Valentine's Day Nails: Salted Watercolor Ruffian

I didn't really plan these nails and just started with two coats of Essie - Go Ginza. Then I added some pink acrylic paint and sugar (instead of salt) to create some salted watercolor nails. After that I outlined the upper part of my nails with black acrylic paint to create a ruffian effect and then added three small silver studs on each nail. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. These remind me a lot of my Deadly Sin Challenge nails for Lust, don't you think so?

Turquoise Salted Watercolor Nails + Video Tutorial

I love making video tutorials! Well especially the filming process, the editing part not so much. But I made it and here it is, my video tutorial for the salted watercolor nails. This time I used two shades of turquoise on top of a white base. To see how I did these watch the video at the end of this post! :) 

More videos!

Gradient Salted Watercolor Nails

I decided to do another one of the salted watercolor nails, if you haven't seen my previous ones yet, you can find them here and here. The process is the same: base color, matte top coat, watery acrylic paint, salt sprinkled on top, let it dry and then wash the salt off carefully. I really love the effects of the salt and it kind of makes me want to buy a canvas and start doing this in the bigger version, we'll see! I used Flormar - 400 as my base, one coat of Essie - Matte About You and then added a mixture of six acrylic paints. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

Green Salted Watercolor Nails

Knowing that I wouldn't have time to do my nails this week (I'm wearing red nails for seven days now!) I prepared another version of my Salted Watercolor Nails. I figured this technique would look also pretty cool in green and with a gradient as a base. So I used Essie - Mint Candy Apple and Catrice - I'm Not A Greenager to create a gradient using a piece of sponge. Then I forgot to add the matte top coat which is supposed to keep the acrylic paint in place. That's why a lot of the green acrylic paint washed off with the water. The salt pattern was still visible though, so I decided to add a bit of China Glaze - Holly-Day on my tips and then finished the design with Essence - BTGN High Gloss Top Coat. I can't wait to try more color combinations once I have a bit more free time. Thank you for bearing with me! :) 

Salted Watercolor Nails

Salted, what? Yes, I stumbled upon one of those art tutorials on YouTube the other day and we also learned that technique in school back then: the one where you sprinkle salt over watercolors and it results in beautiful textures. I figured if this works on paper it should work on nails (not that this is always the case, but I had to try), so I started with some colors and sea salt. As my base I used China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint and then I added one coat of Essie - Matte About You to make a canvas for the acrylic paint. Then I mixed blue paint with water, painted it on the nail and sprinkled everything with salt. I still have to find the best way to do this technique, but for now I'm quite happy with my result. I also added a tiny bit of OPI - Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Top Coat and Sally Hansen - Night Watch. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss.