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"Art Gallery" showcases the nail art of some of the best artists in the industry. Every month, the column features four to six nail art designs created by one or more of our readers with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. The nail art usually follows a theme for an upcoming holiday or season and depicts that theme in creative, easy-to-replicate designs. The column also provides promotional tips to help readers make the most of their nail art businesses.
Nailpro is actively seeking nail art submissions, so send in your best examples today. If your art is chosen, we'll pay you $25 per nail and you'll be featured in an upcoming issue. Package nails securely, using bubble wrap, a padded box or cotton, and send by snail mail to: Nailpro, 7628 Densmore Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91406, Attn.: "Art Gallery." Don't forget to include your name, address and phone number! |
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Eye-catching blossoms are always in full bloom.
By Pam Minch
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 Summertime quashes cold, rainy days and draws out gorgeous blue skies, bright sunshine and a bevy of flowers in bloom. We open our windows to enjoy our gardens’ beauty; we fill our homes with fresh-cut arrangements to welcome the outdoors. Each fragrant bouquet reminds us of how unique and beautiful flowers are. So unique, in fact, that no two flowers present the exact same features and colors—the perfect reason to look to flowers as nail artists’ most radiant muses. Adding a few floral designs to your nail art board allows for endless possibilities. Tweak the petal shape or change the color of a flower, and your floral design morphs into an entirely new species.
Floral nail designs provide an easy way to talk your nail-art-shy clients into wearing a tiny sampling of your work. No matter what flower you pick as your inspiration, floral nail designs remain popular and perennially in full bloom.
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 Step 1. Polish the entire nail dark pink. Using a small paintbrush, create petal outlines in the opposite corners of the nail with black paint. Hint: Slightly overlapping the lines at the petals’ tips creates a free-form look.
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 Step 2. Fill in the petals using silver glitter paint or polish.
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 Step 3. Add three tiny yellow dots to each of the flower centers. Allow the design to dry and apply top coat.
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Average Time: 3 to 5 minutes per nail.
Suggested Price: $3 per nail.
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 Step 1. Polish the entire nail white. Using a flat, square paintbrush, load half of the brush with yellow paint and half with black paint. (Check out this month’s “Brush Up” on page 65 for the proper technique.) Swirl the paintbrush four times, working outward from the center of the flower, to create four petal shapes.
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 Step 2. Create the center of the flower using yellow paint. Add white accent dots to two of the petals.
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 Step 3. Create a stem and leaves using black paint. Allow the design to dry and apply top coat.
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Average Time: 3 to 5 minutes per nail.
Suggested Price: $3 per nail.
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 Step 1. Paint the entire nail pale pink. Allow the polish to dry. Using light pink paint, create the outlines of three flowers.
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 Step 2. Paint white accent lines inside each petal.
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 Step 3. Use dark pink paint to create leaves and the flowers’ centers.
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 Step 4. Using glitter paint, create swirls between the three flowers. Allow the design to dry and apply top coat.
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Average Time: 3 to 5 minutes per nail.
Suggested Price: $3 per nail.
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 Step 1. Polish the entire nail metallic blue. Paint the petals of a flower using white paint.
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 Step 2. Using white paint, create accent swirls that spin outward from the petals.
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 Step 3. Using dark blue paint, accent the flower petals and paint three dots for the center of the flower.
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 Step 4. With the same dark blue paint, add tiny blue dots outside the white swirls. Allow the design to dry and apply top coat.
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Average Time: 3 to 5 minutes per nail.
Suggested Price: $3 per nail.
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Side loading is an easy painting technique that allows you to use two paint colors at once to create a blended shading effect. Simply place two dollops of different color paint next to each other on a piece of wax paper. Using a flat, square paintbrush, dip one side of the bristles into one color, lift, and then dip the other side of the bristles into the second color. Move the brush using a slight swirling maneuver. Always fully clean the brush before loading a new paint color. This technique also works wonderfully when creating clouds and oceans.
Celebrating her 25th year as a nail tech this year, Pam Minch specializes in nail art at Elysium Day Spa in Parker, Colorado. Her art has been featured in Sports Illustrated and several other publications. She has been a top nail art competitor, a competition judge and an educator for a major manufacturer.
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