DIY Nail Art

Happy Saturday all!

The focus of this post is slightly off my usual topics, more under the arm of beauty as opposed to fashion (although heavily linked to fashion as you will see). Nail art has been popular for the past couple of seasons, making its way onto the nails of models at Fashion Weeks and inspiring fashion and beauty fans alike. Undoubtedly, in the UK, WAH Nails is at the forefront of on-trend nail art, opening its first salon in Dalston in 2009 and now boasting stores in Topshop Oxford Street and Harvey Nichols in Dublin. The popularity of the WAH Nails 'look' has grown and grown; I made my first visit to the Topshop branch in December last year for some Christmas inspired 'frosty' nails and was very happy with the end results. Well worth a visit if you can get there!

If you don't live in London/Dublin however or are looking for a cheaper alternative, you will be as excited as I was to try out the WAH Nails and Models Own nail pen, available from numerous stores including Boots, Urban Outfitters and the Models Own website for a reasonable £6. The pen comes in black and white and has a thin nib on top and slightly thicker brush on the bottom to create different looks.

The WAH Nails website is a constant source of inspiration to me, frequently updated with images of different designs produced in their salons; favourites of mine include Prada Banana Print, Scrabble letters and the WAH Nails classic: leopard print. I gave the leopard print style a go myself and was pleasantly surprised, the pen is a lot easier to use than I thought, even when using the hand I don't write with! I've tried a bit of DIY nail art before (see first image) but using the pen makes a big difference and gives you many more options.

I am fairly pleased with the finished result:

To create this luminous leopard print style I used Pop Beauty nail colour in 'Orange' (one coat was bright enough), then added different sized spots of Models Own 'Carat Gold' and Nails Inc 'Shoreditch'. I then left it to try for a while before using the WAH Nails/Models Own pen in black to outline the pink and gold and add smaller spots and squiggles in the gaps. The orange shade is fairly garish so I wouldn't necessarily go this bright again but it should be perfect for Notting Hill Carnival tomorrow.

If you are a fan of nail art I would definitely recommend picking up one of the pens and experimenting with it; the steadier your hand the more intricate patterns you will be able to do. For inspiration, check out the originals here

Nail art pen image from www.modelsownit.com
Other images owned by Running in Platforms