Bugs and Flowers

For this nail art, I am going to feature one of my most animated designs, featuring a different design on each hand. :)

This design is so much fun to create and wear.  I started out planning to simply paint a bee followed by a trail of dots.  In the middle of painting the bee, I thought, "why not add a flower?" That idea was then followed by adding a beehive.  And when I got to re-doing the design on the other hand, another idea struck me and so I made a butterfly flying from flower to flower. It is the first time that I stuck to one theme but made a different design on each hand, and I don't know why I never did it before!  Read on to see the materials behind-the-scene pictures in creating this design. :)

I am also very proud to announce that I placed second in the nail art contest that I mentioned in my last post, and as expected I was very eager to use the prizes I received from them! For this nail art I used Morning Sky by Dazzle Dry.  More about these awesome prizes in my next entry, so stay tuned ;)

Materials:

1. Top Coat
2. Base Coat
3. Nail polish in: light blue (Dazzle Dry Morning Sky), black (The Face Shop Lovely Me:Ex BK901), yellow (Sally Hansen Insta-Dry  in Lightening), brown (The Face Shop Face It BR802), pink (The Face Shop Lovely Me:Ex PK102), green (Revlon Sassy 501), orange (The Face Shop Lovely Me:Ex OR201)
4. Dotting tool
5. Thin paint brush

Procedure:

After applying base coat, paint all your nails with your chosen shade of blue.

Paint petals on your fingers using either a dotting tool or a thin paint brush.

Dot the centers of the flowers with yellow.  Use a thin paint brush and green polish to make the stem and leaves (Sorry I  forgot to take a photo of that step!).

To make the bee, first use a dotting tool to make the wings, and then use the dotting tool to make two black dots on top of each other.

Add antennae and a stinger to the bee.

Add yellow dots in the middle of the black dots. 

Later on add details using a thin paint brush for the stripe and a dotting tool for the eyes. You may also use toothpicks if you want the eyes really small :)

To make the beehive, I mixed together yellow and brown polish.  I then used a dotting tool to make the shape of a beehive.

Add details using a fine paint brush and black nail polish.  I also added a tree branch using brown and green polish.

To make the butterfly, use a dotting tool to make the shape of the orange wings and the green dots.  Outline with black polish and a fine brush.

Add dots to both hands to show the trail of the bugs. :)

As always, top with top coat, and you're done!!

Helpful Tips:

• This design needs lots of layering of colors.  Be sure to wait for the layers to dry before proceeding to the next step.
• If you tend to get impatient (like me!), go on doing the initial steps of the other items on other fingers first.  This will let drying time go faster than it seems :)
• Use as little polish as possible when making the designs.  Not only will it dry faster, but it will also be less prone to accidents such as smudging.

Thank you for reading!