to move on to the part that a lot of you fear which is isolated chrome,here’s a few tips. You have two choices. Wipe twice with two separate wipes using IPA, or buff to surface. So let's wipe the surface first with two separate IPA wipes. And then we're going to buff the top of the nail.
Top tip. If you make a mistake, wiping away that detail paint is not enough,you’d need to prep for chrome all over again. We recommend using HONA’s Long Island chrome and applying it with a silicone tool, but you can use an eyeshadow applicator that is absolutely fine. So use whatever you're comfortable with and remember, a little goes a long way.
Another top tip, grab a dense soft dust brush and dust the excess away, including under the free edge. Any particles that remain will turn your design sparkly and not mirror-like. Follow with your top coat over the whole design and cure for 60 seconds. And you're done!